research topics of air pollution

Article  

• Volume 22, issue 7
• ACP, 22, 4615–4703, 2022
• Peer review
• Related articles

Advances in air quality research – current and emerging challenges

Ranjeet s. sokhi, nicolas moussiopoulos, alexander baklanov, john bartzis, isabelle coll, sandro finardi, rainer friedrich, camilla geels, tiia grönholm, tomas halenka, matthias ketzel, androniki maragkidou, volker matthias, jana moldanova, leonidas ntziachristos, klaus schäfer, peter suppan, george tsegas, greg carmichael, vicente franco, steve hanna, jukka-pekka jalkanen, guus j. m. velders, jaakko kukkonen.

This review provides a community's perspective on air quality research focusing mainly on developments over the past decade. The article provides perspectives on current and future challenges as well as research needs for selected key topics. While this paper is not an exhaustive review of all research areas in the field of air quality, we have selected key topics that we feel are important from air quality research and policy perspectives. After providing a short historical overview, this review focuses on improvements in characterizing sources and emissions of air pollution, new air quality observations and instrumentation, advances in air quality prediction and forecasting, understanding interactions of air quality with meteorology and climate, exposure and health assessment, and air quality management and policy. In conducting the review, specific objectives were (i) to address current developments that push the boundaries of air quality research forward, (ii) to highlight the emerging prominent gaps of knowledge in air quality research, and (iii) to make recommendations to guide the direction for future research within the wider community. This review also identifies areas of particular importance for air quality policy. The original concept of this review was borne at the International Conference on Air Quality 2020 (held online due to the COVID 19 restrictions during 18–26 May 2020), but the article incorporates a wider landscape of research literature within the field of air quality science. On air pollution emissions the review highlights, in particular, the need to reduce uncertainties in emissions from diffuse sources, particulate matter chemical components, shipping emissions, and the importance of considering both indoor and outdoor sources. There is a growing need to have integrated air pollution and related observations from both ground-based and remote sensing instruments, including in particular those on satellites. The research should also capitalize on the growing area of low-cost sensors, while ensuring a quality of the measurements which are regulated by guidelines. Connecting various physical scales in air quality modelling is still a continual issue, with cities being affected by air pollution gradients at local scales and by long-range transport. At the same time, one should allow for the impacts from climate change on a longer timescale. Earth system modelling offers considerable potential by providing a consistent framework for treating scales and processes, especially where there are significant feedbacks, such as those related to aerosols, chemistry, and meteorology. Assessment of exposure to air pollution should consider the impacts of both indoor and outdoor emissions, as well as application of more sophisticated, dynamic modelling approaches to predict concentrations of air pollutants in both environments. With particulate matter being one of the most important pollutants for health, research is indicating the urgent need to understand, in particular, the role of particle number and chemical components in terms of health impact, which in turn requires improved emission inventories and models for predicting high-resolution distributions of these metrics over cities. The review also examines how air pollution management needs to adapt to the above-mentioned new challenges and briefly considers the implications from the COVID-19 pandemic for air quality. Finally, we provide recommendations for air quality research and support for policy.

• Article (PDF, 14780 KB)
• Included in Encyclopedia of Geosciences
• Article (14780 KB)
• Full-text XML

Sokhi, R. S., Moussiopoulos, N., Baklanov, A., Bartzis, J., Coll, I., Finardi, S., Friedrich, R., Geels, C., Grönholm, T., Halenka, T., Ketzel, M., Maragkidou, A., Matthias, V., Moldanova, J., Ntziachristos, L., Schäfer, K., Suppan, P., Tsegas, G., Carmichael, G., Franco, V., Hanna, S., Jalkanen, J.-P., Velders, G. J. M., and Kukkonen, J.: Advances in air quality research – current and emerging challenges, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4615–4703, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4615-2022, 2022.

We wish to dedicate this article to the following eminent scientists who made immense contributions to the science of air quality and its impacts: Paul J. Crutzen (1933–2021), atmospheric chemist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1995; Mario Molina (1943–2020), atmospheric chemist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1995; Samohineeveesu Trivikrama Rao (1944–2021), air pollution meteorology and atmospheric modelling; Kirk Smith (1947–2020), global environmental health; Martin Williams (1947–2020), air quality science and policy; Sergej Zilitinkevich (1936–2021), atmospheric turbulence, awarded the IMO Prize 2019.

Air pollution remains one of the greatest environmental risks facing humanity. WHO (2016) estimated that over 90 % of the global population is exposed to air quality that does not meet WHO guidelines, and Shaddick et al. (2020) report that 55 % of the world's population were exposed to PM 2.5 concentrations that were increasing between 2010 and 2016. Shaddick et al. (2020) also highlighted marked inequalities between global regions, with decreasing trends in annual average population-weighted concentrations in North America and Europe but increasing trends in central and southern Asia. WHO (2016) has evaluated that approximately 7 million people died prematurely in 2012 throughout the world as a result of air pollution exposure originating from emissions from outdoor and indoor anthropogenic sources. The recent update from the World Health Organization (WHO) of air quality guidelines (WHO, 2021) has emphasized the need to further curtail air pollution emissions and improve air quality globally.

Over the past decade there have been significant developments in the field of air quality research spanning improvements in characterizing sources and emissions of air pollution, new measurement technologies offering the possibility of low-cost sensors, advances in air quality prediction and forecasting, understanding interactions with meteorology and climate, and exposure assessment and management. However, there has not been a broader and comprehensive review of recent developments that push the boundaries of air quality research forward. This was recognized as a major gap in the literature at the last International Conference on Air Quality – Science and Application held online due to the COVID 19 restrictions during 18–26 May 2020. While the concept of this review originated at the International Conference on Air Quality and was stimulated by the presentations and discussions at the conference, this article has been extended to incorporate a wider landscape of research literature in the field of air quality, spanning in particular the developments occurring over the last decade. It is hoped that such a review will help to pave the path for further research in key areas where significant gaps of knowledge still exist and also to make recommendations to guide the direction for future research within the wider community. Although this paper has been written to be accessible to readers from a wide scientific and policy background, it does not seek to provide an introduction to the topic of air quality science. For readers less familiar with the research area, an introductory lecture with a focus on air quality in megacities has been published by Molina (2021). There are also other recent specific reviews, e.g. Manisalidis et al. (2020) on health impacts and Fowler et al. (2020) on air quality developments. This section begins with a short historical perspective on air quality research, before providing the underlying rationale for the key areas considered in this paper.

1.1  A brief historical perspective

In order to provide context to the topics considered in this review, this section briefly touches upon developments of air quality research since the last century. For a more thorough historical survey of air quality issues, the reader is referred to Fowler et al. (2020). Over the previous century there have been a number of landmark events of elevated air pollution that have brought air quality increasingly to prominence, especially in relation to the adverse health impacts. It has been well-known since the early 1900s that cold weather in winter can lead to increased mortality (e.g. Russell, 1926).

The perception that air pollution can have severe health impacts significantly changed when a high-air-pollution episode occurred from 1–5 December 1930 over an industrial town in the Meuse Valley in Belgium (Firket, 1936). The atmospheric conditions were foggy and stagnant. A large proportion of the population experienced acute respiratory symptoms; in addition, health conditions of people with pre-existing cardiorespiratory problems worsened (e.g. Nemery et al., 2001; Anderson, 2009). A similar event was recorded in Donora, Pennsylvania, USA, during October 1948, reported by Schrenk (1949). Although air pollution was generally treated as a nuisance, this “unusual episode” along with that over the Meuse Valley raised awareness and acceptance of the seriousness of air pollution for human health. Both air pollution events, Meuse Valley and Donora, were associated with air pollution from industrial emissions, which accumulated during cold winter periods exhibiting atmospheric stagnation caused by thermal inversions.

The so-called “Great London Smog” occurred from 5–9 December 1952, when similar stagnant atmospheric conditions were prevalent. However, in this case the cause of the severe air pollution was mainly the burning of low-grade, sulfur-rich coal for home heating (e.g. Anderson, 2009). Estimates of deaths resulting from this smog episode range from 4000 to 12 000 (e.g. Stone, 2002).

Since these historical events, the prominence of air pollution sources has changed from industrial and heating to road traffic and become a global threat to health. Trends of air pollution emissions over the past decades have been markedly different for different regions of the world, which has led to similar disparities in air quality concentrations (e.g. Sokhi, 2012). These disparities still exist, as shown in Fig. 1. Spatial distributions in this figure are based on recent analysis showing the large variations in population-weighted annual mean PM 2.5 concentrations across the globe. Commonly, now some of the highest concentrations occur in parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America as reported by Health Effects Institute (HEI, 2020).

Figure 1 Global distribution of population-weighted annual PM 2.5 concentrations for 2019 (HEI, 2020). Figure produced from https://www.stateofglobalair.org/data/#/air/map (last access: 10 December 2021).

As the recognition of poor air quality has increased, so has the need for the capability to assess levels of key air pollutants not only through monitoring but also through modelling. Historically, although air pollution was obviously poor prior to the first World War (WWI), the primary impetus for development of transport and dispersion (T&D) models during and after WWI was the widespread use of chemical weapons. Fundamental theoretical advances were made by Lewis Fry Richardson, George Keith Batchelor, and many other famous fluid dynamicists. The earliest models were analytical (e.g. Gaussian and K-theory) models used for surface boundary layer releases. With the advent of nuclear weapons in WWII, new emphasis was placed on plume rise and dispersion of large thermal radiological explosions. Thus, the full troposphere and stratosphere had to be modelled.

Later in the 1980s the first investigations came up about the atmospheric consequences of a hypothetical nuclear war initiated by Paul Crutzen (Crutzen and Birks, 1982) and others (Aleksandrov and Stenchikov, 1983; Turco et al., 1983). The concept of a nuclear winter was created. It is one of the first examples that enormous emissions of dust into the atmosphere cause global effects and catastrophic long-term climate change. Also, the nuclear winter scenario was examined in recent years with current model tools for certain nuclear war scenarios (Robock et al., 2007; Toon et al., 2019).

Deposition (wet and dry) was a main concern for many radiological substances, especially for accidental plume dispersion monitoring and modelling of nuclear power plants. In the US, a major change was the introduction of the Clean Air Act in the 1970s. A similar legislation was also issued in other countries. This effort initially focused on T&D models for industrial sources, such as the stacks of fossil power plants. The first applied models were analytical plume rise and Gaussian T&D models. Soon computer codes were written to solve these equations and produce outputs at many spatial locations and for every hour of the year.

1.2  Sources and emissions of air pollutants

From a human health perspective, the key emission sources are those affecting concentration of particulate matter and its size fractions (PM 2.5 and PM 10 ), but also sources affecting other air pollutants, such as ozone and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), especially in highly populated urban areas. Sources in the direct vicinity of urban areas could also be considered especially important, including vehicular traffic and shipping, local industrial sources, various abrasive processes, and residential and commercial heating.

An important component of PM is secondary; regional sources of the precursors of secondary PM are therefore of major importance. These include volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), and ammonia (NH 3 ), the first two also being precursors of ozone (O 3 ). Important regional precursor sources are biogenic and industrial emissions of VOCs, agriculture (NH 3 ), road traffic (nitrogen oxides, NO x = NO + NO 2 ), shipping ( NO x and SO 2 ) , and industrial and power generation sources, along with biomass burning and forest fires (VOC, NO x , also primary PM). An important source of PM is the resuspension of dust, especially in arid regions and seasonally also in areas with intensive agriculture.

While Europe and many other parts of the world have experienced decreasing anthropogenic emissions since 1990, climate change and its associated impacts can lead to an increase in dust and wildfire emissions, as a result of increased drought and desertification. Climate change is also expected to lead to significantly higher biogenic VOC emissions in different regions, e.g. Arctic and China (Kramshøj et al., 2016; Liu et al., 2019), also from urban vegetation (Churkina et al., 2017).

The emission inventory work in Europe is harmonized through the official reporting of EU member states of their emissions to the European Commission through an e-reporting scheme (Implementing Provisions for Reporting, IPR of EU Air Quality Directive, 2008/50/EC). The methodologies applied by the individual member states can, however, differ, which can sometimes bring inconsistencies into the reported national emissions. Within the last decade the EU-funded MACC project and the on-going Copernicus service have been developing consistent European-wide and global gridded emission inventories, which are suitable for air quality modelling. The access to the different inventories and analysis of differences have been facilitated by centralized databases like Emissions of atmospheric Compounds and Compilation of Ancillary Data (ECCAD, https://eccad.aeris-data.fr/ , last access: 7 July 2021).

Developing innovative methods to refine the emission inventories feeding the models and conducting studies to discriminate the role of different sources in local air quality have become essential to reduce uncertainties in predictions of urban air quality and help target effective abatement measures (Borge et al., 2014). The emission compilation that needs to be carried out also requires (i) the involvement of all stakeholders (e.g. citizens, decision-makers, service providers, and industrialists) and (ii) the implementation of dedicated and specific tools for assessing quality of the urban environment. This type of research can be used for quantifying the impacts of different emission control scenarios and supporting incentive policies (Fulton et al., 2015).

One area that has been receiving increased attention recently is ship emissions, which are an important source of air pollution, especially in coastal areas and harbour cities. Detailed bottom-up emission inventories based on ship position data have been established for SO 2 , NO x , PM, carbon monoxide (CO), and VOCs for various marine regions and also globally (Jalkanen et al., 2009, 2012, 2016; Aulinger et al., 2016; Johansson et al., 2017). Despite these advances, the evaluation of the shipping emissions for products of incomplete combustion, such as black carbons (BC), CO, and VOCs, is uncertain, as these may depend on characteristics which are not known accurately, such as the service history of ships. Regional model applications have quantified the contribution of shipping to air pollution to be of the order of up to 30 %, depending on pollutant and region (e.g. Matthias et al., 2010; Jonson et al., 2015; Aulinger et al., 2016; Karl et al., 2019a; Kukkonen et al., 2018, 2020a). More recent studies focus on the harbour and city scale, where relative contributions from ships to NO 2 concentrations may be even higher (Ramacher et al., 2019, 2020). Effects of in-plume chemistry, e.g. regarding the NO x removal and secondary aerosol formation, are not sufficiently well considered in larger-scale dispersion models (e.g. Prank et al., 2016).

1.3  Air quality in cities

Extensive and growing urban sprawl in different cities of the world is leading to environmental degradation and the depletion of natural resources, including the availability of arable land, thereby resulting in per capita increases of resource use and greenhouse gas emissions as well as air pollution, with significant impacts on health (WHO, 2016). Urban features have a profound influence on air quality in cities due to diurnal changes in urban air temperature; the urban heat island, which develops in particular during heat waves (Halenka et al., 2019); stable stratification and air stagnations; and wind flow and turbulence near and around streets and buildings affecting air pollution hotspots. Climate change will modify urban meteorology patterns which will affect air quality in cities and may even affect atmospheric chemistry reaction rates. The relative role of urban meteorology and climate compared to local emissions and chemistry is complex, non-linear, and subject to continued research, especially with boundary layer feedback (Baklanov et al., 2016).

With air quality standards being regularly exceeded in many urban areas across the globe, air quality issues are today strongly centred on the phenomena of proximity to emitters such as traffic – or certain industrial activities present in urban areas – but they also call for better understanding of contributions from long-range regional, diffuse, or specific local sources (e.g. residential wood combustion and maritime traffic) to the daily exposure of city dwellers (e.g. EEA, 2020b). In particular, the prevalent issue of individual exposure calls for a better understanding of the variability of concentrations at street level and the dispersion of emissions in the built environment. However, the approach implemented should not only be local, since urban air quality management involves a set of scales going beyond the city limits, in terms of the economic, societal, or logistical levers involved, but also include the interplay of pollutant sources and transport extending to regional and even global scales.

Beyond the scales of governance and urban functioning, it becomes essential to take into account the fact that scale interactions also exist in a geophysical context. The urban dweller has become especially exposed and vulnerable to the impacts of natural disasters, weather, and climate extreme events and their environmental consequences. These events often result in domino effects in the densely populated, complex urban environment in which system and services have become interdependent. There has never been a bigger need for user-focused urban weather, climate, water, and related environmental services in support of safe, healthy, and resilient cities (Baklanov et al., 2018b; Grimmond et al., 2020). The 18th World Meteorological Congress (2019) noted the current rapid urbanization and recognized the need for an integrated approach providing weather, climate, water, and related environmental services tailored to the urban needs (WMO, 2019).

1.4  Measuring air pollution

Measurements in the atmosphere are necessary not only for air quality monitoring but also for different purposes in weather forecast and climate change study, energy production, agriculture, traffic, industry, health protection, or tourism (e.g. Foken, 2021). Additional areas of application include the detection of emissions into the atmosphere, disaster monitoring, and the initialization and evaluation of modelling. Depending on the different objectives, in situ measuring, and ground-based, aircraft-based, and space-based remote sensing techniques and integrated measuring techniques are available. Satellite observations are a growing field of development due to increasingly small and thus cost-effective platforms (down to nanosatellites). Another area of growth is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for air pollution measurements (Gu et al., 2018).

Networks of ground-level measurements with continuous monitoring stations remain a major effort, but the coverage is starkly regionally dependent and with scarce measurements in the continent of Africa (Rees et al., 2019; Bauer et al., 2019).

Over the past decade, there has been increasing recognition that measuring air pollution at outdoor locations may not necessarily reflect the health impact on individuals or populations. The research should therefore be directed to the evaluation of both personal exposure and dynamic population exposure (Kousa et al., 2002; Soares et al., 2014). Temporal concentration and location information is needed on air pollution concentrations at all the relevant outdoor and indoor microenvironments. The actual exposure of individuals and populations cannot realistically be represented by selected concentrations at fixed outdoor locations, due to the fine-resolution spatial variability of concentrations in urban areas and the mobility of people (Kukkonen et al., 2016b; Singh et al., 2020b).

Further development of the installation of a larger number of cheap measurement devices, especially for PM 2.5 , that are operated by people interested in air quality in so-called citizen science projects is ongoing ( https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/assessing-air-quality-through-citizen-science , last access: 21 February 2022). Examples of such projects are the Open Knowledge Foundation Germany; OK Labs ( https://luftdaten.info/ , last access: 21 February 2022), Opensense (open air quality, meteorological, and noise data platform), connected with OK Labs ( https://opensensemap.org/ , last access: 21 February 2022); or AirSensEUR, an open framework for air quality monitoring ( https://airsenseur.org/website/airsenseur-air-quality-monitoring-open-framework/ , last access: 21 February 2022). However, the accuracy of these measurements is still debated (Duvall et al., 2021; Concas et al., 2021), although the development of more accurate but still low-cost devices is ongoing for denser measurement networks, 3D measurements, and new modelling. Measurements are not only required for compliance and for monitoring long-term trends. Observations are used more and more for evaluating models and where measurements might also be used to nudge the model results, for example through data assimilation (see for example Campbell et al., 2015; K. Wang et al., 2015).

1.5  Air quality modelling from local to regional scales

Air pollution models have played and continue to play a pivotal role in furthering scientific understanding and supporting policy. Additionally, for air quality assessments by regulatory methods, it is also important to predict or even forecast peak pollutant concentrations to prevent or reduce health impacts from acute episodes. Both complex and simple models have also been developed for dispersion on urban and local scales. A review has been provided by Thunis et al. (2016) that examines local- and regional-scale models, especially from an air quality policy perspective. Briefly, the spectrum of finer- and urban-scale air quality models applied for urban areas is very broad and includes urbanized chemistry–transport models (CTMs) coupled with high-resolution meso-scale numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) obstacle-resolved models in Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) and large-eddy simulation (LES) formulations (the latest mostly only for research studies), and statistical and land use regression (LUR) models. Developments in local-scale air quality models continue. For example, the dispersion on local or urban scales that also considers obstacle effects has recently been investigated using wind tunnels and CFD models (e.g. Badeke et al., 2021).

During the last decades many countries have established real-time air quality forecasting (AQF) programmes to forecast concentrations of pollutants of special health concerns. The history of AQF can be traced back to the 1960s, when the US Weather Bureau provided the first forecasts of air stagnation or pollution potential using numerical weather prediction (NWP) models to forecast conditions conducive to poor air quality (e.g. Niemeyer, 1960). Accurate AQF can offer tremendous societal and economic benefits by enabling advanced planning for individuals, organizations, and communities in order to avoid exposure and reduce adverse health impacts resulting from air pollution. Forecasts can also assist urban authorities, for example, in changing and managing traffic and hence reduce road emissions in a particular area. Air quality modelling, however, can provide a more holistic assessment of air pollution for policy makers and decision makers to develop strategies that do not compromise benefits in one area while worsening air pollution in another.

Two main approaches can be generally distinguished in AQF: empirical/statistical methods and chemical transport modelling. Until the mid-1990s, AQF was mainly performed using empirical approaches and statistical models trained with or fitted to historical air quality and meteorological data (e.g. Aron, 1980). The empirical/statistical approaches have several common drawbacks for AQF which are reviewed and discussed by Zhang et al. (2012a) and Baklanov and Zhang (2020).

