Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Particulate Matter and Exposure Modelling
in Europe
A.I. Miranda, J. Valente, J. Ferreira, and C. Borrego
Abstract Recent estimates delivered by the European Environment Agency indi-
cate that exposure to atmospheric particulate matter (PM) causes approximately
three million deaths per year in the world. Exceedances of PM thresholds have been
reported by the majority of the European Union member countries, mainly in urban
agglomerations where human exposure is also higher.
Health effects of air pollution, namely of PM levels, are the result of a chain of
events, going from the release of pollutants that lead to an atmospheric concentra-
tion, over the personal exposure, uptake, and resulting internal dose to the
subsequent health effect.
The focus of this chapter will be on PM ambient concentrations as input
for population exposure estimation, which are key variables for exposure models,
and are generally measured at air quality monitoring stations or estimated by
an adequate air quality modelling system. This chapter critically overviews PM
modelling activities going on in Europe in the scope of exposure assessment,
identifying advantages and gaps and recommending future uses and developments.
Keywords Exposure, Health effects, Modelling, Particulate matter
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
2 Air Quality Modelling ...................................................................... 261
3 Exposure Modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
4 PM Exposure Modelling Applications in Europe ......................................... 266
5 New Developments . . . . . . ................................................................... 268
6 Final Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
