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Airport Air Quality
Posted By admin On October 27, 2009 @ 9:39 am In | Comments Disabled
Local air quality is a limiting factor in the development of many airports. In particular, the EU limit value for NO2 of 40 μg/m³ as an annual mean; that for PM10 will be of 20 μg/m³ , which is valid since January 1, 2010. Ambient concentrations at many European airports are already close to, or above these values. There is as yet no EU limit value for PM2.5, but neither is there yet any evidence of a safe threshold; epidemiological studies in the US suggest that an extra 1 μg/m³ reduces mean life expectancy by l2 months. If air traffic is to continue to increase in Europe, its impact on local air quality will have to be better understood and cleaner modes of operation developed.
ECATS has the capability to study many of the issues determining local air quality:
All such measurements must be fitted into theoretical and numerical models so that today’s airports can be extrapolated to tomorrows. Thus, we can develop dynamical models of the dispersion of aircraft emissions, which may then be included in regulatory models of local air quality impact. Likewise, micro-physical and chemical models can describe how the primary emissions of an aircraft evolve into the secondary emissions that are relevant to what the neighbours of the airport may have to breathe. Similarly, operational studies can illuminate how changes in management practice (e.g. more efficient control of taxiing) may impact upon local air quality.
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