The chemical transport models (CTMs) are more commonly used today for air quality assessment and forecasting. Over the last decade AQF systems based on CTMs have been developed rapidly and are currently in operation in many countries. Progress in CTM development and computing technologies has allowed daily AQFs using simplified or more comprehensive 3D CTMs, such as offline-coupled and online-coupled meteorology–chemistry models. There are several comprehensive review papers, e.g. Kukkonen et al. (2012), Zhang et al. (2012a, b), Baklanov et al. (2014), Bai et al. (2018), and Baklanov and Zhang (2020), which have more thoroughly examined the development and principles of 3D global and regional AQF models and identified areas of improvement in meteorological forecasts, chemical inputs, and model treatments of atmospheric physical, dynamic, and chemical processes.

Interest in regional pollution arose in the 1980s, initially spurred by the acid rain problem (Sokhi, 2012; Fowler et al., 2020). In the past few years, these regional air pollution models have become routinely linked with outputs of NWP models such as WRF and ECMWF. Models such as WRF coupled with CTMs are often run in a nested mode down to an inner domain with a grid size of 1 km. As computer speed and storage continually improve with developments in parameterization, in the future, these nested models may potentially take over most applied T&D analyses on local scales. Another development over the last decade is the increasing use of ensemble techniques which have also progressed and make it possible to cover an increasing range of pollutants and physical parameters, using a multiplicity of observations (e.g. ground, airborne, satellite) that enable the different dimensions of models to be investigated. At the same time that the use of regional Eulerian models has grown (e.g. Rao et al., 2020), the puff, particle, and plume T&D models for small scales and mesoscales have been improved. Several agencies and countries now have Lagrangian particle or puff models that are linked with an NWP model and are applied at all scales (Ngan et al., 2019).

1.6  Interactions of air quality, meteorology, and climate

Meteorological processes are the main driver for atmospheric pollutant dispersion, transformation, and removal. However, as studies have shown (e.g. Baklanov et al., 2016; Pfister et al., 2020), the chemistry dynamics feedbacks exist among the Earth system components, including the atmosphere. Potential impacts of aerosol feedbacks can be broadly explained in terms of four types of effects: direct, semidirect, first indirect, and second indirect (e.g. Kong et al., 2015; Fan et al., 2016). Such feedbacks, forcing mechanisms, and two-way interactions of atmospheric composition and meteorology can be important not only for air pollution modelling but also for NWP and climate change prediction (WMO, 2016).

There is a strong scientific need to increase interfacing or even coupling of prediction capabilities for weather, air quality, and climate. The first driver for improvement is the fact that information from predictions is needed at higher spatial resolutions (and longer lead times) to address societal needs. Secondly, there is the need to estimate the changes in air quality in the future driven by climate change. Thirdly, continued improvements in prediction skill require advances in observing systems, models, and assimilation systems. In addition, there is also growing awareness of the benefits of more closely integrating atmospheric composition, weather, and climate predictions, because of the important feedbacks resulting from the role that aerosols (and atmospheric composition in general) play in these systems. Recently, this trend for further integration has led to greater coupling of atmospheric dynamics and composition models to deliver seamless Earth system modelling (ESM) systems.

1.7  Air quality and health perspectives

Air pollution has serious impacts on our health by reducing our life span and exacerbating numerous illnesses. The Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 (GBDS, 2020) summarizes a comprehensive assessment of the impact of a large number of stressors including air pollution. One of the most hazardous air pollutants is particulate matter. Primary particles are directly released into the atmosphere and originate from natural and anthropogenic sources. Secondary particles are formed in the atmosphere by chemical reactions involving, in particular, gas-to-particle conversion. Primary particles tend to be larger than secondary particles. Ultra-fine and fine particles, on the other hand, deposit into the respiratory system; these may reach human lungs and blood circulation and may therefore cause severe adverse health effects (e.g. Maragkidou, 2018; Stone et al., 2017).

When considering numbers of particles, most of these in the atmosphere are smaller than 0.1  µm in diameter (e.g. Jesus et al., 2019). On the other hand, the majority of the particle volume and mass is found in particles larger than 0.1  µm (e.g. Filella, 2012). The particle number concentrations are therefore in most cases dominated by the ultra-fine aerosols, whereas the mass or volume concentrations are dominated by the coarse and accumulation mode aerosols (e.g. Seinfeld and Pandis, 2016). Other characteristics of PM have also been shown to be important in relation to health impact. The characteristics of atmospheric particles in addition to the size include mass, surface area, chemical composition, and shape and morphology (Gwaze, 2007).

It has been convincingly shown in previous literature that the exposure to particulate matter (PM) in ambient air can be associated with negative health impacts (e.g. Hime et al., 2018; Thurston et al., 2017). It is also known that PM can cause health effects combined with other environmental stressors, such as heat waves and cold spells, allergenic pollen, or airborne microorganisms. For understanding such associations, reliable methods are needed to evaluate the exposure of human populations to air pollution.

The strong association between the exposure to mass-based concentrations of ambient PM air pollution and severe health effects has been found by numerous epidemiological studies (e.g. Pope et al., 2020). In particular, there is extensive scientific evidence to suggest that exposure to PM air pollution can have acute effects on human health, resulting in respiratory, cardiovascular and lung problems, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPDs), asthma, oxidative stress, immune response, and even lung cancer (e.g. Chen et al., 2017; Hime et al., 2018; Falcon-Rodriguez et al., 2016; Thurston et al., 2017). For instance, a cohort study conducted across Montreal and Toronto (Canada) on 1.9 million adults during four cycles (1991, 1996, 2001, and 2006) resulted in a possible connection between ambient ultra-fine particles and incident brain tumours in adults (Weichenthal et al., 2020). Recent work has also investigated assessment of the health impacts of particulate matter in terms of its oxidative potential (e.g. Gao et al., 2020; He et al., 2021).

1.8  Air quality management and legislative and policy responses

Air quality management and policy is an important but also complex task for political decision makers. It started in the middle of the last century when concerns about smoke and London smog arose. The national authorities at that time reacted by stipulating efficient dust filters and high stacks for large firings. In the 1980s, forest dieback led to a shift in focus to other important air pollutants, especially SO 2 , NO x , and later ozone, and so also on the ozone precursors including VOCs. In the 1990s studies showed a relation between PM 10 and “chronic” mortality, thus drawing particular attention to the health effects of fine particles (WHO, 2013b). Also, in the 1990s, the European Commission (EC) increasingly took over the responsibility for air pollution control from the authorities of the member states, on the basis that there is free trade of goods in the European Union and also transboundary air pollutants.

The EC launched the first Air Quality Framework Directive 96/62/EC and its daughter directives, which regulated the concentrations for a range of pollutants including ozone, PM 10 , NO 2 , and SO 2 . The first standard for vehicles (Euro 1) was established in 1991. The sulfur content in many oil products was reduced starting in the late 1990s. Some of the problems with air pollution in the EU, e.g. the acidification of lakes, were caused by the transport of air pollutants from eastern Europe to the EU. This problem was discussed in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), as all countries involved were members of this commission. The Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution within the UNECE agreed on eight protocols, which set aims for reducing emissions, starting in 1985 with reducing national SO 2 emissions, with the latest protocol being the revised Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone (Gothenburg Protocol), which limits national SO 2 , NO x , VOC, NH 3 , and PM 2.5 emissions.

Over time, regulation of air pollution has become more stringent and thus more complex and more costly. To achieve acceptance, it had to be demonstrated that the measures would achieve the environmental and climate protection goals safely and efficiently, i.e. with the lowest possible costs and other disadvantages, and that the advantages of environmental protection outweigh the disadvantages (Friedrich, 2016). It is a scientific task to support this demonstration, mainly by developing and applying integrated assessments of air pollution control strategies, e.g. by carrying out cost–effectiveness and cost–benefit analyses. With a cost–effectiveness analysis (CEA) the net costs (costs minus monetizable benefits) for improving an indicator used in an environmental aim with a certain measure are calculated, e.g. the costs of reducing the emission of 1 t of CO 2,eq . The lower the unit costs, the higher the effectiveness of a policy or measure. The CEA is mostly used for assessing the effects associated with climatically active species, as the effects are global. The situation is different for air pollution, where the avoided damage of emitting 1 t of a pollutant varies widely depending on time and place of the emission.

The more general methodology is cost–benefit analysis (CBA). In a CBA, the benefits, i.e. the avoided damage and risks due to an air pollution control measure or bundle of measures, are quantified and monetized. Then, costs including the monetized negative impacts of the measures are estimated. If the net present value of benefits minus costs is positive, benefits outweigh the costs. Thus the measure is beneficial for society; i.e. it increases welfare. Dividing the benefits minus the nonmonetary costs by the monetary costs will result in the net benefit per euro spent, which can be used for ranking policies and measures.

Of course, for performing mathematical operations like summing or dividing costs and benefits, they have first to be quantified and then converted into a common unit, for which a monetary unit, i.e. euros, is usually chosen.

The term “integrated” in the context of integrated assessment means that – as far as possible – all relevant aspects (disadvantages, benefits) should be considered, i.e. all aspects that might have a non-negligible influence on the result of the assessment. Given the high complexity of answering questions related to managing the impacts of air quality, a scientific approach is required to conduct an integrated assessment, which is defined here as “a multidisciplinary process of synthesizing knowledge across scientific disciplines with the purpose of providing all relevant information to decision makers to help to make decisions” (Friedrich, 2016).

The focus of this review is on research developments that have emerged over approximately the past decade. Where needed, older references are given, but these either provide a historical perspective or support emerging work or where no recent references were available. The following areas of air quality research have been examined in this review:

air pollution sources and emissions;

air quality observations and instrumentation;

air quality modelling from local to regional scales;

interactions between air quality, meteorology, and climate;

air quality exposure and health;

air quality management and policy development.

Each section begins with a brief overview and then examines the current status and challenges before proceeding to highlight emerging challenges and priorities in air quality research. In terms of climate research, the focus is more on the interactions between air quality and meteorology with climate and not on climate change per se.

The section on air quality observations focuses on new technological developments that have led to remote sensing, low-cost sensors, crowdsourcing, and modern methods of data mining rather than attempting to cover the more traditional instrumentations and measurements which are dealt with, e.g. in Foken (2021). After considering these themes of research, the Discussion section pulls together common strands on science and implications for policy makers.

3.1  Brief overview

A fundamental prerequisite of successful abatement strategies for reduction of air pollution is understanding the role of emission sources in ambient concentration levels of different air pollutants. This requires a good knowledge of air pollution sources regarding their strength, chemical characterization, spatial distribution, and temporal variation along with knowledge on their atmospheric transport and processing. In observations of ambient air pollution, typically a complex mixture of contributions from different pollution sources is observed. These source contributions have to be disentangled before efficient reduction strategies targeting specific sources can be set up. Consequently, our discussion below is divided into two main topics: (i) emission inventories and emission pre-processing for model applications and (ii) source apportionment methods and studies.

This paper cannot give a full overview of the status of and the emerging challenges in all emissions sectors. For example, we do not deal with aviation as the impact on air quality in cities is generally rather small or concentrated around the major airports, or with construction machinery or industrial sources which make significant contributions to air pollution in some areas. Instead, we put emphasis on two emission sectors that have experienced important methodology developments in recent years in terms of emission inventories and that are of major concern for health effects: exhaust emissions from road traffic and shipping. We also touch other anthropogenic emissions, e.g. from agriculture and wood burning, As later in this paper we will explain, since individual exposure including the exposure to indoor pollution should gain importance in assessing air pollution, emissions from indoor sources will be addressed in a subchapter. Natural and biogenic emissions encompass VOC emissions from vegetation, NO emissions from soil, primary biological aerosol particles, windblown dust, methane from wetlands and geological seepages, and various pollutants from forest fires and volcanoes; these are described in a series of papers edited by Friedrich (2009). As natural and biogenic emissions depend on meteorological data, which are input data for the atmospheric model, they are usually estimated in a submodule of the atmospheric model. They are not further discussed here.

3.2  Current status and challenges

3.2.1  emissions inventories.

In the European Union, emissions of the most important gaseous air pollutants have decreased during the last 30 years (see Fig. 2). SO 2 and CO show reductions of at least 60 % (CO) or almost 90 % (SO 2 ). Also, NO x and non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC) emissions decreased by approx. 50 % while NH 3 shows much lower reductions of 20 % only. Similar to NH 3 , PM emissions also stay at similar levels compared to 2000 (Fig. 2b). Only black carbon shows considerably larger reductions, because of larger efforts to reduce BC, in particular from traffic. While traffic is the most important sector for NO x emissions and an important source for BC, PM emissions stem mainly from numerous small emission units like households and commercial applications (Fig. 2c).

Figure 2 EU-28 emission trends in absolute and relative numbers for (a)  the main gaseous air pollutants and (b)  particulate matter. Panel  (c) shows the share of EU emissions of the main pollutants by sector in 2018 (EEA, 2020b).

In parallel, research came on the path of accompanying and evaluating local emission control measures in a more comprehensive and systemic approach to urban space. The main technical advances of this research field have consisted in producing a more reliable assessment of the predominant emissions on the scale of an agglomeration/region. This has been done in order to feed the models with activity-based emission data such as population energy-consuming practices or local characteristics of road traffic, with the concern to better include their temporal variability or weather condition dependency. The originality of these approaches has been to develop the emissions inventories and modelling efforts in collaboration with stakeholders, for better data reliability and greater realism in policy support.

Improved and innovative representation of emissions, such as real configuration of residential combustion emission sources (location of domestic households using biomass combustion and surveys regarding the characteristics and use of wood stoves, boilers, and other relevant appliances) allows more realistic diagnoses (e.g. Ots et al., 2018; Grythe et al., 2019; Savolahti et al., 2019; Plejdrup et al., 2016; Kukkonen et al., 2020b). Also, increased use of traffic flow models for the representation of mobile emissions have provided refined traffic and emission estimates in cities and on national levels, as a path for improved scenarios (e.g. Matthias et al., 2020a). Kukkonen et al. (2016a) presented an emission inventory for particulate matter numbers (PNs) in the whole of Europe, and in more detail in five target cities. The accuracy of the modelled PN concentrations (PNCs) was evaluated against experimental data on regional and urban scales. They concluded that it is feasible to model PNCs in major cities within a reasonable accuracy, although major challenges remained in the evaluation of both the emissions and atmospheric transformation of PNCs.

For shipping, and in most recent development also aviation, inventories based on position data from transponders on individual vessels are becoming more widely used and provide refined emission inventories with high spatial resolution for use in harbour-city and airport studies (e.g. Johansson et al., 2017; Ramacher et al., 2019, 2020). Refined emission inventory and emission modelling are in many cases integrated into a complete regional-to-local modelling chain, which allows these refined data to be taken into account and ensures the consistency of the final results. This links to the subsequent chapters on air quality and exposure modelling.

3.2.2  Preprocessing emission data for use in atmospheric models

Emission inventories usually contain annual data for administrative units apart from data for large point sources and line sources. Atmospheric models, however, need hourly emission data for the grid cells of the model domain. Furthermore the height of the emissions (above ground), and for NMVOC, PM, and NO x a breakdown into species or classes of species according to the chemical scheme of the atmospheric model, is necessary. For PM, information is also required on the size distribution. Thus, a transformation of the available data into structure and resolution as needed by the models has to be made (Matthias et al., 2018).

For the spatial resolution, standard procedures for several emission sectors are described in Chap. 7 of the EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook 2019 (EMEP/EEA, 2019). In principle, proxy data that are available in high spatial resolution and that are correlated to the activity data of the emission sources are used. For point sources (larger sources like power plants) these are coordinates of the stack. For road transport, shape files with coordinates at least for the main road network are used together with traffic counts (for past times) or traffic flow modelling for scenarios for future years. Figure 3 shows as an example the result of a distribution of road transport emissions to grid elements for the EU countries Norway and Switzerland. The major roads as well as the urban areas can be identified as sites for the NO x emitters. For households, land use data (e.g. residential area with a certain density) combined with statistical data (number of inhabitants, use of heating technologies) are used. Especially for heating with wood-specific algorithms using data on forest density and specific residential wood combustion, emission inventories and models have been developed (Aulinger et al., 2011; Bieser et al., 2011a; Mues et al., 2014; Paunu et al., 2020; Kukkonen et al., 2020b). Thiruchittampalam (2014) contains a comprehensive description of the methodology for the spatial resolution of emissions for Europe for all emission source categories.

The algorithms for disaggregating annual emission data into hourly data follow a similar scheme. All kinds of available data containing information about the temporal course of activities leading to emissions are used for temporal disaggregation. For road transport, data from continuously monitoring the traffic volume are available, and statistical data provide the electricity production from power plants. The activity of firings for heating depends on the outside temperature or more precisely on the degree days, an indicator for the daily heating demand, together with an empirical daily course of the use of the heating (Aulinger et al., 2011; Bieser et al., 2011a; Mues et al., 2014).

Figure 3 Spatial distribution of national PM 10 emissions from road transport in the EU28 on a 5 km×5 km grid (Schmid, 2018).

A detailed description of the methodology for the temporal resolution of emission data for all source sectors in Europe is contained in Thiruchittampalam (2014). A compilation of temporal profiles for disaggregating annual into hourly data is published by Denier van der Gon (2011) and in Matthias et al. (2018). New sets of global time profiles for numerous emission sectors have recently been provided by Crippa et al. (2020) and Guevara et al. (2021). Crippa et al. (2020) provide high-resolution temporal profiles for all parts of the world including Europe. Guevara et al. (2021) developed temporal profiles as part of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service and also include higher-resolution European profiles designed for regional air pollution forecasting. The temporal profiles include time-dependent yearly profiles for sources with inter-annual variability of their seasonal pattern, country-specific weekly and daily profiles, and a flexible system to compute hourly emissions. Thus, a harmonized temporal distribution of emissions is given, which can be applied to any emission database as input for atmospheric models up to the global scale.

For the temporal and spatial distribution of agricultural emissions a number of approaches have been established; these are based on information on farmer practice, available proxy data, and meteorological data, e.g. farmland and animal densities and the consideration of temperature and wind speed for agricultural emissions (e.g. Skjøth et al., 2011; Backes et al., 2016; Hendriks et al., 2016; see Fig. 4).

Figure 4 Break-down of agricultural emissions into sub-sectors in order to improve the spatial and temporal distribution (from Backes et al., 2016).

Comprehensive VOC split vectors are provided by Theloke and Friedrich (2007) and more recently by Huang et al. (2017). Region- and source-specific speciation profiles of NMVOC species or species groups are compiled and provided, with corresponding quality codes specifying the quality of the mapping. They can then be allocated to the reduced number of VOC species used in the chemical reaction schemes implemented in atmospheric chemistry–transport models. Typical heights for the release of emissions, e.g. typical stack heights, are given by Pregger and Friedrich (2009) and Bieser et al. (2011b).

Model systems have been developed that perform the entire temporal and spatial emission distribution and the NMVOC and PM speciation in order to provide hourly gridded emission data for use in different chemistry–transport models. Recent examples are the HERMES model (Baldasano et al., 2008; Guevara et al., 2013, 2019, 2020), FUME (Benešová et al., 2018), and the Community Emissions Data System (CEDS) model system (Hoesly et al., 2018). Because natural emissions, e.g. biogenic emissions, sea spray, and dust, depend strongly on the meteorological conditions, these emissions are frequently calculated within the chemistry–transport models (CTMs). Other established CTMs like the EMEP model (Simpson et al., 2012) or LOTOS-EUROS (Manders et al., 2017) do not use emissions preprocessors but distribute gridded emissions in time based on standard temporal and speciation profiles alongside the chemistry–transport calculations in order to avoid storing and reading large emission data sets.

3.2.3  Road transport emissions

Exhaust emissions from road transport have been a significant source of primarily NO x and ultra-fine particles (UFPs) in urban areas around the world. In the EU, road transport is the single most important source of NO x , producing 28.1 % of total NO x emissions (EEA, 2019b). In terms of PM 10 , its contribution is 7.7 % when both exhaust and non-exhaust sources are counted and 2.9 % when only exhaust emissions are considered (EEA, 2019b). Road transport contributes 32 %–97 % of total UFP in urban areas (Kumar et al., 2014). The difference between PM 10 and UFP contributions from road transport is a direct outcome of the small size of exhaust particles that mostly reside in the UFP range (Vouitsis et al., 2017).

The proximity of people to the emission source (vehicles) significantly increases exposure to traffic-induced pollution (Żak et al., 2017). Consequently, traffic exhaust emissions have been extensively studied, and comprehensive sets of emission factors have been available for a long time. The two most widespread methods to estimate emissions in Europe include COPERT ( https://www.emisia.com/utilities/copert/ , last access: 22 February 2022) and HBEFA ( https://www.hbefa.net , last access: 22 February 2022). These methods share the same experimental database of vehicular emissions – the so-called ERMES database ( https://www.ermes-group.eu/ , last access: 22 February 2022) – but express emission factors in different modelling terms. COPERT is also a part of the EMEP/CORINAIR Emission Inventory Guidebook (EMEP/EEA, 2019).

