Chapter 28
Population Exposure to Emissions
from Industry, Traffic, Shipping
and Residential Heating in the Urban
Area of Hamburg
Martin Otto Paul Ramacher, Matthias Karl, Armin Aulinger
and Johannes Bieser
Abstract This study investigates the contributions of four major emission sources—
industry, road traffic, shipping and residential heating—on air quality in the harbour
city of Hamburg using a local-scale modelling system comprising meteorological,
emissions and chemical transport models. Moreover, human exposure with regard to
the overall air quality and the emissions sources under investigation was calculated.
Based on detailed emission inventories and an evaluated CTM system, this study
identifies road traffic as a major source of PM 2.5 pollution and exposure during
the entire year and in almost all populated areas in Hamburg. Overall, the highest
contributor to PM 2.5 concentrations is the industrial sector focussing on less populated
areas.
28.1 Introduction
Urban air quality related issues are among the most critical societal concerns. Several
studies prove a causal relation of emissions and ambient concentrations of pollutants
in urban areas on short- and long-term health effects [9] and emphasize the need
for emission reduction measures. Urban air quality management (UAQM) strongly
depends on information about the spatial distribution of emissions and their sources,
concentrations and exposure to health related pollutants. This information can be
provided by city scale Chemical Transport Model (CTM) simulations, which are
an indispensable tool to assess the current and future air quality. In addition, it is
possible to identify the contribution of individual emission sources and sectors as
well as the impact of regional background concentrations from surrounding regions,
e.g. from long-range transports of PM 2.5 which are contributing largely to urban air
quality [7].
M. O. P. Ramacher (B) · M. Karl · A. Aulinger · J. Bieser
Department of Chemical Transport Modeling, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Institute of
Coastal Research, Max-Planck-Strasse 1, 21502 Geesthacht, Germany
e-mail: Martin.Ramacher@hzg.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
C. Mensink et al. (eds.), Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XXVI,
Springer Proceedings in Complexity,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22055-6_28
177
Population Exposure to Emissions
from Industry, Traffic, Shipping
and Residential Heating in the Urban
Area of Hamburg
Martin Otto Paul Ramacher, Matthias Karl, Armin Aulinger
and Johannes Bieser
Abstract This study investigates the contributions of four major emission sources—
industry, road traffic, shipping and residential heating—on air quality in the harbour
city of Hamburg using a local-scale modelling system comprising meteorological,
emissions and chemical transport models. Moreover, human exposure with regard to
the overall air quality and the emissions sources under investigation was calculated.
Based on detailed emission inventories and an evaluated CTM system, this study
identifies road traffic as a major source of PM 2.5 pollution and exposure during
the entire year and in almost all populated areas in Hamburg. Overall, the highest
contributor to PM 2.5 concentrations is the industrial sector focussing on less populated
areas.
28.1 Introduction
Urban air quality related issues are among the most critical societal concerns. Several
studies prove a causal relation of emissions and ambient concentrations of pollutants
in urban areas on short- and long-term health effects [9] and emphasize the need
for emission reduction measures. Urban air quality management (UAQM) strongly
depends on information about the spatial distribution of emissions and their sources,
concentrations and exposure to health related pollutants. This information can be
provided by city scale Chemical Transport Model (CTM) simulations, which are
an indispensable tool to assess the current and future air quality. In addition, it is
possible to identify the contribution of individual emission sources and sectors as
well as the impact of regional background concentrations from surrounding regions,
e.g. from long-range transports of PM 2.5 which are contributing largely to urban air
quality [7].
M. O. P. Ramacher (B) · M. Karl · A. Aulinger · J. Bieser
Department of Chemical Transport Modeling, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Institute of
Coastal Research, Max-Planck-Strasse 1, 21502 Geesthacht, Germany
e-mail: Martin.Ramacher@hzg.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
C. Mensink et al. (eds.), Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XXVI,
Springer Proceedings in Complexity,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22055-6_28
177