These models define the emissions for several pollutant species, for a wide range of vehicles and operating conditions. Emission factors are regularly being updated in an effort to reflect the best knowledge of on-road vehicle emission levels. Despite this, there are still some uncertainties in estimating emissions from road transport, in particular when these are to be used as input to air quality models. More attention is therefore needed in the following directions.

Emission factors for the latest vehicle technologies always come with some delay. This is the result of the time lag between placement of a new vehicle technology on the road and the organization of measurement campaigns to collect the experimental information required to develop the emission factors. The latest regulation (Reg. (EU) 2018/858) – mandating a minimum number of market surveillance tests in the different member states – may help to reduce this lag and to extend the availability of vehicle tests on which to base emission factors.

The availability of measurements of pollutants which are currently not included in emissions regulations (NH 3 , N 2 O, CH 4 , PAHs, etc.) is limited compared to regulated pollutants. Moreover, any available measurements have been mostly collected in the laboratory, due to instrumentation limitations for on-road measurements. Therefore, emission models may miss on-road operation conditions that potentially lead to high emissions rates of non-regulated pollutants.

The increase in emissions with vehicle age is still subject to high uncertainty. Emission increases with age may be due to normal system degradation, the presence of high emitters on the road (Murena and Prati, 2020) or vehicle tampering to improve performance or decrease operational costs. Current models use degradation functions based on remote sensing data (e.g. Borken-Kleefeld and Chen, 2015). This is a useful source of information, but remote sensing data need to be collected in additional locations in the EU, covering a range of climatic and operation conditions.

Emission models may be conservative in their approach of estimating emissions in extreme conditions of temperature (Lozhkina et al., 2020), altitude, road gradient, or creeping speeds. Although such conditions may not be substantial for estimating the total emissions of most countries, they can potentially lead to a significant underestimation of emissions that have to be locally calculated for high-resolution air quality modelling.

Despite uncertainties in modelling emissions, there is a high level of confidence that exhaust gas emissions of mobile sources will continue to decrease in the years to come. For example, Matthias et al. (2020b) projected that the contribution of road traffic to ambient NO 2 concentrations will decrease from 40 %–60 % in 2010 to 10 %–30 % in 2040. This is the result of relevant technological development driven by demanding CO 2 reduction targets and air pollutant emission standards applicable to new vehicles. An example of such technological development is the increase in the availability of plug-in hybrid vehicles, which have exhibited great potential in reducing both pollutant emissions and CO 2 emissions from traffic (Doulgeris et al., 2020).

Technological improvement in decreasing emissions from internal combustion engines will be accelerated in the EU market due to the current Euro 6d emission standard and the upcoming Euro 7 regulation but also the proliferation of electric power trains to meet CO 2 targets. The only road transport pollutant not significantly affected by the introduction of electric vehicles is non-exhaust PM coming from tyre, brake, and road wear, with estimates suggesting both increases due to heavier vehicles and reductions due to wider exploitation of regenerating braking systems (Beddows and Harrison, 2021).

New techniques are also being developed with the capacity to monitor emissions of vehicles in operation. This can verify that emissions remain below limits in actual use and not just in type approval testing conditions. A current example of such on-board monitoring systems is the on-board fuel consumption measurement (OBFCM) device which is already mandatory for new light-duty vehicles and is being extended for heavy-duty vehicles (Zacharof et al., 2020). Information from such systems, together with new computation methods (big data), can provide very useful information for improving the reliability and temporal and spatial resolution of current emissions inventories.

3.2.4  Shipping emissions

Ships consume high amounts of fossil fuels. On the global scale they emit amounts of CO 2 comparable to big industrialized countries like Germany and Japan. Because ships use high-sulfur fuels, regardless of the global introduction of the 0.5 % sulfur cap in 2020, and typically are not equipped with advanced exhaust gas cleaning systems, their share from global CO 2 is 2.9 %, but corresponding shares of NO x and SO x are considerably higher, 13 % and 12 %, respectively (IPCC, 2014; Smith et al., 2015; Faber et al., 2020). Ship routes are frequently located in the vicinity of the coast, which may go along with significant contributions to air pollution in coastal areas. Effects on ozone formation and secondary aerosol formation also need to be considered.

The environmental regulation concerning the sulfur emissions from ships has been in place in the Baltic Sea since 2006, with the North Sea following in 2007. Currently, also North America and some Chinese coastal areas have stringent sulfur limits for ship fuels. Everywhere else the use of high-sulfur fuel in ships was allowed until the start of 2020, when sulfur reductions of a maximum of 0.5 % S were extended to all ships (IMO, 2019). This has been estimated to reduce the premature deaths by 137 000 each year (Sofiev et al., 2018). Nitrogen oxide emissions from ships are regulated by NO x Emission Control Areas (ECAs), which currently exist only in the coastlines of Canada and the US. The Baltic Sea and the North Sea areas will quickly follow, because in 2021 all new ships sailing these areas must comply with 80 % NO x reduction.

The introduction of the automatic identification system (AIS), long-range identification and tracking (LRIT), and vessel monitoring systems (VMSs) have enabled tracking of individual ships in unprecedented detail. These navigational aids offer an excellent description of vessel activities on both local and global scales.

Currently, ship emission models using AIS data as an activity source are most popular. They can have accurate information about quantity, location, and time of the emissions. Most of the model systems applied today use a bottom-up approach to calculate shipping emissions (e.g. Jalkanen et al., 2009, 2012, 2016; Johansson et al., 2017; Aulinger et al., 2016). The combination of vessel activity, technical description, and an emission model allows for prediction of emissions for individual ships. This also facilitates comparisons to fuel reports, like those of the EU Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) scheme or IMO Data Collection System (DCS). Emission models may also include external contributions, like wind, waves, ice, or sea currents in vessel performance prediction, which brings them closer to realistic conditions experienced by ships than the assumptions applied for ideal conditions (Jalkanen et al., 2009; Yang et al., 2020). A vessel-level modelling approach allows for very high spatio-temporal resolution and flexible 4D grids (lat, long, height, time) on which the data can be given. New information about modified or new emission factors for certain chemical species can easily be adopted in the models. Ship emission data are available on a global grid at 0.1 ∘ × 0.1 ∘ and in higher resolution for regional domains in Europe (see Fig. 5), North America, and East Asia (e.g. Johansson et al., 2017). The emission model systems also allow for the construction of future scenarios; see e.g. Matthias et al. (2016) for the North Sea, Karl et al. (2019c) for the Baltic Sea or Geels et al. (2021) for a possible opening of new routes in the Arctic.

Figure 5 The predicted SO x emissions from ships in Europe in 2018, computed using the STEAM model (e.g. Johansson et al., 2017). Use of low-sulfur fuels and SO x scrubbers is concentrated to the North Sea and Baltic Sea ECAs. Background map © US Geological Survey, Landsat8 imagery.

Emissions from ships in ports can be quantified for arrival and departure following the same AIS-based approach as for regional and global shipping emissions. Emissions for ships at berth are estimated based on ship type and size, but with large uncertainties.

Introduction of emission limits gives shipowners a choice to comply with at least three options. The first of these is the use of low-sulfur fuels, and the second option involves the use of aftertreatment devices ( SO x scrubbers), which remove air pollutants by spraying the exhaust with seawater. The third option probably applies only to new ships, because it involves the use of liquid natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel.

Exhaust aftertreatment systems, which are commonly used to remove NO x , SO x , or PM often involve chemical additives (urea, caustic soda) or large amounts of seawater. Use of so-called open-loop SO x scrubbers, which use seawater spray to wash the ship exhaust, releases the effluent back to the sea. This may lead to a creation of a new water quality problem, especially in areas where water volumes are small (estuaries, ports) or water exchange is slow (e.g. the Baltic Sea) (Teuchies et al., 2020).

The use of low-sulfur or LNG fuels is a fossil-based solution, unless the fuel was made using renewable or fully synthetic sources. However, emissions of NO x , SO x , and PM from LNG engines can be very low, but this depends very much on the engine type selected.

Methane, methanol, and ammonia are three fuels which can be produced by fossil, bio, and synthetic pathways. These three fuels are also suitable for use in internal combustion engines as well as fuel cells. All three are hydrogen carriers and processes, which lead to synthesis of these three fuels and have hydrogen production as an intermediary step. This could offer a viable pathway towards hydrogen-based shipping but also allows the use of current engine setups and existing fuel infrastructure (DNV-GL, 2019).

3.2.5  Emissions of indoor sources

The shift in focus from regulating the outdoor concentration of pollutants to putting more emphasis on reducing the individual exposure to pollutants, which is described later in Sects. 7.4 and 8 of this paper, makes it necessary to analyse not only possibilities for reducing emissions from outdoor sources, but also those from indoor sources. Thus, detailed knowledge about emission factors from indoor sources is needed.

Smoking, combustion appliances, and cooking are important sources of PM 2.5 , NO, NO 2 , and PAHs (Hu, 2012; Li, 2020; Weschler and Carslaw, 2018). Particularly important indoor sources of NO and NO 2 are gas appliances such as stoves and boilers (Farmer et al., 2019). For PM 2.5 , apart from diffuse abrasion processes, passive smoking is still the most important source, although the awareness that passive smoking is unhealthy has been increasing with the EU ban of smoking in public buildings. Schripp et al. (2013) report that not only smoking but also consuming e-cigarettes leads to a high emission of VOCs and fine and ultra-fine particles. Frying and baking lead to the evaporation and later condensation of fat and are a large source for PM 2.5 , especially if no kitchen hood is used; a larger number of studies on frying are available and listed in Li (2020) and Hu et al. (2012). Hu et al. (2012) reviewed emissions of PM 2.5 from the use of candles and incense sticks and found that incense sticks have much higher emission rates than candles. Zhao et al. (2020a) simultaneously measured indoor and outdoor concentrations of PM in homes in Germany and report abrasion and resuspension processes as major contributors of coarser particles (PM 2.5−10 ) and toasting, frying, baking, and burning of candles and incense sticks as important sources for ultra-fine particles. Also, the use of open chimneys and older wood stoves in the living area is an important source. For wood stoves, mostly measured indoor concentrations of PM 2.5 are used to characterize the pressure coming from indoor emissions, or emissions are estimated as a fraction of the overall emissions of a stove. As only a few studies measuring emissions from wood stoves into the interior exist (Li et al., 2019b; Salthammer et al., 2014), more measurements are necessary. Schripp et al. (2014) report very high emission factors of ethanol-burning fireplaces, as these have no chimney.

Laser printers emit ultra-fine particles, especially longer-chained alkanes (C21–C45) and siloxanes (Morawska et al., 2009). Also the new 3D printers are a source of nanoparticles, as Gu et al. (2019) found out. Schripp et al. (2011) analysed the emissions from electric household appliances and reported high emission rates in particular from toasters, raclette grills, flat irons, and hair blowers.

New furniture is often a source of formaldehyde. The use of chemicals such as cleaning agents and personal care products leads to VOC and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC) emissions, which are partly oxidized and condensate and thus transform into fine particles. McDonald et al. (2018) point out that with rapidly decreasing emissions of VOC from transportation, emissions from the use of volatile chemical products indoors are becoming the dominant sources in the urban VOC emission inventory, so that VOC concentrations often are higher indoors than outdoors (Kristensen et al., 2019).

Excreta of house dust mites use of fan heaters; vacuum cleaning; especially without HEPA filters; and pets are further indoor emission sources. Furthermore, all kinds of human activities produce abrasion. As there are numerous different processes causing these emissions, instead of estimating emissions, measured concentrations, which typically stem from abrasion processes, are used.

Apart from reducing emissions, the concentration of pollutants indoors can also be reduced by ventilation, i.e. by opening windows or using mechanical ventilation, or by filtering the air, e.g. with HEPA filters for the removal of fine particles.

3.2.6  Source apportionment methods and studies

The question of how much the different sources are contributing to the ambient levels of different air pollutants is critical for the design of effective strategies for urban air quality planning. Different methods are used for source apportionment of ambient concentrations, each including certain limitations given by the intrinsic assumptions underpinning the individual methods and by availability and robustness of data underpinning the source apportionment. In many cases these methods are complementary to each other, and implementation of a combination of different methods decreases the uncertainties (Thunis et al., 2019). There are two principally different source apportionment models: the receptor models apportioning the measured mass of an atmospheric pollutant at a given site to its emission sources and the source-oriented models based on sensitivity analyses performed with different types of air quality models (Gaussian, Lagrangian, or Eulerian chemistry–transport models) (Viana et al., 2008; Hopke, 2016; Mircea et al., 2020). Another method addressing the source–receptor relation of air pollution is inverse modelling used for improvement of emission inventories from global scale to individual industrial sources (e.g. Stohl et al., 2010; Henne et al., 2016; Bergamaschi et al., 2018).

The main receptor models are the incremental (Lenschow) method, the chemical mass balance (CMB) method, and the positive matrix factorization (PMF) (Mircea et al., 2020). The Lenschow method is based on the assumption that source contributions can be derived from the differences in measured concentrations at specific locations not affected and affected by the emission sources. This approach is based on the assumptions that the regional contribution is constant at both locations and that the sources do not contribute to the regional background. The CMB is based on known source composition profiles and measured receptor species concentrations. The result depends strongly on the availability of source profiles, which ideally are from the region where the receptor is located and that should be contemporary with the underpinning ambient air measurements. PMF is the most commonly used analytical technique operating linear transformation of the original variables to create a new set of variables, which better explain cause–effect patterns. Hopke (2016) provides a complete review of receptor models.

The source-oriented apportionment methods utilizing source-specific gridded emission inventories and air pollution models include two in principal different methods, the widely used sensitivity analysis, also called brute-force method, or emission reduction potential (Mircea et al., 2020) or emission reduction impact (ERI) method (Thunis et al., 2019), and the tagged species methodology which involves computational algorithms solving reactive tracer concentrations within the chemistry–transport models. ERI and tagged species methods are conceptually different and address different questions. Generally, the ERI method analyses how the concentrations predicted by an air quality model respond to variations in input emissions and their uncertainties. An important aspect to consider when using this method is that the relationship between precursor emissions and concentrations of secondary air pollutants may include non-linear effects. In non-linear situations, the sum of the concentrations of each source is different from the total concentration obtained in the base case. The magnitude of the emission variations considered in ERI may vary from small perturbations, studying the model response in the same chemical and physical regime as the base case, to removing 100 % of the studied emissions (the zero-out method), which may include non-linear effects present in the model response (Mircea et al., 2020). The tagged species method is based on CTM simulations with the tagging/labelling technique, which keeps track of the origin of air pollutants through the model simulation. This accountability makes it possible to quantify the mass contributed by every source or area to the pollutant concentration (Thunis et al., 2019; Im et al., 2019).

The principal differences between the different source-apportionment methods and implications of these differences on apportionment of sources to the observed or modelled ambient concentration levels are in detail explained and discussed in Clappier et al. (2017) and Thunis et al. (2019). Belis et al. (2020) evaluated 49 independent source apportionment results produced by 40 different research groups deploying both receptor and source-oriented models in the framework of the FAIRMODE intercomparison study of PM 10 source apportionment. The results have shown good performance and intercomparability of the receptor models for the overall data set while results for the time series were more diverse. The source contributions of the source-oriented models to PM 10 were less than the measured concentrations.

In this section we further focus on new developments in source characterization with the help of receptor-oriented models and in construction of emission inventories while the air quality models and emission sensitivity studies are the subject of Sect. 5 of this paper. Several new studies reported on characterization of local composition of particulate matter as well as of NMVOCs and PAHs, tracking the contribution of main emission sources (Christodoulou et al., 2020; Diémoz et al., 2020; Saraga et al., 2021; Liakakou et al., 2020; Kermenidou et al., 2020). The particulate matter has been characterized in terms of carbonaceous matter – elemental or black and organic carbon, organic matter, metals, ionic species, and elemental composition. An Aethalometer model to identify BC related to fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning has been applied in several studies (Grange et al., 2020; Christodoulou et al., 2020; Diémoz et al., 2020). Combination of the different analytical methods and analysis of temporal and spatial variation in the data allowed for identification of chemical fingerprints of different emission sources. Belis et al. (2019) present a multistep PMF approach where a high-time-resolution data set from Italy of aerosol organic and inorganic species measured with several online and offline techniques gave internally consistent results and could identify additional emission sources compared to earlier studies.

The local studies characterizing the local composition of PM, as well as NMVOCs and PAHs, revealed the important roles of road traffic and residential combustion for concentration levels of air pollutants in both urban and rural areas. Wood burning has an important share in many residential areas, especially those outside the city centres and in the countryside (Saraga et al., 2021; Fameli et al., 2020). Fuel oil is another important fuel in residential combustion; in some cities such as Athens it is the dominating one (Fameli et al., 2020). The studies show important differences in the diurnal and seasonal patterns of these two emission sources. While road traffic emissions have maxima in the morning and afternoon hours, contributions from residential combustion dominate at night-time and in the cold season. Important contributions of traffic are found in all studies. Saraga et al. (2021) show, as results from the ICARUS study performed in six European cities, that the main contribution to road-traffic-related PM 2.5 is the tyre and brake wear and resuspension of the particles. The fuel oil combustion source is, apart from residential heating, also associated with industrial emissions and shipping emissions. Contributions from these sources become important at specific locations, like in cities with certain industrial plants or in harbour cities.

Analyses of data from longer time series show a decreasing trend for exhaust gas emissions in road traffic. Its contributions to BC in the last decade decreased while the residential combustion, especially the wood burning contribution, does not show any clear trend (Grange et al., 2020). Efficient abatement measures for improvement of the local air quality need to address the important sources. In most cases these are the local traffic and residential combustion, but in many cases these also include industrial sources and in some cases shipping. Targeting these different sources requires a different approach for each.

Inverse modelling is mainly used for improvement of emission inventories with the help of measurements. Different inversion methods applied in Lagrangian dispersion models (e.g. Stohl et al., 2010; Manning et al., 2011; Henne et al., 2016) and global and regional Eulerian models have been widely used for improvements of emission inventories of greenhouse gases on a wide range of geographical scales from global to national, urban, and local. An overview of different inverse modelling approaches applied to a European CH 4 emission inventory is presented by Bergamaschi et al. (2018). Inverse modelling has the potential to reduce uncertainties of emission inventories comparable to other approaches, e.g. an incremental method combining aircraft measurements and a high-resolution emission inventory (Gurney et al., 2017).

3.3  Emerging challenges

3.3.1  emission inventories and preprocessors.

Emission inventories still have large uncertainties. In particular, PM emissions stemming from all kinds of diffuse processes, especially from abrasion processes in industry, households, agriculture, and traffic, show a large variability and uncertainty. For example, abrasion processes of trains may cause very large PM concentrations in underground train stations, but emission factors and total emissions are not well-known. With the ongoing reduction of exhaust gas emissions and the continuing introduction of electric vehicles, abrasion will become the most important process for traffic emissions.

For residential wood combustion many uncertainties relate to the quality and refinement of information about the use of wood and the heating device technologies, tree species, wood storage conditions, or combustion procedures implemented. Their impact on emission inventories is not well evaluated, but new research underlines how national characteristics need to be taken into account and also shows what type of data can be used in order to improve the spatial representation of these emissions.

Despite the activities to improve temporal profiles of agricultural emissions, more detailed information about the amount of NH 3 and PM emissions is still needed for many regions of the world. Also, natural emissions like dust, marine VOCs, and marine organic aerosols remain a challenge, in particular when climate change might lead to the formation of new source regions in high latitudes.

Chemical composition of NMVOC emissions from combustion processes remains highly uncertain, especially when new fuels enter the market like low-sulfur residual fuels in shipping or when new exhaust gas cleaning technologies are introduced that modify the chemical composition of the exhaust gas. Advanced instrumentation for the characterization of new emission profiles are needed here. Measurement techniques employed in the characterization of emissions impact the results; for example, the dilution methods used have a large impact on the measured gas-to-particle partitioning. Better understanding of these impacts and a robust assessment of the uncertainties and variabilities remain a challenge. Emission inventories should include air pollutants and greenhouse gases at the same time. Integrated assessments analyse measures and policies targeting air pollution control as well as climate protection at the same time and potential, and their co-benefits need to be investigated.

Emissions preprocessors aim at increasing the level of detail they take into account for calculating the spatial and temporal resolution of emissions. However, the availability of input data sets (e.g. traffic data from mobile phone positions, AIS ship position data), the huge size of these data sets, and also data protection rules currently hinder their use. Still, there is big potential in extending the data sources used for emissions preprocessing towards big data, e.g. from mobile phone positions, traffic counts, or online emission reporting, in order to reach real-time emission data and improved dynamic emission inventories to be used in air quality forecast systems. Monitoring data from numerous air quality sensors at multiple locations might help in advancing these inventories.

3.3.2  Road emissions

The accuracy and relevance of our current emission estimation and modelling approaches may in the future be challenged by relevant developments, the most important ones being the following.

The exhaust emissions from road transport are continuously decreasing, as exhaust filters become increasingly efficient and are used in a wider range of vehicle technologies, including gasoline vehicles, while the market share of electric cars is also increasing. However, PM 2.5 , PM 10 , and heavy metal emissions from wear and abrasion processes increase with increasing traffic volume as they are not regulated, and electric cars also produce emissions from tyre wear and road abrasion. For instance, the emissions of PM 2.5 reported by Germany to the EEA for 2018 show 9.9 kt a −1 for exhaust gases of cars, trucks, and motorcycles; 7.6 kt for tyre and brake wear; and 4.3 kt from road abrasion. A scenario reported by Germany for 2030 shows only 2.0 kt PM 2.5 for exhaust emissions, but 7.9 kt from tyre and brake wear and 4.4 kt from road abrasion (EIONET, 2019). Emissions from wear of tyres and brakes and abrasion of road surfaces are less studied than exhaust emissions. Wear emissions depend on a range of parameters including driving behaviour (acceleration and braking pattern), vehicle weight and loading, structure and material of brakes and tyres, road surface material, and weather conditions (e.g. road water coverage) (e.g. Denby et al., 2013; Stojiljkovic et al., 2019; Beddows and Harrison, 2021). Capturing the effect of technological developments in this area would be therefore important for relevant air quality estimates.

The profile of non-methane organic gases (NMOGs) is important to estimate the contribution of exhaust to secondary organic aerosol formation. NMOGs depend on fuel and lube oil use, combustion, aftertreatment, and operation conditions. The profile of emission species may be differentiated as new fuels, including renewable, oxygenated, and other organic components are being increasingly used to decarbonize fuels. Hence, although total hydrocarbon emissions are still controlled by emission standards, the speciation of these emissions may vary in the future. Monitoring those changes is cumbersome as the study of the chemistry and/or volatility of organic species is a tedious and expensive procedure. Hence any changes may escape relevant experimental campaigns.

Questions remain about the suitability of widespread emission factors and models to capture the effects of lane layouts, vehicle interactions, and driving behaviour, while lane-wide average traffic parameters are a structural limitation to emission modelling. As urban policies are advancing in an effort to decrease the usage of private vehicles in cities, the impact of traffic calming and banning measures may not be satisfactorily captured by today's available emission models. In order to take driving behaviours into account, it is necessary to improve so-called microscopic models such as the “Passenger car and Heavy duty Emission Model“ (PHEM) (Hausberger et al., 2003) that calculate emissions from high-temporal-frequency information on network configuration as well as traffic and driving conditions (see review by Franco et al., 2013). Their use calls for the development of new methodologies to provide the simulation with individual speed profiles, taking into account the actual road usage and the specificities of the emissions of the most recent vehicles.

3.3.3  Shipping emissions

The efforts of decarbonizing shipping have thus far concentrated on minimizing the energy need of ships, but a shift to carbon-neutral or non-carbon fuels is necessary. Methane, methanol, and ammonia are three fuels that could offer a viable pathway towards hydrogen-based shipping but also allow for the use of current engine setups and existing fuel infrastructure (DNV-GL, 2019). Regardless of the fuel or aftertreatment technique used, detailed emission factor measurements for various combinations of fuels and engines are needed (Anderson et al., 2015; Winnes et al., 2020) to reliably model the emissions.

Little is known about emissions of VOCs from ships and how much they contribute to particle formation and ozone formation. VOC emissions from ships are not included in most ship emission models, because emission factors are not available or stem from comparably old observations. In addition, VOC emissions are expected to vary considerably with the type of fuel burned and the lubricants used on board, both of which have changed considerably with the introduction of low-sulfur fuels in 2015 (in ECAs) and in 2020 (on a global level). The most recent greenhouse gas emission report from IMO (2021) states that evaporation might be the most important source for VOCs from shipping, which is not considered in any emission inventory, yet.

Current exhaust gas cleaning technologies, in particular scrubbers applied for removing SO 2 from the ship exhaust, dump large parts of the scrubbed pollutants into the sea. More comprehensive research is therefore urgently needed on the combined effects of shipping, which will treat both the impacts via the atmosphere and those on the marine environments. The impacts via the atmosphere include the health effects on humans, the deposition of pollutants to the sea, and climatic forcing. The impacts on the marine environment include acidification, eutrophication, accumulation of pollution in the seas, and marine biota. Recently, there have been attempts to combine the expertise of oceanic and atmospheric researchers for resolving these issues (Kukkonen et al., 2020a).

Ships have high emissions when they arrive in ports and also when they depart a short time later. In addition, they need electricity and heat when they stay at berth, leading to additional emissions in ports stemming from their auxiliary engines and boilers. The impact of these emissions on urban air quality in port areas is of high interest because of their large impact on human exposure.

3.3.4  Indoor sources

Even though people in industrialized countries spend more than 80 % of their time indoors, systematic knowledge on indoor air quality, source strength of the indoor air pollution sources, and physico-chemical transformation of indoor air pollutants is still limited. Therefore, systematic quantification of different indoor air pollution sources, such as building material, consumer products, and human activities, is needed, including exploitation of the already existing test chamber, and other relevant laboratory data are needed. Special attention is also needed to the outdoor source component. Besides obtaining new data on indoor-to-outdoor (I  /  O) ratios, the existing data need to be systematically analysed. One of the key challenges here is how to translate such data from the outdoor contribution into a real indoor environment with considerable heterogeneity in terms of ventilation, volume, microclimatic characteristics, and multiple indoor sources (Bartzis et al., 2015).

Development of indoor air quality models with accurate description of the key chemical and physical processes involved in outdoor–indoor air interaction as well as processing and transport of indoor air pollution inside the buildings is needed to properly address connection between the outdoor air quality and indoor air pollution sources. Additional advanced modelling is needed for air–surface interactions targeting emissions and sinks on different surfaces including those in the ventilation set-up (Liu et al., 2013) along with verification of the indoor air models with measurements in a variety of indoor air environments.

3.3.5  Source apportionment

Continuous improvement of emission inventories with help of verification with source- and receptor-oriented source apportionment methods is needed, especially as large changes in emissions, in terms of both the emission totals and profiles of emission species from individual sources, are expected as a result of upcoming new technologies, fuels, and changes in lifestyle emerging mainly from the Paris Agreement climate change targets.

Currently, apportionments of the overall measurement data sets usually give consistent results while source apportionment of data with high temporal resolution still remains challenging. With rapid development of both advanced online measurement instruments and low-cost measurement sensors, development of source apportionment methods towards high-temporal-resolution data and increasing number of parameters is necessary. This also requires improvements in characterization of sources in terms of both speciation and temporal profiles. This in particular concerns emission profiles for NMVOCs, PAHs, and particulate organic matter (e.g. most existing profiles for PAH emission from vehicles are quite old and do not follow vehicle technology evolution; Cecinato et al., 2014; Finardi et al., 2017). Inverse modelling methods are very powerful and promising tools for source estimation and improvement of emission inventories, but the current models provide large spread in results and need to be further improved and intercompared.

Here we concentrate on another growing field of development: low-cost sensor (LCS) networks, crowdsourcing, and citizen science together with small-scale air quality model simulations to provide personal air pollution exposure. Modern satellite and remote sensing techniques are not in focus here.

4.1  Brief overview

Europe's air quality has been improved over the past decade. This has led to a significant reduction in premature deaths over the same period in Europe, but all Europeans still suffer from air pollution (EEA, 2020a). The most serious air pollutants, in terms of harm to human health, are particulate matter (PM), NO 2 , and ground-level ozone (O 3 ). The analysis of concentrations in relation to the defined EU and World Health Organization (WHO) standards is based on measurements at fixed monitoring points, officially reported by the member states. Supplementary assessment by modelling is also considered, particularly when it results in exceeding the legislated EU standards. But in parallel new monitoring techniques and strategies for observation of ambient air quality are available and applied, which are discussed below.

The motivations for new developments in observation and instrumentation are, on the one hand, obtaining necessary information about air pollutant concentrations and exposure as a basis for compliance and health protection measures and on the other hand supporting improvements in weather, climate, and air quality forecasts. Remote sensing techniques are developed further to get 3D coverage of observations globally by establishment of networks with mini-lidar for example (so-called ceilometers), for evaluation of satellite measurements, to contribute to atmospheric super sites (extension of in situ measurements), or for chemistry–transport model (CTM) evaluations. These techniques can provide nearly continuous monitoring data, only interrupted by certain weather conditions. Satellite measurements are becoming more important for air quality management because their spatial resolution can reach down to 1 km, while their information content is suitable for the assessment of modelling results and combination with modelling tasks (Hirtl et al., 2020). All these techniques enable unattended detection at different altitudes and thus of the composition, clouds, structure, and radiation fluxes of the atmosphere as well as Earth surface characteristics, relevant for atmosphere–surface feedback processes.

Some examples of modern remote sensing techniques as described in Foken (2021) are the sun photometer networks (determination of aerosol optical depth), MAX-DOAS (e.g. NO 2 and HCHO column densities), lidar (e.g. water vapour, temperature, wind, and air pollutants), and more recently ceilometers (e.g. cloud altitude and mixing layer height). Machine learning algorithms, such as neural networks, are now deployed for remote sensing applications (Feng et al., 2020). Satellite observations have become available for column densities of aerosol, NO 2 , CO, HCHO, O 3 , PM 10 , CH 4 , and CO 2 as well as aerosol optical depth and various image analyses (Foken, 2021). Together with improved spatial coverage and high resolution, these data become increasingly important for assessment in urban areas (Letheren, 2016).

The distribution of ambient air composition exhibits large spatial variations; therefore high-resolution measurement networks are required. This has become possible with LCS networks, which are used in both research and operational applications of air pollution measurement and in global networks of observations such as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) programme (Lewis et al., 2017). WMO/GAW (Global Atmosphere Watch Programme of the World Meteorological Organization; https://public.wmo.int/en , last access: 21 February 2022) addresses atmospheric composition on all scales from global and regional to local and urban (see GAW Station Information System, https://gawsis.meteoswiss.ch/GAWSIS/#/ , last access: 21 February 2022) and thus provides information and services on atmospheric composition to the public and to decision-makers, which requires quality assurance elements and procedures as described by the WMO/GAW Implementation Plan: 2016–2023 (WMO, 2017). This topic is further discussed with respect to the related sensor, network, and data analysis requirements.

4.2  Current status and challenges

To describe the current trends of air quality monitoring, certain lines of research and technical development are formulated in the following section. This section concentrates on high-resolution measurement networks by the installation of a larger number of small and low-cost measurement sensors. The measurements by traditional in situ measuring as well as ground-based, aircraft-based, and space-based remote sensing techniques or integrated measuring techniques are no longer considered. Also, satellite observations, which are a growing field of development towards even smaller and thus cost-effective platforms, are not the focus here.

The configurations of ambient air measurements can be described as a space, time, and precision-dimensional feature space shown as large arrows in Fig. 6 where crowds with LCS (green) are distributed irregularly in space and time at low precision and high number. Stationary measurements (yellow) are performed at high precision and thus of the highest quality as well as continuously over time but only at a few points in space requiring high effort and cost. Between the two layers, mobile measurements are available on a medium level of precision: in one case regularly on certain routes (red) and in another case with high spatial density at a few points during intensive measurement campaigns (blue). The crowd measurements by LCS can be geo-statistically projected onto a higher quality level together with the high-precision measurements (thin black arrows). Following this, an overall higher information density at an elevated quality level than the sum of the individual measurements alone is possible, so that continuous data by LCS can be applied (Budde et al., 2017).

There is an increasing interest in air quality forecast and assessment systems by decision makers to improve air quality and public health; mitigate the occurrence of acute air pollution episodes, particularly in urban areas; and reduce the associated impacts on agriculture, ecosystems, and climate. Current trends in the development of modern atmospheric composition modelling and air quality forecast systems are described in review by Baklanov and Zhang (2020), which includes for instance the multi-scale prediction approach, multi-platform observations, and data assimilation as well as data fusion, machine learning methods, and bias correction techniques. This shows the general development towards spatial and temporal high resolution as well as better knowledge of personal air pollution exposure.

Figure 6 Configuration of ambient air measurements modelled as a space, time, and precision-dimensional feature space (large arrows): crowds with low-cost sensors (green) scatter irregularly in space and time at low precision but high number (source: Budde et al., 2017).

4.2.1  Low-cost sensors and citizen science for atmospheric research

Many manufacturers (more than 50 worldwide, with their numbers growing fast) are working in the market for air quality monitoring with different business models (Alfano et al., 2020). There are companies which produce and/or sell medium-cost sensors (MCSs) with a cost per compound on the order of EUR 100 and EUR 1000 and LCS on the order of EUR 10 and EUR 100 for all key air pollutants (Concas et al., 2021). Furthermore, manufacturers and integrators often provide installation of LCS and MCS for networks and on mobile monitoring platforms. The operation of such networked and mobile platform measurements is also often supported by the companies which install the sensors. However, the monitoring of air pollutant limit value exceedances is still a task of governmental agencies which are responsible for air quality.

These developments point to a new era in detecting the quality of air which we breathe (Munir et al., 2019; Schade et al., 2019; Schäfer et al., 2021) where virtually everybody can measure air pollutants. Following this potential high number of sensors, fine-granular assessment of air quality in urban areas is possible at lower costs. The data platforms of these LCS and MCS networks collect enormous amounts of data, and new data products like personal exposure of air pollutants, spatial distribution of air pollutants down to 1 m resolution, information about least polluted areas, and forecast of air quality are supplied for users. Figure 7 shows these possibilities on the Internet of Everything with things, sensor data, open data platforms, and citizen actions.

Figure 7 Exploitation of Internet of Everything technology with things, sensor data, open data platforms, and actions of people.

Algorithms from machine learning and big data, together with data from reference instruments as well as monitoring data owned by governmental agencies, are often working on a central data server. Thus, an overall higher information density at an elevated quality level than the sum of the individual measurement components is possible. Also, a dynamic evaluation technique can be applied, which is built upon mobile sensors on board vehicles, for example, trams, buses, and taxis combined with the existing monitoring infrastructure by intercomparison between any two devices which requires a corresponding high dynamic of their sensitivity. Pre-/post-calibrations are possible by using high-end instruments or adjustment in a reference atmosphere under prescribed laboratory and/or field conditions. Based on these achievements in the monitoring networks it is possible to identify emission hot spots and thus to assess spatially resolved, high-resolution emission inventories. Such emission inventories are a prerequisite for supporting high-resolution numerical simulations of air pollutant concentrations and eventually the forecast of air quality.

Furthermore, because of the small size and low weight, sensors can be installed on board unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) so that these platforms become complex air quality (Burgués and Marco, 2020) and meteorological instruments. This means vertical profiling is possible with aerial atmospheric monitoring to understand the influence of air pollutant emissions upon air quality.

4.2.2  Quality of sensor-measured and numerical simulation data

An increasing number of evaluations of MCS and LCS as well as of networks based on such sensors are being performed, and conclusions are available from these studies such as Thompson (2016), Morawska et al. (2018), and Karagulian et al. (2019). It is well-known that these sensors suffer from drift and ageing (Brattich et al., 2020). The drift can vary even among the same model sensors that come from the same factory. Furthermore, sensor data evaluation is necessary due to cross-sensitivities of sensors with other air pollutants in ambient air and the influences of different temperatures and humidity in ambient air upon the sensor response.

Activities for the standardization of a protocol for evaluation of MCS and LCS at an international level and for inter-comparison exercises are ongoing, where MCS and LCS are tested at the same sites and at the same time (e.g. Williams et al., 2019). The European Committee for Standardization/Technical Committee (CEN/TC) 264/Working Group (WG) 42 “Ambient air – Air quality sensors” works for a Technical Specification of LCS (CEN/TS 17660-1; https://standards.cencenelec.eu/dyn/www/f?p=CEN:105::RESET:::: last access: 21 February 2022). Such guidelines and sensor certifications are required for data products such as personal air pollution exposure, emission source identification, and nowcasting of air quality as well as for applications as traffic management (Lewis et al., 2018; Morawska et al., 2018).

In the area of high-resolution modelling, the creation of a model data standard for obstacle-resolving models ( https://www.atmodat.de/ , last access: 21 February 2022) has started (Voss et al., 2020) as already done for coupled models (CESM – CMIP6 (ucar.edu); https://www.cesm.ucar.edu/projects/CMIP6/ , last access: 21 February 2022).

4.2.3  Importance of crowdsourcing, big data analysis, and data assimilation

Data from high-resolution measurement networks can provide the base for application of small-scale 3D process-based CTMs by means of assessment of emission inventory and model results. Additionally, it can support the operation of statistical, artificial intelligence, neural network, machine learning, and hybrid modelling methods (Bai et al., 2018; WMO, 2020; Baklanov and Zhang, 2020). Statistical methods are simple but require a large amount of historical data and are extremely sensitive to them. Artificial intelligence, neural network, and machine learning methods can have better performance but can be unstable and depend on data quality. Hybrid or combined methods often provide better performance. Such methods can also improve the CTM forecast by utilizing added observation data. For example, Mallet et al. (2009) have applied machine learning methods for the ozone ensemble forecast, performing sequential aggregation based on ensemble simulations and past observations. The latest results of the integration of air quality sensor network data with numerical simulation and neural network modelling results by data assimilation methods are for the Balkan region (Barmpas et al., 2020); Grenoble, France (Zanini et al., 2020); Leipzig, Germany (Heinold et al., 2020); and the inner city of Paris, France (Otalora et al., 2020), and they show how modelling can be used to support and consolidate information from observation data products.

The trend to improve air quality forecasting systems leads to the development of new methods of utilizing modern observational data in models, including data assimilation and data fusion algorithms, machine learning methods, and bias correction techniques (Baklanov and Zhang, 2020). Typically, as a first step data verification and validation of different data sources are performed, including data from LCS and MCS networks, permanent monitoring networks, and UAV-based, aircraft-based, and satellite-based measurements (in situ and remote sensing). Subsequently, emission information data assimilation methods are applied for integration with urban-scale CTM or neural network modelling or fluid dynamics modelling or combining these to provide a flexible framework for air quality modelling (Barmpas et al., 2020). Such approaches that combine the use of observations with models can lead to improved new tools to deliver high-quality information about air quality, spatial high-resolution forecasts of air quality for hours up to days, and health protection to the public.

Further, literature already provides QA–QC methods for MCS and LCS based on big data analyses and machine learning as well as data analyses in the cloud (Foken, 2021). Evaluation methods for measurement and modelling results are selected and combined to show the application potential of data sets of the new sensors, networks, and air quality model simulations. The further development and application of assimilation and quality evaluation methods is ongoing with the aim that distributed data sources will form the basis for new data products, making possible new applications for citizens, local authorities, and stakeholders.

4.2.4  Applicability of sensor observations

Crowdsourcing of sensor observations is applied to get information for personal air pollution exposure and for supporting decisions on personal health protection measures such as information about the least polluted areas for outdoor activities. Using this data-based information, citizens can recognize heavily polluted areas, which could be especially important for sensitive groups.

The platforms for the combination of ground-based stationary and mobile sensors, the complementation with 3D measurement data by in situ and remote sensing observations, and model evaluation and assessment can support such applications. This trend of cost-effective air quality monitoring includes user-oriented data services and education about air pollution and climate change to best exploit the knowledge and information content of measured data. Local authorities already use such data (e.g. English et al., 2020) for identifying emission hot spots, management of city infrastructure, and road traffic management towards improving air quality.

MCS and LCS and their advantages in operation and data availability via citizen sciences can also support the understanding of indoor air quality. The investigations of indoor air pollution in conjunction with outdoor air pollution monitoring provide more realistic data of personal air pollution exposure and for assessing measures of health protection.

4.2.5  Modelling for urban air quality to support observation data products

Numerical modelling results are traditionally evaluated against data from air quality monitoring networks (see also Sect. 5). At high resolution, this process requires the use of a sensor network specifically configured to meet the needs of the exercise. Conversely, modelling can also be used to support air quality mapping based on observational data. Indeed, while the use of LCS for high-density observations can provide information on the variability of pollutant concentration on a fine spatial scale, the spatial (and temporal) global coverage of the areas being monitored nevertheless can prove to be irregular and incomplete.

Data-driven modelling over combined stationary- and mobile-generated pollution data requires the deployment of dedicated statistical methodologies. Although little research effort has been devoted to such developments so far, recent advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence have highlighted the exciting potential of several statistical analysis tools (data envelopment analysis, unsupervised neural learning algorithms, decision trees, etc.) to predict air quality at the city scale from data generated by mobile sensors, which are supported by citizen involvement (Mihăiţă et al., 2019).

Another approach that appears very promising to meet the operational challenges associated with fine spatial mapping is to combine sensor data with mapped data from models. The technique used is geostatistical data fusion, an approach similar to data assimilation and based on kriging interpolation. It produces a new map whose added value lies in obtaining the most probable field of concentration, at the time when the sensor observations were made but also the combination of information provided by the two data sources (Ahangar et al., 2019; Schneider et al., 2017). A study carried out on a medium-density urban area in France showed that the bias found between the outputs of an urban model and the data from the local air quality network was reduced from 8 % to 2.5 % following fusion with the sensor data. However, the results of the fusion technique are characterized by a lower dispersion than the input data sets, which leads to a smoothing of the peaks and thus an underestimation of the maximum values. Finally, the performance of fusion is logically degraded by the uncertainty in the sensor measurements and the low correlation between the two data sources due to biases in the LCS measurements (Gressent et al., 2020). This underlines the importance of accurate calibration of portable devices to achieve reliable air quality mapping on a fine scale.

4.3  Emerging challenges

4.3.1  use of low-cost sensors.

Providing citizens and stakeholders with innovative information from large networks of sensors can yield added value and is fast becoming one of the main emerging challenges in air quality management. Nevertheless, with the greater range of observational techniques available now, there is a need for the application of instrumentation consistency, involving operation of mobile sensors by citizen for routine inter-calibrations and approaches for sensor intercomparison in networks, using correction algorithms for sensors which should be described in a common way. When sensors are installed on board vehicles or UAV, detailed information about the sensor response time should be provided taking account of the compatibility with its movement speed and data gathering frequency.

There is also the need to strengthen the linkages between existing measurement data sets. For example, air pollution monitoring networks of governmental agencies operating at local and national levels incorporating reference data with certified QA–QC methods need to be explored to exploit numerical algorithms, especially from artificial intelligence or dynamic data assimilation, for example as part of sensor and network certifications and standardization, so that these measurement methodologies and the available enormous amount of data can be useful for air quality research and assessment, including legislative reporting.

In the case of low-cost sensors, guidelines and sensor certifications for LCS and MCS are prerequisites for their application. Because such documentation has not been consistently available up to now, LCS and MCS data cannot be used for official assessment of WHO or EU limit value exceedances. Furthermore, the level of acceptable data quality of LCS and MCS is difficult to ascertain, and presently the LCS and MCS networks are difficult to integrate into or extend the air pollution monitoring networks of responsible authorities.

4.3.2  Multi-pollutant instruments

Depending on the monitoring task of air quality or personal exposure, sensors for detection of all air pollutants including ultra-fine particles (UFPs) and particle size distribution (PSD) but also greenhouse gases (GHGs) are necessary. In the application case of sensors embedded at the surface of clothes or carried by individuals, extended miniaturization of LCS and MCS must measure the personal air pollution exposure. Relevant developments could also include personal measurements of bioaerosols (e.g. pollen and fungi). Such data are required to study the combined health effects of air pollutants, bioaerosols, and meteorological parameters. In this sense the speciation or chemical composition and physical characteristics of particles of all sizes are needed too.

4.3.3  Modelling for urban air quality to support observation data products

The small-scale forecast of air quality for different applicants and personal health protection must be improved by adaptation of corresponding numerical simulations of air pollution, based on online input data, which requires readily accessible sources like traffic counting and household heating activities. Alternatively, inverse modelling approaches can help quantify the strengths of diffusive emission sources and identify hot spots. Running spatial and temporal highly resolved numerical simulations requires online evaluation data from the combination of different platforms and the application of data algorithms from the area of machine learning or artificial intelligence.

The assimilation of small-scale data from measurements and numerical simulation of air pollution should be used for reduction of the space-time gaps of measurement networks. This is needed because measurement networks cannot be as dense as the spatial grids of numerical simulations. This implies further development of integration of observations by different platforms and methods as well as the assessment of numerical simulation results together with the application of crowdsourcing. Big data analyses and data assimilation methods can provide new areas of modelling applications in the field of improvement of air quality, determination of air pollution emissions and emission inventories, and development of personal health protection measures. Finally, it is necessary that these data eventually become suitable for monitoring and assessment of air quality in agreement with national and international guidelines.

Measurements and numerical simulation of coupled outdoor and indoor air quality must be supported for obtaining more realistic personal air pollution exposure information, given that most people are mainly exposed to indoor air, which, in turn, is strongly influenced by the quality of the outdoor air.

5.1  Brief overview

Over the last years, it became obvious that our understanding of pollution and exposure processes at the urban scale could be improved by combining multi-scale models and creating new dedicated numerical approaches and that the representation of scale interactions for dynamic phenomena, pollutant emission sources, and pollutant ageing would be a critical element in the realism of the simulation outputs. New developments have therefore aimed at restoring the spatial variability and heterogeneity of air pollution due to the turbulent transport of pollutants, whether in urbanized valleys, city centres, or confined urban spaces such as canyon streets.

The motivation of these works is to address societal issues with a focus on street-level representations of pollutant concentration fields to support the assessment of individual exposure to pollution. In this context, it is now acknowledged that statistical and other data analysis techniques such as machine learning have an important role to play in identifying underlying patterns and trends as well as relationships between different parameters. At the same time, air quality monitoring has been progressing by improving ensemble techniques that allow for more in-depth model evaluation and provide a solid basis for consistent operational work on air quality. The following section reviews current challenges and highlights emerging areas of research covering the development, application, and evaluation of air quality models.

5.2  Current status and challenges

5.2.1  innovative combinations of models.

To meet the need to represent concentration gradients of primary pollutants in large agglomerations, the use of urban-scale dispersion models has increased since the 2010s (Singh et al., 2014; Soulhac et al., 2012). These models indeed allowed the resolution of dispersion effects in a complex emitting and built environment, whereas chemistry–transport models (CTMs) cannot provide an explicit representation of near-source characteristics and meet computational time issues as the resolution increases. However, both the lack of connection between local emission effects and the regional transport of pollutants and the absence of a relevant representation of atmospheric reactivity limit the scope of this type of model. Therefore, interest is progressively turned to the nesting of CTMs and urban models, which allows the exploitation of the advantages of both approaches. Over the last decade, approaches either coupling or nesting Eulerian models with Gaussian source dispersion models (Hood et al., 2018; Hamer et al., 2020), microscale CFD models (Tsegas et al., 2015), obstacle-resolving Lagrangian particle models (Veratti et al., 2020), and/or street models (Jensen et al., 2017; Kim et al., 2018; Khan et al., 2021) have thus been developed with the aim of producing comprehensive cross-scale simulations of air quality in the city. An organization chart for such combined models is illustrated in Fig. 8.

Figure 8 Schematic diagram of the EPISODE model with the CityChem extension (EPISODE–CityChem model), from Karl et al. (2019b).

The interest of the “CTM-Urban dispersion model” approaches called plume-in-grid or street-in-grid lies in the fact that they allow in a single time step the simulation of urban background and to solve at low cost the dispersion of near-field emissions, for more resolved and realistic pollutant concentration fields. Compared to an urban model alone, those systems improve NO 2 scores in areas upwind of urban sources, as well as the average concentration levels of compounds that have a strong long-range transport component such as PM 2.5 , PM 10 , and ozone (Hood et al., 2018). Implemented at the scale of an agglomeration or a region, this approach demonstrated its ability to represent the diversity of urban microenvironments (e.g. proximity to road traffic versus urban background, effect of building density, and street configuration) that were until now poorly considered by the Eulerian approach alone. The representation of road traffic and its influence on urban air quality have been the main focus of these studies. Reaching a resolution from a few metres to a few tens of metres, the simulation outputs indeed accurately reproduce the gradients observed along road axes (see Fig. 9) and show greater comparability with urban-scale measurement data than CTMs alone (especially for NO 2 ). Particularly improved performances have been observed under stable winter conditions, and for some studies, the deviation from measurements is within the 15 % maximum uncertainty allowed by the EU directive for continuous measurements (Hamer et al., 2020). Mostly, the results show a better representation of the amplitude of the local signal than an improvement of the correlation with the observed concentrations, and it is concluded that these multi-scale approaches are a significant advance to predict local peaks and episodes. These skills set them apart as essential tools for providing high-resolution air quality data for street-level exposure purposes (Singh et al., 2020b). Statistical evaluations of the model outputs based on the EU DELTA Tool have been carried out as part of several studies: they show that the models comply well with the quality objectives of the FAIRMODE approach ( https://fairmode.jrc.ec.europa.eu/document/fairmode/WG1/MQO_GuidanceV3.2_online.pdf , last access: 23 Febraury 2022). In the end, although the performances of the models remain dependent on the relative importance of local emissions, as well as transport and chemical processes at each computation grid point, most of the residual biases could be attributed to a lack of realism in the emissions. This includes the presence of poorly characterized local sources (works on the street, road particulate resuspension processes) but also insufficient temporal refinement of road traffic profiles. In this respect, it should be emphasized that the improvement of particulate representation in the model and the restitution of near-field chemical equilibria are also expected as major evolution pathways for the models.

Figure 9 NO 2 annual average concentrations from the coupled ADMS-Urban–EMEP4UK model for (a)  the whole of Greater London and (b)  an area of central London. Monitoring data are overlaid as coloured symbols (Hood et al., 2018).

The study of the impact of shipping activities on urban air quality has also benefited from these multi-scale modelling approaches. Indeed, while conventional CTM approaches simulating the effect of shipping emissions in coastal areas of the North and Baltic seas agreed on the average contribution of shipping to air pollution (around 15 %–30 % of elevated concentrations of SO 2 , NO 2 , ozone, and PM 2.5 ; see Aulinger et al., 2016; Jonson et al., 2015; Karl et al., 2019a; Geels et al., 2021; Moussiopoulos et al., 2019, 2020), the use of urban and plume dispersion models made it possible to refine this diagnosis and assess near-field effects. As for road traffic, the influence of ship emissions on air quality induces pollution gradients in the city. Karl et al. (2020) thus found out that, in residential areas up to 3600 m from a major harbour, the ultra-fine particle concentrations were increased by a factor of 2 or more compared with the urban background.

5.2.2  Improved turbulence and dynamics for higher-resolution assessment of urban air quality

In parallel, the need for higher-resolution assessment of urban air quality poses new demands on flow and dispersion modelling. As an additional difficulty besides complex-geometry-induced phenomena, we are reaching a spatial resolution of metres and a temporal resolution of seconds, thus entering the space scales and timescales of atmospheric turbulence. Therefore, the exposure-related parameters cannot be described only deterministically without considering their stochastic component. A recent step forward in this direction is the increased use of large-eddy simulation (LES) methodology dealing directly with the stochastic behaviour of flow and concentration parameters (Wolf et al., 2020).

Advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD), including Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations models that provide concentration standard deviation, have also appeared in literature for some time (Andronopoulos et al., 2019). More precisely, the implementation of LES class models solving the most energetic part of turbulence explicitly as well as 3D primitive hydro-thermodynamical equations and the structural details of the complex urban surface has been carried out at the scale of agglomerations, in meteorological conditions corresponding to typical stratified winter pollution situations, and fed with emission data from the city authorities (residential combustion as well as maritime and road traffic in particular). More specifically, advanced CFD models such as LESs, have shown to better characterize the very fine-scale variability of primary urban pollution, for example regarding the irregular spatial distribution of concentrations in proximity to road traffic at complex built-up intersections, which makes it possible to open a reflection on the representativeness of the levels measured and their regulatory use and to define criteria for the optimization of measurement networks. LES local-scale modelling has been used to refine urban air quality predictions either alone (Esau et al., 2020) or embedded in an urban-scale model (San José et al., 2020). Also, wider use of CFD has taken place to improve understanding of pollution distribution inside a built environment, especially for critical infrastructure protection (Karakitsios et al., 2020).

Microscale models are particularly powerful to resolve the turbulent flow and pollutant dispersion around urban obstacles to reconstruct pollutant concentration variability within the urban canopy. Recent microscale model simulations also showed the importance of barrier effects for emissions from large ships. It was thus shown that turbulence at the stern of the ship may cause a significant decrease in exhaust pollutants, leading to higher concentrations near the ground and, most likely, higher exposure of the nearby urban population (Badeke et al., 2021). The application of LES (Esau et al., 2020; Wolf-Grosse et al., 2017; Resler et al., 2020; Werhahn et al., 2020; Hellsten et al., 2020; Khan et al., 2021) and CFD (San José et al., 2020; Gao et al., 2018; Flageul et al., 2020; Koutsourakis et al., 2020; Nuterman et al., 2011; Buccolieri et al., 2021; Kurppa et al., 2018, 2019; Karttunen et al., 2020; Kurppa et al., 2020) models for air quality assessment in urban environments is becoming a frequent approach. Many papers implementing the PALM LES model (Maronga et al., 2015) have been presented at the 12th International Conference on Air Quality – Science and Application. Yet, their application is still limited by difficulties dealing with urban-scale atmospheric chemistry and by the relevant computational resources required – as the use of advanced models such as LESs requires increased computational capabilities. On the other hand, the heavy computational burden of urban LES computations can be reduced by approximately 80 % or even more by employing the two-way coupled LES–LES nesting technique, recently developed within the LES model PALM (Hellsten et al., 2021). Precomputation of LES in operational modelling can be an acceptable solution, especially combined with big data compression methodologies (Sakai et al., 2013). Another possibility is to focus on limited urban areas with special interest (e.g. street canyons and “hot spots”); however, one should in this case take into account the effect on turbulent transport from the surrounding larger-scale turbulent phenomena. In the problem of urban air quality, an assisted approach in the selection/classification process is the use of clustering (Chatzimichailidis et al., 2020) and artificial intelligence/machine learning technologies (Gariazzo et al., 2020).

5.2.3  Use of advanced numerical approaches and statistical models

At the same time, the complementary role of prognostic and diagnostic approaches has been explored. New methodologies based on artificial neural network models, machine learning, or autoregressive models have been developed in order to achieve a more realistic representation of air quality in inhabited areas than achieved by CTMs (Kukkonen et al., 2003; Niska et al., 2005; Carbajal-Hernández et al., 2012; P. Wang et al., 2015; Zhan et al., 2017; Just et al., 2020; Alimissis et al., 2018). Likewise, Pelliccioni and Tirabassi (2006) employed neural networks to improve the outputs of Gaussian and puff atmospheric dispersion models. Also, Mallet et al. (2009) applied machine learning methods for ozone ensemble forecast and performed sequential aggregation based on ensemble simulations and past observations.

Kukkonen et al. (2003), through an extensive evaluation of the predictions of various types of neural network and other statistical models, concluded that such approaches can be accurate and easily usable tools of air quality assessment but that they have inherent limitations related to the need to train the model using appropriate site- and time-specific data. This dependence has prevented their use in the evaluation of air pollution abatement scenarios or for the evaluation of multidecadal time series of pollutant concentrations. The works of X. Li et al. (2017) confirmed that methods based on machine learning, and more specifically neural networks, can accurately predict the temporal variability of PM 2.5 concentrations in urban areas but that the model performance may be improved using explanatory training variables. Prospective neural network modelling works were also conducted in a canyon street by Goulier et al. (2020). They proposed a comparison of model outputs with measurements (based mainly on Pearson correlation, rank correlation by Spearman, modelling quality indicator's index from FAIRMODE), for a set of gaseous and particulate pollutants. They confirmed that the modelled data were able to reproduce with a very good accuracy the variability of the concentrations of some gaseous pollutants (O 3 , NO 2 ) but that there was still a significant margin for improvement of the models, notably for particles. Again, an important part of the expected progress lies in the choice of model predictors.

As for multi-scale modelling, the main research efforts associated with these numerical approaches are directed towards the downscaling of simulated pollutant concentration fields in urban areas, the improvement of CTM forecast using additional observation data, and a refined representation of individual exposure at the street scale (Berrocal et al., 2020; Elessa Etuman et al., 2020). Gariazzo et al. (2020) used a random forest model to enhance CTM results and produce improved population exposure estimates at 200 m resolution, in a multi-pollutant, multi-city, and multi-year study conducted over Italy. In addition to reduced bias, the outputs presented much greater physical consistency in their temporal evolution, when compared to measurements.

Other applications, such as advancing knowledge about exposure in urban microenvironments, have also been made possible by these approaches Thus, the use of Bayesian statistics has shown an ability to predict the concentration gradients of primary pollutants in the immediate vicinity of an air quality monitoring station, by iterating between observations and the outputs of a microscale simulation approach – including both a CFD and a Lagrangian dispersion model (Rodriguez et al., 2019).

5.2.4  Implementation of activity-based data

To take full advantage of the high-resolution simulation capability of these new modelling tools, and to achieve a more comprehensive approach to the determinants of air quality in urban areas, modellers have relied on a new generation of activity-based emissions data.

As for traffic, new methodologies relying on individual data collected through surveys, geocoded activities, improved emission factors, and measured traffic flows (Gioli et al., 2015; Sun et al., 2017) or involving traffic models simulating origin–destination matrices for city dwellers on the road network (Fallah-Shorshani et al., 2017) have been developed to serve as input to the urban dispersion models. Their implementation in a case study in Italy, with a horizontal resolution of 4 m, showed that detailed traffic emission estimates were very effective in reproducing observed NO x variability and trends (Veratti et al., 2020).

Residential wood combustion has also proven to act as a major source of harmful air pollutants in many cities in Europe, and especially in northern-central and northern European countries which have a strong tradition of wood combustion. Yet, until the early 2010s, residential wood combustion (RWC) inventories were still heavily burdened with uncertainties related to actual wood consumption, the location of emitters, emission factors depending on heating equipment, and practices driving the temporality of emissions. To represent RWC emissions more accurately in urban air quality models, new emission estimation methods based on environmental and activity variables that drive pollutant emissions have been developed. They include for example outdoor temperature, housing characteristics and equipment, available heating technologies and associated emission factors, or temporal activity profiles from official wood consumption statistics (Grythe et al., 2019; Kukkonen et al., 2020b). Kukkonen et al. (2020b) notably showed with this approach that the annual average contribution of RWC to PM 2.5 levels could be as high as 15 % to 22 % in Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Umeå and up to 60 % in Oslo. Overall, although the results show a better horizontal and vertical spatial distribution of emissions compared to non-specific inventories, improvements are expected, especially on the use of meteorological parameters and regarding emission factors for specific devices.

Finally, for emissions associated with maritime activity in port areas, the inventories developed specifically for high-resolution modelling approaches include information on the fleet, the ship rotations in the harbour, and the emission heights. The implementation of the EPISODE-CityChem model within a CTM showed that in Baltic Sea harbour cities such as Rostock (Germany), Riga (Latvia), and Gdańsk–Gdynia (Poland), shipping activity could have contributed to 50 % to 80 % of NO 2 concentrations within the port area (Ramacher et al., 2019). As for the other sources, improvements are expected. They concern for instance the energy consumption of the different ships and the propulsion power of the auxiliary systems of the ships during their stay in port.

Because they allow detailed mapping of air quality in urban areas, and realistically represent emitting activities, those approaches allow tackling issues such as chronic exposure and source–concentration relationships, but they also provide elements for increased policy and technical measures, as discussed below: regulation, information campaigns, and economic steering.

5.2.5  Contribution of modelling to policy making and urban management strategies

Applying air quality and emission models allows for projections of future developments in air quality that can shed light on the different effects of alternative policy options, e.g. new regulations or effects of changes in the emissions from certain emission sectors. As an example (Fig. 10), the OSCAR model was run over London to quantify the contribution of sources – such as traffic – to the urban PM 2.5 concentration gradients.

Figure 10 (a)  Predicted spatial distributions of the annual mean PM 2.5 concentrations in µg m −3 , and (b)  urban traffic contributions to the total PM 2.5 concentrations, in %, for London for the year 2008 (Singh et al., 2014).

Air quality modelling is expected to gain relevance following the review of air quality legislation announced as part of the European Green Deal (EC, 2019), whereby the European Commission will also propose strengthening provisions on monitoring, modelling, and air quality plans to help local authorities achieve cleaner air. The construction of these future air quality modelling scenarios can be demanding, in particular when the goal is to be realistic and consistent with technological potentials as well as economic and societal developments (in particular reductions in the use of fossil fuels driven by climate policies).

Another field of action recently explored is that of technology-based and management-based traffic control strategies, and in particular the implementation of low-emission zones (LEZs) in urban areas (e.g. in Portugal, Dias et al., 2016; France, Host et al., 2020; and India, Sonawane et al., 2012). The quantification of the expected gains in terms of pollutant concentrations in ambient air, but also of economic benefits and reduction in the occurrence of chronic respiratory diseases or vascular accidents, provides concrete and robust elements for political and citizen debate and helps to move towards greater acceptability of the measures. In this framework, the degree of realism of the simulated scenarios, the spatial refinement of the approaches used, and also the capacity to evaluate them at the sub-urban scale (street, individual) can become determining elements of their scientific relevance and their legitimacy in the policy debate. Therefore, an increasing number of studies favour the use of multi-scale models with the introduction of puff or Gaussian dispersion models, as well as canyon-street models, with CTMs. When modelled scenarios serve as a basis for political decisions, it is highly valuable to include relevant authorities and decision makers from the beginning in the scenario design. This can be done in common workshops with relevant stakeholders where questions about technological trends and possibilities for emission reduction are discussed.

The analysis of simulation data for the estimation of health impacts can be ensured by integrated approaches – such as the EPA's Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP) – or more simply by algorithms derived from epidemiology such as population-attributable fractions, which are standard methodology used to assess the contribution of a risk factor to disease. In terms of emissions, depending on the focus of the study, survey data on residential practices or activity-based road traffic models (as well as marine traffic models where appropriate) are increasingly used. Supplementary traffic algorithms can sometimes more accurately represent the effects of congestion on roadway emissions. Finally, for more realism, the scenarios considered can be derived from either the relevant air quality plans implemented at the scale of agglomerations or projections on vehicle fleet evolution (Andre et al., 2020). Some of the models also include the feedback effects of changes in practice, such as the estimate of emission increase due to the energy demand for electric vehicle charging (Soret et al., 2014).

Very small-scale modelling has also been used in other fields such as support in evaluating the effect of roadside structures on near-road air quality. Several studies, mainly based on CFD models, including LES approaches have thus focused on the performance of air pollution dispersion by green infrastructures in open areas and street canyons, even characterizing the capacity of parked vehicles to reduce pedestrian exposure to pollutants (see review article in Abhijith et al., 2017). Also, the link between the morphology of urban buildings, the dispersion of emissions, and air quality is often apprehended through CFD models (Hassan et al., 2020). At an even more operational level, LUR models (based on the spatial analysis of air quality data) have been coupled to high-resolution CTM runs to allow a precise identification of land use classes more exposed to PM 10 , SO 2 , and NO 2 . The results provided a methodological framework that could be used by authorities to assess the impact of specific plans on the exposed population and to include air quality in urban development policies (Ajtai et al., 2020).

Examples also exist in the area of shipping emissions, where several EU-funded projects either involved stakeholders such as IMO and HELCOM from the beginning (e.g. Clean North Sea Shipping, ENVISUM, CSHIPP, EMERGE) or made use of their knowledge in dedicated expert elicitation workshops (e.g. SHEBA). Future scenarios for shipping, some of them developed in these projects, were presented for the North and Baltic seas (Johansson et al., 2013; Matthias et al., 2016; Karl et al., 2019a; Jonson et al., 2015), for Chinese waters (Zhao et al., 2020b), and globally (Sofiev et al., 2018; Geels et al., 2020). However, the process of scenario generation in cooperation with authorities and other stakeholders is rarely described in scientific literature or fully detailed in publications that address various policy options.

5.2.6  Ensemble modelling for air quality research applications

In parallel, statistical developments also serve the evolution of ensemble models. During the last decade, ensemble-building methodologies have been questioned and improved in several international collaborations, and the inclusion of new observational data has allowed a better assessment of the relevance of these approaches. Ensemble forecasting can be implemented using multiple models or one model but with different inputs (e.g. varying meteorological input forcings, emission scenarios, chemical initial conditions), different process parameters (e.g. varying chemical reaction rates), different model configurations (e.g. varying grid spacings), or different models (Hu et al., 2017; Galmarini et al., 2012). A comprehensive study on ensemble modelling of surface O 3 was done as part of the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII), including 11 CTMs operated by European and North American modelling groups (Solazzo et al., 2012). One of the main conclusions was that even if the multi-model ensemble based on all models performed better than the individual models, a selection of both top- and low-ranking models can lead to an even better ensemble (Kioutsioukis et al., 2016). It was also shown that outliers are needed in order to enhance the performance of the ensemble.

Within the CAMS regional forecasting system for Europe, multi-model ensemble modelling is a part of daily operational production ( https://www.regional.atmosphere.copernicus.eu/ , last access: 28 February 2022) for several air quality components. Statistical analyses have shown that an ensemble based on the median of the individual model gives a robust and efficient setup, also in the case of outliers and missing data (Marécal et al., 2015). By combining global- and regional-scale models, Galmarini et al. (2018) have taken this kind of ensemble modelling a step further, by setting up a hybrid ensemble to explore the full potential benefit of the diversity between models covering different scales. The analysis indeed showed that the multi-scale ensemble leads to a higher performance than the single-scale (e.g. regional-scale) ensemble, highlighting the complementary contribution of the two types of models.

5.3  Emerging challenges

5.3.1  on multiscale interaction and subgrid modelling.

The advances in computational capacity, the progress on big data management, and the recent developments on low-cost sensor technology, together with the significant developments in closing the gaps of knowledge when dealing with finer spatial and temporal scales (up to the order of metres and seconds, respectively) give the opportunity for further achievements in terms of innovation and outcome reliability in urban- to local-scale flow and air quality assessment. In such applications, very high spatial resolution modelling outputs are required together with dynamic and geocoded demographic data to conduct health monitoring on the impacts of air pollutants. However, new sub-grid/local approaches such as LESs, advanced CFD-RANS, machine learning statistical tools, and interfaces among different modelling scales (regional, urban, local/sub-grid) require further R&D work, especially when interfacing models using different parameterizations or computational approaches.

Of specific interest here is the case of model nesting in regimes where it has not been extensively applied in the past, as is the case of implementation and validation of multiply nested LESs (see e.g. Hellsten et al., 2021), as well as coupling of urban-scale deterministic models with local probabilistic models. In both areas, complications arise due to the nature of different parameterizations and the way boundary conditions are traditionally treated in LES models, highlighting the need for further validation and tools for the numerical evaluation of coupling implementations. Further areas of development include the better articulation between CTMs and subgrid models, towards solving overlay problems like emission double counting and mass conservation across interpolated interfaces, both critical points for their successful application as assessment tools.

5.3.2  On chemistry and aerosol modelling

One important aspect is the fact that local-scale models often include simple approaches to tropospheric chemistry. Although such an approach can be justified from the fact that computation domain timescales are usually well below lifetime scales of priority pollutants, it also poses limitations that need to be addressed. For example, the lack of full representation of NO x –VOC chemistry, or not considering a delay in establishing the photostationary NO–NO 2 –O 3 equilibrium, can introduce a significant bias in the restitution of concentration gradients at very fine scales. Particle-size-resolved schemes, including for example the discrimination of particle removal phenomena, are also expected to be important developments for these local models. How do simplified chemistry and physics impact on treating traffic emissions in cities? What is their role in the restitution of particle growth, secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation, and ozone chemistry? These issues require special attention. They are also relevant to the treatment of other urban sources generating strong concentration gradients, such as shipping. Thus, the impact of the representation of VOC behaviour on particle formation and ageing, or the effect of NO 2 removal, both in the early phases of ship plume dispersion, should also be investigated.

More globally, there remain issues in the representation of reactivity in multi-scale modelling approaches and air quality forecasting. On the one hand, although some studies have shown that high-resolution models are good at predicting the occurrence (or non-occurrence) of local pollution events, it has been observed that they do not always capture the full range of pollutant concentrations and, especially, the amplitude of the strongest concentration peaks. On the other hand, there remains a very strong interaction between locally emitted pollutants and those resulting from long-range transport (LRT) to the city. This may be determinant for the operational forecasting of air quality at the urban scale. Thus, the representation, on a fine scale, of the fundamental processes of reactivity is one next challenging issue of multi-scale modelling. For local-scale modelling it is indeed important to make sure that at least we include chemical transformation with timescales significantly smaller than the time ranges imposed by the considered computational domain.

5.3.3  On fine-scale model input and emission data

As we move to finer scales and more advanced modelling, the input data – whether meteorological, descriptive of the urban environment, or related to the sources of pollutant – also require additional knowledge of their time and space variation, even including sufficiently detailed statistical behaviour. The refinement of meteorological and chemical input fields for statistical approaches is an important challenge. Indeed, the application of LES or statistical models in a fine domain embedded into a larger domain where ensemble-average modelling data are available and needed raises the question of how to generate fine-scale or statistical input data that are both mathematically consistent and physically correct. It was highlighted that the role of statistical models based on machine learning is increasing, especially for urban AQ applications. This is due to growing computer and IT networking possibilities, but also to new types of numerous observations, e.g. crowdsourcing, low-cost sensors, or citizen science approaches. The ability of machine learning to capture these new data sources and identify new applications in fine-scale air quality and personal exposure is therefore a great challenge for the coming years.

As far as emissions are concerned, the gain in realism has become a prerequisite to produce decision-support scenarios and requires a strong grounding in reality – i.e. emissions must be based on a census of the activities and on the specificities of the emitters (e.g. car engines, heating equipment, and rotation of boats in the port), which requires increasingly complex phases of model implementation over a territory and the intervention of a multiplicity of actors for data supply. In this context, tabulated emission inventories – even those based on actual activity data – have limited scope for use in future air quality and exposure scenarios. To be realistic, the scenarios must be able to reproduce the variation in emitting activity in relation to changes in transport supply, urban planning, energy costs, and individual or collective energy consumption practices. Therefore, a significant part of the work is now focused on developing air quality modelling platforms integrating emission models centred on the individual (see Fig. 11 in this paper; Elessa Etuman and Coll, 2018).

Figure 11 Schematic representation of OLYMPUS emission operating system (Elessa Etuman and Coll, 2018).

There, the main challenges are related to the representation of individual mobility for both commuting and private activities as well as domestic heating and more broadly energy consumption practices on one side and the consideration of traffic parameters such as urban freight, the distribution of traffic and its speciation, driving patterns, or the effects of road congestion on the other side (Lejri et al., 2018; Coulombel et al., 2019).

Another emerging issue is also how to cope with short-time hazardous emissions in urban areas. Such emissions can be related to accidents or deliberate releases that are of increased concern today. An important characteristic of associated exposures is their inherent stochastic behaviour (Bartzis et al., 2020). Novel modelling approaches are needed to properly assess the impact and support relevant mitigation measures.

5.3.4  On model evaluation

To act on these numerous and expected developments, and use their results for operational decision support, multi-scale models need validation. An often-overseen basic prerequisite here is the availability and representativeness of validation data, particularly at smaller scales. The model's performance indeed needs to be explored in more spatial detail and in all covered spatial scales, preferably as part of multi-scale urban-to-rural intercomparison projects, in order to be able to provide finer assessment on air quality and exposure. Such efforts can be supported by networks of inexpensive sensors as well as smart tags (Sevilla et al., 2018) and other sources of distributed information acting complementary to traditional local monitoring and flow-profiling technologies. To obtain methodology and data refinement as well as outcome reliability, more experience through additional case studies is also needed. Finally, consideration should be given to specific model performance evaluation criteria for various regulatory purposes, including prospective mode operation, i.e. the ability of a model to accurately predict the air quality response to changes in emissions. To this end, evaluations can draw on the very large methodological work that has been carried out since 2007 by the Forum for AIR quality MODelling in Europe (FAIRMODE) for the assessment of CTMs (Monteiro et al., 2018). The objective was to develop and support the harmonized use of models for regulatory applications, based on PM 10 , NO 2 , and O 3 assessments. The main strength of this approach was to produce an in-depth analysis of the performance of different model applications, combining innovative and traditional indicators (Modelling Quality Index and Modelling Quality Objectives) and considering measurement uncertainty. Although FAIRMODE was successful in promoting a harmonized reporting process, there remain major ways of improvement that can be critical for its regulatory acknowledgement – in particular regarding inconsistencies between indicators of different time horizons – and a methodology dedicated to data assimilation assessments.

6.1  Brief overview

There is a need to increase prediction capabilities for weather, air quality, and climate. The new trend in developing integrated atmospheric dynamics and composition models is based on the seamless Earth system modelling (ESM) approach (WWRP, 2015) to evolve from separate model components to seamless meteorology–composition–environment modelling systems, where the different components of the Earth system are taken into account in a coupled way (WMO, 2016). The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) is the main reference for the development ESM models that serve as input to the IPCC assessment reports (Eyring et al., 2016; IPCC, 2022). One driver for improvement is the fact that information from predictions is needed at higher spatial resolutions and longer lead times. In addition, we have to consider two-way feedbacks between meteorological and chemical processes on the one hand and aerosol–meteorology feedback on the other hand, where both are needed to meet societal needs. Continued improvements in prediction will require advances in observing systems, models, and assimilation systems. There is also growing awareness of the benefits of closely integrating atmospheric composition, weather, and climate predictions, because of the important role that aerosols (and atmospheric composition in general) play in these systems. Because the proposed review is focused on air quality and its atmospheric forcings, the present section discusses the atmospheric component of ESMs focusing on coupled chemistry–meteorology models.

While this section also considers challenges related to air quality modelling, it differs in emphasis to Sect. 5, by examining interactions that operate on multiple scales and including multiple processes that affect air quality, especially for cities.

6.2  Current status and challenges

6.2.1  interactions and coupled chemistry–meteorology modelling (ccmm).

Meteorology is one of the main uncertainties of air quality modelling and prediction. Many studies have investigated the role of meteorology in air quality in the past (e.g. Fisher et al., 2001, 2005, 2006; Kukkonen et al., 2005a, b) and even more recently (e.g. McNider and Pour-Biazar, 2020; Rao et al., 2020; Gilliam et al., 2015; Parra, 2020). The relationship between meteorology and air pollution cannot be interpreted as a one-way input process due to the complex two-way interaction between the atmospheric circulation and physical and chemical processes involving trace substances in both gas and aerosol form. The improvement of atmospheric phenomena prediction capability is, therefore, tied to progress in both fields and to their coupling.

The advances made by mesoscale planetary boundary layer meteorology during the last decades have been recently reviewed by Kristovich et al. (2019). During the last decade significant advances have been made even in the capabilities to predict air quality and to model the many feedbacks between air quality, meteorology, and climate, including radiative and microphysical responses (WMO, 2016, 2020; Pfister et al., 2020). Due to advances in air quality models themselves and the availability of more computing resources, air quality models can be run at high spatial resolution and can be tightly (online) or weakly linked to meteorological models (through couplers). This is a pre-requisite to improve prediction skills further, while air quality models themselves will be improved as our knowledge of key processes continues to advance.

Online-coupled meteorology and atmospheric chemistry models have greatly evolved during the last decade (Flemming et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 2012a, b; Pleim et al., 2014; WWRP, 2015; Baklanov et al., 2014; Mathur et al., 2017; Bai et al., 2018; Im et al., 2015a, b), a comprehensive evaluation of coupled model results has been provided by the outcome of AQMEII project (Galmarini and Hogrefe, 2015). Although mainly developed by the air quality modelling community, these integrated models are also of interest for numerical weather prediction and climate modelling as they can consider both the effects of meteorology on air quality and the potentially important effects of atmospheric composition on weather (WMO, 2016). Migration from offline to online integrated modelling and seamless environmental prediction systems are recommended for consistent treatment of processes and allowance of two-way interactions of physical and chemical components, particularly for AQ and numerical weather prediction (NWP) communities (WWRP, 2015; Baklanov et al., 2018a).

It has been demonstrated that prediction skills can be improved through running an ensemble of models. Intercomparison studies such as MICS and AQMEII (Tan et al., 2020; Galmarini et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2016) serve as important functions of demonstrating the effectiveness of ensemble predictions and helping to improve the individual models. Predictions can also be improved through the assimilation of atmospheric composition data. Weather prediction has relied on data assimilation for many decades. In comparison, assimilation in air quality prediction is much more recent, but important advances have been made in data assimilation methods for atmospheric composition (Carmichael et al., 2008; Bocquet et al., 2015; Benedetti et al., 2018). Community available assimilation systems for ensemble and variational methods make it easier to utilize assimilation (Delle Monache et al., 2008; Mallet, 2010). Furthermore, the amount of atmospheric composition data available for assimilation is increasing, with expanding monitoring networks and the growing capabilities to observe aerosol and atmospheric composition from geostationary satellites (e.g. Kim et al., 2020). Operational systems such as CAMS (Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service) have advanced current capabilities for air quality prediction (Marécal et al., 2015; Barré et al., 2021).

Currently, NWP centres around the world are moving towards explicitly incorporating aerosols into their operational forecast models. Demonstration projects are also showing a positive impact on seasonal to sub-seasonal forecast by including aerosols in their models (Benedetti and Vitart, 2018). Even the usual subdivision between global-scale NWP models and limited-area models employed to resolve regional to local scales is going to be revised. Many groups are building new Earth system models and taking advantage of global refined grid capabilities that facilitate multiscale simulations in a single model run, as in the case of the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS) (Skamarock et al., 2018; Michaelis et al., 2019) and MUSICA (Pfister et al., 2020) approaches.

6.2.2  Aerosol–meteorology feedbacks for predicting and forecasting air quality for city scales

Multiscale CTMs are increasingly used for research and air quality assessment but less for urban air quality. Recently, there have been examples of coupled urban and regional models which allow the prediction and assessment of local, urban, and regional air quality affecting cities (Baklanov et al., 2009; Kukkonen et al., 2012; Sokhi et al., 2018; Kukkonen et al., 2018; Khan et al., 2019b). In particular, a downscaling modelling chain for prediction of weather and atmospheric composition on the regional, urban, and street scales is described and evaluated against observations by Nuterman et al. (2021). Kukkonen et al. (2018) described a modelling chain from global to regional (European and northern European domains) and urban scales and a multidecadal hindcast application of this modelling chain.

There are still uncertainties in prediction of PM components such as secondary organic aerosols (SOAs), especially during stable atmospheric conditions in urban areas which can cause severe air pollution conditions (Beekmann et al., 2015). Moreover, aerosol feedback and interaction with urban heat island (UHI) circulation is a source of uncertainty in CTM predictions. Several studies (Folberth et al., 2015; Baklanov et al., 2016; Huszar et al., 2016) demonstrated that urban emissions of pollutants, especially aerosols, are leading to climate forcing, mostly at local and regional scales through complex interactions with air quality (Fig. 12). These, in addition to almost 70 % of global CO 2 emissions, arise from urban areas, and hence urban areas pose a considerable source of climate forcing species.

Figure 12 The main linkages between urban emissions, air quality, and climate. (Baklanov et al., 2010).

It is necessary to highlight that the effects of aerosols and other chemical species on meteorological parameters have many different pathways (e.g. direct, indirect, semidirect effects) and must be prioritized in integrated modelling systems. Chemical species influencing weather and atmospheric processes over urban areas include greenhouse gases (GHGs), which warm near-surface air, and aerosols, such as sea salt, dust, and primary and secondary particles of anthropogenic and natural origin. Some aerosol particle components (black carbon, iron, aluminium, polycyclic and nitrated aromatic compounds) warm the air by absorbing solar and thermal-infrared radiation, while others (water, sulfate, nitrate, and most organic compounds) cool the air by backscattering incident short-wave radiation to space. It has been demonstrated (Sokhi et al., 2018; Baklanov et al., 2011; Huszar et al., 2016) that the indirect effects of urban aerosols modulate dispersion by affecting atmospheric stability (the difference in deposition fields is up to 7 %). In addition its effects on the urban boundary layer (UBL) thickness could be of the same order of magnitude as the effects of the UHI (a few hundred metres for the nocturnal boundary layer).

6.2.3  Urban-scale interactions

Meteorology is one of the main uncertainties in air quality assessment and forecast in urban areas where meteorological characteristics are very inhomogeneous (Hidalgo et al., 2008; Ching, 2013; Huszar et al., 2018, 2020). For these reasons, models used at the urban level must achieve greater accuracy in the meteorological fields (wind speed, temperature, turbulence, humidity, cloud water, precipitation).

Due to different characteristics of the surface properties (e.g. heat storage, reflection properties), a heat island effect occurs in cities. Urban areas can therefore be up to several degrees Celsius warmer than the surrounding rural areas and experience lighter winds due to the increased drag of urban canopy. This heating impacts the local environment directly, as well as affecting the regional air circulation with complex interactions that can induce pollutant recirculation, worsen stagnation episodes, and influence ozone and secondary aerosol formation and transport.

Studies over the past decade (e.g. McCarthy et al., 2010; Cui and Shi, 2012; González-Aparicio et al., 2014; Fallmann et al., 2016; Molina, 2021) have shown that the effects of the built environment, such as the change in roughness and albedo, the anthropogenic heat flux, and the feedbacks between urban pollutants and radiation, can have significant impacts on the urban air quality levels. A reliable urban-scale forecast of air flows and meteorological fields is of primary importance for urban air quality and emergency management systems in the case of accidental toxic releases, fires, or even chemical, radioactive, or biological substance releases by terrorists.

Improvements (so-called “urbanization”) are required for meteorological and NWP models that are used as drivers for urban air quality (UAQ) models. The requirements for the urbanization of UAQ models must include a better resolution in the vertical structure of the urban boundary layer and specific urban feature description. One of the key important characteristics for UAQ modelling is the mixing height, which has a strong specificity and inhomogeneity over urban areas because of the internal boundary layers and blending heights from different urban roughness neighbourhoods (Sokhi et al., 2018; Scherer et al., 2019).

Modern urban meteorology and UAQ models (e.g. WRF, COSMO, ENVIRO-HIRLAM) successfully implemented (a hierarchy of) urban parameterizations with different complexities and reached suitable spatial resolutions (Baklanov et al., 2008; Salamanca et al., 2011, 2018; Sharma et al., 2017; Huang et al., 2019; Mussetti et al., 2020; Trusilova et al., 2016; Wouters et al., 2016; Schubert and Grossman-Clarke, 2014) for an effective description of atmospheric flow in urban areas. The application of urban parameterizations implemented inside limited-area meteorological models is becoming a common approach to drive urban air quality analysis, allowing the improved urban meteorology description in different climatic and environmental conditions (Ribeiro et al., 2021; Salamanca et al., 2018; Gariazzo et al., 2020; Pavlovic et al., 2020; Badia et al., 2020). However, activities to improve the parameterizations (Gohil and Jin, 2019) and provide reliable estimation of the input urban features (Brousse et al., 2016) are continuing.

6.2.4  Integrated weather, air quality, and climate modelling

Since cities are still growing, intensification of urban effects is expected, contributing to regional or global climate changes, including intensification of floods, heat waves, and other extreme weather events; air quality issues caused by pollutant production; and transport. This requires a more integrated assessment of environmental hazards affecting towns and cities.

The numerical models most suitable to address the description of mentioned phenomena within integrated operational urban weather, air quality, and climate forecasting systems are the new-generation limited-area models with coupled dynamic and chemistry modules (so-called coupled chemistry–meteorology models, CCMMs). These models have benefited from rapid advances in computing resources, along with extensive basic science research (Martilli et al., 2015; WMO, 2016; Baklanov et al., 2011, 2018a). Current state-of-the-art CCMMs encompass interactive chemical and physical processes, such as aerosols–clouds–radiation, coupled to a non-hydrostatic and fully compressible dynamic core that includes monotonic transport for scalars, allowing feedbacks between the chemical composition and physical properties of the atmosphere. These models incorporate the physical characteristics of the urban built environment. However, simulations using fine resolutions, large domains, and detailed chemistry over long time durations for the aerosol and gas/aqueous phase are computationally demanding given the models' high degree of complexity. Therefore, CCMM weather and climate applications still make compromises between the spatial resolution, domain size, simulation length, and degree of complexity for the chemical and aerosol mechanisms.

Over the past decade integrated approaches have benefited from coupled modelling of air quality and weather, enabling a range of hazards to be assessed. Research applications have demonstrated the advantages of such integration and the capability to assimilate aerosol information in forecast cycles to improve emission estimates (e.g. for biomass burning) impacting both weather and air quality predictions (Grell and Baklanov, 2011; Kukkonen et al., 2012; Klein et al., 2012; Benedetti et al., 2018).

6.3  Emerging challenges

6.3.1  earth systems modelling for air quality research.

Full integration of aerosols across the various applications requires advances in Earth system modelling, with explicit coupling between the biosphere, oceans, and atmosphere, taking advantage of global refined grid capabilities that facilitate multiscale simulations in a single ESM run. The Earth system models offer many advantages but also create new challenges. Data assimilation in these tightly coupled systems is a future research area, and we can anticipate advances in assimilation of soil moisture and surface fluxes of pollutants and greenhouse gases.

The expected advance of the Earth system approach requires an increased research effort for the different communities to work more closely together to expand and to evolve the Earth observing system capacity. For what concerns the atmospheric models, the improvement of aerosol–cloud interaction description, related sulfate production, and oxidation processes in the aqueous phase are important to provide a better estimate of aerosol and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) production impacting weather and climate. Their impact on surface PM concentrations, especially in areas with very low SO x emissions like Europe, still needs to be investigated (Schrödner et al., 2020; Genz et al., 2020; Suter and Brunner, 2020).

6.3.2  Constraining models with observations

The use of coupled regional-scale meteorology–chemistry models for AQF represents a desirable advancement in routine operations that would greatly improve the understanding of the underlying complex interplay of meteorology, emission, and chemistry. Chemical species data assimilation along with increased capabilities to measure plume heights will help to better constrain emissions in forecast applications.

While important advances have been made, present challenges require advances in observing systems and assimilation systems to support and improve air quality models. From the perspective of air quality modelling, there are still uncertainties in the emission estimates (especially those driven by meteorology and other conditions such as biomass burning and dust storms).

The impacts of data assimilation of atmospheric composition are limited by the remaining major gaps in spatial coverage in our observing systems. Major parts of the world have limited or no observations (Africa is an obvious case). This is changing thanks to the forthcoming new constellation of geostationary satellites (Sentinel-4, TEMPO, and GEMS; Kim et al., 2020) measuring atmospheric composition and with the advances in low-cost sensor technologies. Machine learning applications will play important roles in improving predictions through better parameterizations, better ways to deal with bias, and new approaches to utilize heterogeneous observations, for example new models for relating aerosol optical depth (AOD) to surface PM 2.5 mass and composition.

Reanalysis products of aerosols and other atmospheric constituents are now being produced (Inness et al., 2019). These can support many applications, and continued development is strongly encouraged and will benefit from the observations and data assimilation advances discussed above.

6.3.3  Multiscale interactions affecting urban areas

For urban applications the main science challenges related to multiscale interactions involved the non-linear interactions of urban heat island circulation and aerosol forcing and urban aerosol interactions with clouds and radiation. In order to improve air quality modelling for cities, advances are needed in data assimilation of urban observations (including meteorological, chemical, and aerosol species), development of model dynamic cores with efficient multi-tracer transport capability, and the general effects of aerosols on the evolution of weather and climate on different scales. All these research areas are concerned with optimized use of models on massively parallel computer systems, as well as modern techniques for assimilation or fusion of meteorological and chemical observation data (Nguyen and Soulhac, 2021).

In terms of atmospheric chemistry, the formation of secondary air pollutants (e.g. ozone and secondary organic and inorganic aerosols) in urban environments is still an active research area, and there is an important need to improve the understanding and treatment within two-way coupled chemistry–meteorology models.

Urban areas interact at many scales with the atmosphere through their physical form, geographical distribution, and metabolism from human activities and functions. Urban areas are the drivers with the greatest impact on climate change. The exchange processes between the urban surface and the free troposphere need to be more precisely determined in order to define and implement improved climate adaptation strategies for cities and urban conglomerations. The knowledge of the 3D structure of the urban airshed is an important feature to define temperature, humidity, wind flow, and pollutant concentrations inside urban areas. Although computational resources had great improvement, time and spatial resolution are still imposing some limitations to the correct representation of urban features, especially for the street scale. Urban areas are responsible for the urban heat island circulation, which interacts with other mesoscale circulations, such as the sea breeze and mountain valley circulations, determining the pathways of primary pollutants emitted in the atmosphere but even the production and transport of ozone (see e.g. Finardi et al., 2018) and secondary aerosols (Fig. 13).

Figure 13 Near-surface ozone concentrations ( µg m −3 ) predicted for 15 July 2015 at (a)  08:00, (b)  12:00, and (c)  17:00 LST over Naples. Wind field at 10 m height is represented by grey arrows. (Finardi et al., 2018; © American Meteorological Society. Used with permission.)

Challenges remain on how to include scale-dependent processes and interactions for urban- and sub-urban-scale modelling. These include spatial and temporal distribution of heat, chemical, and aerosol emission source activities down to building-size resolution, flow modification at the micro-scale level by the urban canopy structure and by the urban surface heat balance, enhancement/damping of turbulent fluxes in the urban boundary layer due to surface and emission heterogeneity, and chemical transformation of pollutants during their lifetime within the urban canopy sublayer. Obviously, the scale interaction issues facing air quality–meteorology–climate models are quite in line with those described in Sect. 5 for multi-scale air quality modelling. Thus, on coupling regional to urban and building scales, CTMs coupled with urbanized meteorological models are needed to describe the city-scale atmospheric circulation and chemistry in the urban airshed and the building and evolution of the urban heat island, especially strong during heat waves (Halenka et al., 2019), including the combined effects of urban, sub-urban, and rural pollutant emissions. High spatial resolution is also needed to capture pollutant concentration spatial variability at the pedestrian level in an urban environment, answering epidemiological research questions or emergency preparedness issues. In the near future, microscale CFD, including LES modelling, will probably become an appropriate tool for urban air quality assessment and forecasting purposes due to the expected continuous increase in computational resources enabling the inclusion of chemical reactions (Fig. 14). Nevertheless, today computational resources still limit their application to short-term episodes and often to stationary conditions, while climatological studies require for instance a multi-year approach. Parameterized street-scale models (Singh et al., 2020a; Hamer et al., 2020; Kim et al., 2018) or a database created with CFD simulations of several scenarios (Hellsten et al., 2020) can be alternative ways for the downscaling from the mesoscale to the city and street scale, together with obstacle-resolving Lagrangian particle models driven by Rokle-type diagnostic flow models (Veratti et al., 2020; Tinarelli and Trini Castelli et al., 2019) that can be coupled with CTMs for long-term air quality assessment (Barbero et al., 2021).

Figure 14 Modelled distribution of ground-level nitrogen dioxide  (a) and ozone  (b) at 20:00 CEST for a 6.7 km×6.7 km subarea of Berlin around Ernst-Reuter-Platz. The simulation was performed with the chemistry mechanism CBM4 and a horizontal grid size of 10 m (Khan et al., 2021).

6.3.4  Nature-based solutions for improving air quality

The growing interest for nature-based solutions requires the improvement of models' capability to describe biogenic emissions (Cremona et al., 2020) and deposition processes (Petroff et al., 2008; Petroff and Zhang, 2010), resolving the different species leaf features, biomass density, and physiology. The balance between vegetation drag, pollutant absorption, and biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions determines the net positive or negative air quality impact at local and city scales (Karttunen et al., 2020; San José et al., 2020; Santiago et al., 2017; Jeanjean et al., 2017; Jones et al., 2019; Anderson and Gough, 2020). In most cases this feature cannot be explicitly considered, with some parameterized approach, such as the canyon one being necessary, to deal with it. Nevertheless, the present capabilities of UAQ models to describe biogenic emissions together with gas and particle deposition over vegetation covered surfaces (including green roofs and vertical green surfaces) need to be improved to include nature-based solutions' impact in air quality plan evaluation.

7.1  Brief overview

A substantial amount of research has been conducted regarding the health effects of air pollution, especially those attributed to particulate matter (PM). Nevertheless, it is not conclusively known which properties of PM are the most important ones in terms of the health impacts (e.g. Brook et al., 2010; Beelen et al., 2014; Pope et al., 2019; Schraufnagel et al., 2019). For example, a review article by Hoek et al. (2013) addressed cohort studies and reported an excess risk for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality due to long-term exposure to PM 2.5 .

In this section, we have therefore addressed three topical research areas, associated with air quality and health: (i) the health impacts of particulate matter in ambient air; (ii) the combined effects on human health of various air pollutants, heat waves, and pandemics; and (iii) the assessment of the exposure of populations to air pollution. Research that has been reviewed is based on selected international research projects and publications, but generally these are expected to reflect the general consensus, as both the projects and resulting publications involved a significant section of the air quality and health research community. Regarding pandemics, we will focus on the most recent one that has been caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The research and interdependencies of these topics have been illustrated in Fig. 15.

Figure 15 A schematic diagram that illustrates some of the main factors in the evaluation of the exposure and health impacts of particulate matter.

As illustrated in the figure, particulate matter pollution originates from a wide range of anthropogenic and natural sources, and its characteristics can vary in terms of size distributions, chemical composition, and other properties. The resulting health outcomes also vary substantially, depending on the target physiological system or organ of an individual. In addition, the assessments of the interrelations of PM pollution and health outcomes are challenged by various combined and in some cases synergetic effects caused by, for example heat waves and cold spells, allergenic pollen, and airborne microorganisms.

7.2  Current status and challenges

7.2.1  health impacts of particulate matter, (i) overview of the health impacts of particulate matter pollution.

In addition to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, exposure to ambient air PM may result in acute and severe health problems, such as cardiovascular mortality, cardiac arrhythmia, myocardial infarction (MI), myocardial ischemia, and heart failure (Dockery et al., 1993; Schwartz et al., 1996; Peters et al., 2001; Pope et al., 2002). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) concluded in its outlook (OECD, 2012) that PM pollution will be the primary cause of deaths of the African population by 2050, in comparison to hazardous water and poor hygiene. Pražnikar and Pražnikar (2012) comprehensively addressed in their review several epidemiological studies throughout the world; they reported a strong association between the PM concentrations and respiratory morbidity, cardiovascular morbidity, and total mortality.

Global assessments of air quality and health require comprehensive estimates of the exposure to air pollution. However, in many developing countries (e.g. Africa; see Rees at al., 2019; Bauer et al., 2019) ground-based monitoring is sparse or non-existent; quality control and the evaluation of the representativeness of stations may also be insufficient. An inter-disciplinary approach to exposure assessment for burden of disease analyses on a global scale has been recently suggested jointly by WHO, WMO, and CAMS (Shaddick et al., 2021). Such an approach would combine information from available ground measurements with atmospheric chemical transport modelling and estimates from remote sensing satellites. The aim is to produce information that is required for health burden assessment and the calculation of air-pollution-related Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators.

(ii) Health effects associated with the long-term exposure to particulate matter

Long-term exposure may potentially affect every organ in the body and hence worsen existing health conditions, and it may even result in premature mortality (see for example a recent review by Schraufnagel et al., 2019; Brook et al., 2010; Brunekreef and Holgate, 2002; Beelen et al., 2015; Im et al., 2018; Liang et al., 2018; Vodonos et al., 2018; Pope et al., 2019). For example, a review article by Hoek et al. (2013) addressed cohort studies and reported an excess risk for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality due to long-term exposure to PM 2.5 . Beelen et al. (2015) analysed an extensive set of data from 19 European cohort studies; they found that long-term exposure to PM 2.5 sulfur was associated with natural-case mortality. Similar results regarding long-term exposure to PM 2.5 and mortality were also presented in other recent studies conducted by Vodonos et al. (2018) and Pope et al. (2019).

Studies conducted in the framework of the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE) project showed that long-term exposure to PM air pollution was linked to incidences of acute coronary (Cesaroni et al., 2014), cerebrovascular events (Stafoggia et al., 2014), and lung cancer in adults (Adam et al., 2015). Moreover, findings from the same project revealed that other health effects related to PM air pollution were reduced lung function in children (Gehring et al., 2013), pneumonia in early childhood and possibly otitis media (MacIntyre et al., 2014), low birthweight (Pedersen et al., 2013), and the incidence of lung cancer (Raaschou-Nielsen et al., 2013). In addition, another finding of the ESCAPE project was the connection between traffic-related PM 2.5 absorbance and malignant brain tumours (Andersen et al., 2018).

The Biobank Standardisation and Harmonisation for Research Excellence in the European Union (BioSHaRE-EU) project, which included three European cohort studies, presented the association between long-term exposure to ambient PM 10 and asthma prevalence (Cai et al., 2017). In the framework of three major cohorts (HUNT, EPIC-Oxford, and UK Biobank) it was shown that, after adjustments for road traffic noise, incidences of cardiovascular disease (CVD) diseases were attributed to long-term PM exposure (Cai et al., 2018). Hoffmann et al. (2015) suggested that long-term exposure to both PM 10 and PM 2.5 is linked to an increased risk for stroke, and it might be responsible for incidences of coronary events.

(iii) Health effects associated with the short-term exposure to particulate matter

Collaborative studies such as the APHENA (Air Pollution and Health: A European and North American Approach) and the MED-PARTICLES project in Mediterranean Europe have evidenced that short-term exposure to PM has been associated with all-cause cardiovascular and respiratory mortality (Katsouyanni et al., 2009; Zanobetti and Schwartz, 2009; Samoli et al., 2013; Dai et al., 2014), hospital admissions (Stafoggia et al., 2013), and occurrence of asthma symptom episodes in children (Weinmayr et al., 2010).

(iv) Health effects associated with the chemical constituents of PM

The chemical composition of PM is associated with the health effects related to PM concentrations, in addition to the mass concentrations of particulate matter (e.g. Maricq, 2007). Chemical composition of particles is complex; generally, it depends on the source origin of particles and their chemical and physical transformations in the atmosphere (e.g. Prank et al., 2016). Some prominent examples of the components of PM are sulfate (SO 4 ), nitrate (NO 3 ), metals, elemental and organic carbon (Yang et al., 2018), ammonium (NH 3 ) (Pražnikar and Pražnikar, 2012), sea salt, and dust (Prank et al., 2016).

The PM components also include biological organisms (e.g. bacteria, fungi, and viruses) and organic compounds (e.g. polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs, and their nitro-derivatives, NPAHs) (Morakinyo et al., 2016; Kalisa et al., 2019). Their content can vary significantly with regard to time and for various climatic regions (Maki et al., 2015; Gou et al., 2016).

Hime et al. (2018) have reviewed studies which investigated which PM components could be mostly responsible for severe health effects. Such studies included the National Particle Component Toxicity (NPACT) initiative, which combined epidemiologic and toxicologic studies. That study concluded that the concentrations of SO 4 , EC, OC, and PM mainly originated from traffic and combustion and had a significant impact on human health (Adams et al., 2015). The European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE) project aimed at examining the association of elemental components of PM (copper, Cu; iron, Fe; potassium, K; nickel, Ni; sulfur, S; silicon, Si; vanadium, V; and zinc, Zn) with inflammatory blood markers in European cohorts (Hampel et al., 2015). They focused, together with the TRANSPHORM project (Transport related Air Pollution and Health impacts – Integrated Methodologies for Assessing Particulate Matter), on investigating the relationship of these components with cardiovascular (CVD) mortality (Wang et al., 2014).

Moreover, other studies conducted within the framework of ESCAPE and TRANSPHORM projects provided evidence that mortality was linked to long-term exposure to PM 2.5 sulfur (Beelen et al., 2015), as well as to the particle mass and nitrogen oxides (NO 2 and NO x ) (Beelen et al., 2014). As part of the NordicWelfAir project, Hvidtfeldt et al. (2019b) connected the risks of being exposed long-term to PM 2.5 , PM 10 , BC, and NO 2 with all-cause and CVD mortality. In another paper, Hvidtfeldt et al. (2019a) demonstrated the association between long-term exposure to PM 2.5 , elemental and primary organic carbonaceous particles ( BC / OC ), secondary organic aerosols (SOA), and all-cause mortality. They also demonstrated the connection between PM 2.5 , BC / OC , and secondary inorganic aerosols (SIAs) and CVD mortality. Recently, a continuation of this study included all Danes born between 1921 and 1985, showing higher mortality related to exposure to NO 2 , O 3 , PM 2.5 , and BC (Raaschou-Nielsen et al., 2020).

In the framework of the Particle Component Toxicity (NPACT) project, Lippmann et al. (2013) showed that PM 2.5 mass and EC were linked to all-cause mortality; EC was also connected with ischemic heart disease mortality. The latter result was quite similar to the findings of Ostro et al. (2010, 2011, 2015), including OC, SO 4 , NO 3 , and SO in addition to EC. Concerning cardiopulmonary disease mortality, a strong association was observed for the exposure to NO 3 and SO 4 (Ostro et al., 2010, 2011). Luben et al. (2017) and Hoek et al. (2013) in their reviews observed the association of BC with cardiovascular disease hospital admissions and mortality.

In a meta-analysis work conducted by Achilleos et al. (2017), elemental carbon (EC), black carbon (BC), black smoke (BS), organic carbon (OC), sodium (Na), silicon (Si), and sulfate (SO 4 ) were associated with all-cause mortality, and BS, EC, nitrate (NO 3 ), ammonium (NH 4 ), chlorine (Cl), and calcium (Ca) were linked to CVD mortality. In addition, some American cohort studies pointed out that long-term exposure to SO 4 was positively connected with all-cause, cardiopulmonary disease, and lung cancer mortality (Dockery et al., 1993; HEI, 2000; Pope et al., 2002; Ostro et al., 2010).

In addition, other kinds of severe health effects related to PM components have been reported. For example, Wolf et al. (2015) showed that long-term exposure to PM constituents, especially of K, Si, and Fe, which are indicators of road dust, provoked coronary events. The findings of a systematic review, where 59 studies were included, indicated that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) emergency risk was attributed to short-term exposure to O 3 and NO 2 , whereas short-term exposure to SO 2 and NO 2 was responsible for acute COPD risk in developing countries (Li et al., 2016). The review of Li et al. (2016) also reported that short-term exposure to O 3 , CO, NO 2 , SO 2 , PM 10 , and PM 2.5 was linked to respiratory risks.

Poulsen et al. (2020), using detailed modelling and Danish registers from 1989–2014, showed stronger relationships between primarily emitted black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), and combined carbon ( OC / BC ) and malignant brain tumours. Furthermore, the risk for lung cancer was linked to several different compounds and sources of aerosol particles; they found that particles containing S and Ni might be two of the most important components associated with lung cancer (Raaschou-Nielsen, 2016). Park et al. (2018) found that PM 2.5 particles emitted from diesel and gasoline engines were more toxic for humans than, for example, particles from biomass burning or coal combustion. In a recent study, it was concluded that traffic-specific PM components, and in particular NH 4 and SO 4 , lead to higher risks of stroke than PM components linked to industrial sources (Rodins et al., 2020).

(vi) The uncertainties associated with concentration–response functions

Based on previous research, WHO and Europe recommended in 2015 a set of linear concentration–response functions for the main air pollutants and related health outcomes (Héroux et al., 2015). These functions are currently widely used for health assessments, e.g. on a European scale by EEA. EEA (2019) estimated that more than 340 000 premature deaths per year in Europe could be related to the exposure to PM 2.5 . However, it is currently widely debated what the optimal shape of the concentration–response functions is and whether there should be a threshold or lower limit.

A prominent example is the highly cited study by Burnett et al. (2018) on the developments of the Global Exposure Mortality Model (GEMM). By combining data from 41 cohorts from 16 different countries, Burnett et al. (2018) have constructed new hazard ratio functions that to a wider degree than previous studies include the full range of the global exposure to outdoor PM 2.5 . The GEMM functions for PM 2.5 and nonaccidental mortality generally follow a supralinear association at lower concentrations and near-linear association at higher concentrations (Burnett et al., 2018).

The GEMM functions would indicate that health impacts related to PM 2.5 exposure have been underestimated, at both the global and regional scales. In a recent European study on cardiovascular mortality, the GEMM functions were combined with concentration fields from a global atmospheric chemistry–climate model. The results pointed towards a total of 790 000 premature deaths attributed to air pollution in Europe per year, which is significantly higher than the value previously estimated by EEA for example (Lelieveld et al., 2019). Several reviews or meta-analyses have focused on low exposure levels; the conclusion has been that significant associations can be found between PM 2.5 and health effects also at levels below the concentrations of 10–12  µg m −3 . These values are equal to or below the WHO guidelines (10  µg m −3 ) and the US EPA standards (12  µg m −3 ) (Vodonos et al., 2018; Papadogeorgou et al., 2019).

(vii) The use of high-resolution multi-decadal data sets for extensive regions

Developments of air pollution modelling and more efficient computing resources have made it possible to compute high-resolution air pollution data sets that cover larger regions, as well as longer, even multi-decadal, time periods (Fig. 16). The combination of such data with national or international health registers, or cohorts from several countries, improves the representativeness of statistical analyses. The use of more extensive data sets will also reduce the selection biases related to the sizes of the cohorts.

This has resulted in, for example, a better detection of the links between air pollution exposure and new health endpoints, such as psychiatric disorders (e.g. Khan et al., 2019a; Antonsen et al., 2020) and cognitive abilities (e.g. Zhang et al., 2018). Based on high-resolution ( 1 km×1 km ) air pollution data covering the period 1979–2015 and population-based data from the Danish national registers, Thygesen et al. (2020) found that exposure to air pollution (specifically NO 2 ) during early childhood was associated with the development of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Figure 16 An illustration of how concentration predictions at a high spatial and temporal resolution (panels on the left-hand side) could be used for high-resolution health impact assessments (panel on the right-hand side). The concentration distributions were predicted with the chemical transport model SILAM. The health impact assessment was made with the EVA model in a high-resolution setup for the Nordic region, giving an estimate of the number of premature deaths due to exposure to air pollution (Lehtomäki et al., 2020). The concentrations used in EVA were from the chemical transport system DEHH-UBM, providing 1 km×1 km concentration across the Nordic region.

Kukkonen et al. (2018) presented a multi-decadal global- and European-scale modelling of a wide range of pollutants and the finer-resolution urban-scale modelling of PM 2.5 in the Helsinki metropolitan area. All of these computations were conducted for a period of 35 years, from 1980 to 2014. The regional background concentrations were evaluated based on reanalyses of the atmospheric composition on global and European scales, using the chemical transport model SILAM. These results have been used for health impact assessments by Siddika et al. (2019, 2020). The predicted air quality and meteorological data are also available to be used in any other region globally in health impact assessments.

7.2.2  Combined effects of air pollution, heat waves, and pandemics on human health

It is widely known that poor air quality has severe impacts on the human immune system (Genc et al., 2012). In particular, some of the acute health effects include chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases (Ghorani-Azam et al., 2016), respiratory infection (e.g. Conticini et al., 2020), and even cancer and death (IOM, 2011; Villeneuve et al., 2013). Polluted air can cause, for example, damage in epithelial cilia (Cao et al., 2020), which leads to a chronic inflammatory stimulus (Conticini et al., 2020). It has also been shown that the SARS-CoV-2 can stay viable and infectious on aerosol particles that are smaller than 5  µm in diameter for more than 3 h (van Doremalen et al., 2020). Therefore, atmospheric pollutants might play an important role in spreading the virus.

(i) The role of air pollution in pandemics

Previously, Cui et al. (2003) found that the long-term exposure to moderate or high air pollution levels was positively correlated with mortality caused by SARS-CoV-1 in the Chinese population. Therefore, it is possible that poor air quality would enhance the risk of mortality during epidemics or pandemics, such as the COVID-19 disease, caused by SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, poor air quality can enhance the human health effects of heat waves, cold spells, and allergenic pollen. This is because exposure to ambient air pollutants together with microorganisms tend to make the health impacts of pathogens more severe; at the same time, they weaken human immunity, resulting in an increased risk of respiratory infection (e.g. Xu et al., 2016; Horne et al., 2018; Xie et al., 2019; Phosri et al., 2019).

Conticini et al. (2020) concluded that weakened lung defence mechanisms due to continuous exposure to air pollution could partly explain the higher morbidity and mortality caused by SARS-CoV-2 in areas of poor air quality in Italy. Zhu et al. (2020) used the data of daily confirmed COVID-19 cases, air pollution, and meteorology from 120 cities in China to study the association between the concentrations of ambient air pollutants (PM 2.5 , PM 10 , SO 2 , CO, NO 2 , and O 3 ), and COVID-19 cases. By applying a generalized additive model, they found a significant correlation between PM 2.5 , PM 10 , CO, NO 2 , and O 3 and daily counts of confirmed COVID-19 patients, while SO 2 was negatively associated with the daily number of new COVID-19 cases.

Ogen (2020) studied 66 regions in Italy, Spain, France, and Germany; he also found a spatial correlation between high NO 2 concentration and fatality from COVID-19. According to this study, 83 % of all fatalities occurred in the regions having a maximum NO 2 concentration above 100  µ molec . m - 2 , and only 1.5 % of all fatalities took place in areas in which the maximum NO 2 concentration was below 50  µ molec . m - 2 . However, Pisoni and Van Dingenen (2020) did not find a similar phenomenon in the UK, where the number of deaths was higher than in Italy, despite a significantly lower NO 2 concentration.

Xie and Zhu (2020) used temperature data from 122 cities mainly in the eastern part of China and observed a linear relationship between ambient temperature and daily number of confirmed COVID-19 counts in cases when the temperature was below 3  ∘ C. At higher temperatures, no correlation was found. This indicates that daily counts of COVID-19 did not decline at warmer atmospheric conditions, although such a dependency was expected based on the previous studies related to coronaviruses SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV (e.g. van Doremalen et al., 2013; Bi et al., 2007; Tan et al., 2005). However, the study of Xie and Zhu (2020) was conducted in winter; the highest temperatures were around 27  ∘ C.

Chen et al. (2017) statistically investigated the correlation between influenza incidences and the concentrations of PM 2.5 in 47 Chinese cities for 14 months during 2013–2014. Based on the results, they concluded that about 10 % of the influenza cases were induced by the exposure to ambient PM 2.5 . They also classified the days as cold, moderately cold, moderately hot, and hot separately for each city and found that the risk for influenza transmission associated with ambient air PM 2.5 was enhanced during cold days.

(ii) Combined effects of air pollutants and heat waves

Siddika et al. (2019) found that prenatal exposure to both PM 2.5 and O 3 increased the risk of preterm birth in Finland in the 1980s. The risk was more pronounced if the mother was exposed to both higher PM 2.5 and higher O 3 concentrations. They explained that O 3 might deplete antioxidants in the lung, and therefore the defence mechanism needed against reactive oxygen species formation was reduced due to the exposure to PM 2.5 . Also, the O 3 concentrations can cause changes in lung epithelium so that it is more permeable for particles to absorb into the circulatory system. The population selected for the study were living in southern Finland in the 1980s, in relatively good air quality. However, the concentrations of many pollutants, e.g. those of PM 2.5 , have been shown to have been twice as high in the 1980s, compared with the corresponding pollutant levels in the same region during the second decade of the 21st century (Kukkonen et al., 2018).

Wang et al. (2020) presented that PM 2.5 exposure strengthened the effect of moderate heat waves (short or only moderate temperature rise) associated with preterm births during January 2015–July 2017 in Guangdong Province, China. However, during the intensive heat waves, the effects were not additive.

Analitis et al. (2018) studied synergetic effects of temperature, PM 10 , O 3 , and NO 2 on cardiovascular and respiratory deaths. They found some correlation between the effects of high ambient temperatures and those caused by O 3 and PM 10 concentrations. However, during the heat waves, no clear synergetic effect was found. In a review article, Son et al. (2019) concluded that there is some evidence between the mortality related to high temperatures and air pollution.

J. Li et al. (2017) wrote a comprehensive literature review about the role of temperature and air pollution in mortality. They determined individual spatial temperature ranges and grouped them in “low”, “medium”, and “high” based on the information given in each study about typical local weather conditions. After a careful selection based on the quality of the data sets, they performed a meta-analysis by using data of 21 studies; they found that high temperature significantly increased the risk of non-accidental and cardiovascular mortality, caused by the exposure to PM 10 or O 3 . The risk of cardiovascular mortality due to PM 10 decreased during low-temperature days in the prevailing climate. However, the exposure to both low temperature and the concentrations of O 3 increased the risk of non-accidental mortality. Similar effects were not found for the concentrations of SO 2 or NO 2 and temperature. Lepeule et al. (2018) found that short-term rise in outdoor air temperature and relative humidity was linked to deteriorated lung function of elderly people. A simultaneous exposure to black carbon amplified the health effects.

7.2.3  Estimation of exposures

(i) modelling of individual exposure.

The currently available epidemiological studies use measured or modelled outdoor concentrations in residential areas or at home addresses, to correlate the concentrations with health effects. However, several studies have pointed out that it is critical to use the exposure of people as indicators for the health effects (Kousa et al., 2002; Soares et al., 2014; Kukkonen et al., 2016b; Smith et al., 2016; Singh et al., 2020a; Li and Friedrich, 2019; Li, 2020). It is obvious that the effects of air pollutants on human health are caused by the inhaled pollutants, instead of the pollutants at a certain point or area outdoors. Thus, exposure is a much better indicator for estimating health risks than outdoor concentrations. The individual exposure of a person to air pollutants is defined here as the concentration of pollutants at the sites where the person is staying weighted by the length of stay at each of the places of stay and averaged over a certain time span, e.g. a year. The places of stay are in this context called microenvironments. Exposure of a group of people with certain features (e.g. sex, age, place of living) is the average exposure of the individuals in the subgroup. In general, the exposure of a person is calculated by first estimating the concentration of air pollutants in the microenvironments where the person or population subgroup is staying and then by weighting this concentration with the length of time the person has been at the respective microenvironment (Li and Friedrich, 2019; Li, 2020). The result of modelling exposure can be verified by measuring the exposure with personal sensors (e.g. Dessimond et al., 2021).

Exposures to ambient concentrations of PM 2.5 can be substantially different in different microenvironments. The concentrations in microenvironments can be either measured or modelled. Computational results of activity-based dynamic exposures by Singh et al. (2020a) demonstrate that the total population exposure was over one-quarter ( −28  %) lower on a city-wide average level, compared with simply using outdoor concentrations at residential locations, in the case of London in the 2010s. Smith et al. (2016) have shown by modelling that exposure estimates based on space-time activity were 37 % lower than the outdoor exposure evaluated at residential addresses in London. However, this proportion will be different for other urban regions and time periods, or when addressing specific population sub-groups.

The exposure to particulate matter is substantially influenced by indoor environments, as people spend 80 %–95 % of their time indoors (e.g. Hänninen et al., 2005). Indoor air quality mainly depends on the penetration of pollutants in outdoor air, on ventilation, and on indoor pollution sources. For estimating the indoor concentration, commonly a mass-balance model is applied (Hänninen et al., 2004; Li, 2020). With a mass-balance model, the indoor concentration is calculated based on the outdoor concentration, a penetration factor, the air exchange rate, the decay rate, the emission rates of the indoor sources and the room volume, and, if available, by parameters of the mechanical ventilation system.

A complex stochastic model has been developed for estimating the annual individual exposure of people or groups of people in the European Union to PM 2.5 and NO 2 , using characteristics of the analysed subgroup, such as age, gender, place of residence, and socioeconomic status (Li et al., 2019a, c; Li and Friedrich, 2019; Li, 2020). The probabilistic model incorporates an atmospheric model for estimating the ambient pollutant concentrations in outdoor microenvironments and a mass-balance model for estimating indoor concentrations stemming from outdoor concentrations and from emissions from indoor sources. Time-activity patterns (which specify how long a person stays in each microenvironment) were derived from an advancement of the Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS) (Fisher and Gershuny, 2016). The exposures can also be estimated for past years. It is therefore possible to analyse the exposure for the whole lifetime of a person, by using a lifetime trajectory model that retrospectively predicts the possible transitions in the past life of a person.

An exemplary result from Li and Friedrich (2019) is shown in Fig. 17. It displays that the PM 2.5 annual average exposure averaged over all adult persons living in the EU increased since the 1950s from 19.0 (95 % confidence interval, CI: 3.3–55.7)  µg m −3 to a maximum of 37.2 (95 % CI: 9.2–113.8)  µg m −3 in the 1980s. The exposure then declined gradually afterwards until 2015 to 20.1 (95 % CI: 5.8–51.2)  µg m −3 . Indoor air pollution contributes considerably to exposure. In recent years more than 45 % of the PM 2.5 exposure of an average EU citizen has been caused by indoor sources.

Figure 17 Temporal evolution of the annual average exposure of EU adult persons to PM 2.5 from 1950 to 2015 (Li and Friedrich, 2019). All sources, except “outdoor”, refer to indoor sources. ETS denotes environmental tobacco smoke (passive smoking).

The most important indoor sources are environmental tobacco smoke (passive smoking), frying, wood burning in open fireplaces and stoves in the living area, and the use of incense sticks and candles. In addition, nearly all indoor activities include abrasion processes that produce fine dust. For NO 2 , indoor sources cause around 24 % of the exposure, with the main contributions from cooking with gas and from biomass burning in stoves and open fireplaces (Li and Friedrich, 2019). The solid black line in Fig. 7.3 shows the background outdoor concentration at the places where EU citizens spend their lives on average. Urban background concentrations refer to urban concentrations that are not in the immediate vicinity of the emission sources, especially of streets.

The average exposure is higher than the average outdoor background concentration. Epidemiological studies correlate outdoor concentrations with health risks and thus neglect the exposure caused by indoor sources. Such studies therefore implicitly assume that the contribution of indoor sources is the same at all places and for all people. Thus, calculating the burden of disease using exposures to PM 2.5 will yield years of lives lost and other chronic diseases that are about 40 % higher than those calculated with outdoor background concentrations (Li, 2020). Using exposure data, a 70-year-old male EU citizen will have experienced a reduction of life expectancy of about 13 (CI 2–43) d yr −1 of exposure to PM 2.5 , since the age of 30 (Li, 2020). For a person who is now 40 years old or younger, the life expectancy loss per year will be less than half as much as that of a 70-year-old person.

A similar approach for estimating the “integrated population-weighted exposure” of the Chinese population to PM 2.5 has been used by Aunan et al. (2018) and Zhao et al. (2018). Aunan et al. (2018) estimated a mean annual averaged PM 2.5 exposure of 103 [86–120]  µg m −3 in urban areas and 200 [161–238]  µg m −3 in rural areas, with 50 % in urban areas and 78 % in rural areas originating from domestic biomass and coal burning.

(ii) Measurements of indoor concentrations and individual exposure

Zhao et al. (2020a) took measurements of PM concentrations of different size classes in 40 homes in the German cities of Leipzig and Berlin. Measurements were taken in different seasons simultaneously inside and directly outside the homes. Only homes without smokers were analysed. Mean annual indoor PM 10 concentrations were 30 % larger than the outdoor concentrations near the houses. However, the mean indoor concentration of PM 2.5 was 6 % smaller than the outdoor concentration. The infiltration factor was evaluated to be 0.5. They therefore concluded that the indoor concentration of PM 2.5 was considerably influenced by both indoor and outdoor sources; the former included cooking and burning of candles.

Vardoulakis et al. (2020) made a comprehensive literature review on indoor concentration of selected air pollutants associated with negative health effects and listed the main results (concentrations) and other features (e.g. main sources) for the analysed studies. They express the need for “standardized IAQ (indoor air quality) measurement and analytical methods and longer monitoring periods over multiple sites”.

Some studies have focused on the measurements of personal exposure to ambient air concentrations using portable instruments in different microenvironments. For instance, Dessimond et al. (2021) describe the development and use of a personal sensor for measuring PM 1 , PM 2.5 PM 10 , BC, NO 2 , and VOC together with climate parameters, location, and sleep quality. Clearly, such measurements can provide valuable and accurate information on the spatial and temporal variations in exposure, and they can be used to validate exposure models.

7.3  Emerging challenges

7.3.1  emerging challenges for health impacts of particulate matter, (i) classification of particulate matter measures and characteristics and potential health outcomes.

Various studies have described PM in terms of the overall aerosol properties, such as the mass fractions (most commonly PM 2.5 and PM 10 ), the size distributions (mass, area, volume), the chemical composition, primary versus secondary PM, the morphology of particles, and source-attributed PM. Some studies have adopted more specific properties of PM derived based on the above-mentioned overall properties. Such properties include, to mention a few of the most common ones, particle number concentrations (PNCs), PNCs evaluated separately for each particulate mode, ultra-fine PM, nanoparticles, secondary organic PM, primary PM, other combinations of chemical composition, suspended dust (specific class of source-attributed PM), the content of metals, and toxic or hazardous pollutants.

An important emerging area is therefore to understand better which PM properties or measures would optimally describe the resulting health impacts. As mentioned above, one potentially crucial candidate for such a property is particulate number concentration (PNC). Kukkonen et al. (2016a) presented the modelling of the emissions and concentrations of particle numbers on a European scale and in five European cities. Frohn et al. (2021) and Ketzel et al. (2021) performed modelling of particle number concentrations for all Danish residential addresses for a 40-year time period. For all studies, the comparison of the predicted PNCs to measurements on regional and urban scales showed a reasonable agreement. However, there are still substantial uncertainties, especially in the modelling of the emissions of particulate numbers.

Health outcomes can also be classified as overall outcomes and physiologically more specific outcomes. Prominent examples of overall outcomes are mortality and morbidity. Relatively more specific impacts include respiratory and cardiovascular impacts, bronchitis, asthma, neurological impacts, and impacts on specific population groups (such as infants, children, the elderly, prenatal impacts, and persons suffering various diseases).

(ii) Uncertainties and challenges on evaluating the health impacts of particulate matter

Additional uncertainty is included in the concentration versus health response functions, which may be linear or logarithmic or a combination of both of these, and including or excluding a threshold value. When applied in health assessments, the shape of the response functions translates into large differences in the estimated number of premature deaths (Lehtomäki et al., 2020). EEA has made a sensitivity analysis showing that the application of a 2.5  µg m −3 threshold (equivalent to a natural background) will reduce the estimated number of premature deaths related to PM 2.5 by about 20 % in Europe (EEA, 2019a). Clearly, in the evaluation of the health impacts of PM, there are also numerous confounding factors. For population-based studies, these include active and passive smoking, sources and sinks that influence indoor pollution, gaseous pollutants, allergenic pollen, socio-economic effects, age, health status, and gender.

In addition, the health impacts of PM are related to the impacts of other environmental stressors, such as heat waves and cold spells, allergenic pollen, and airborne microorganisms. Commonly, it is challenging to decipher such effects in terms of each other. The factors may also have either synergistic or antagonistic effects. For instance, the health impacts of PM may be enhanced in the presence of a heat wave. The impacts of various PM properties are also known to be physiologically specific; i.e. such a property may contribute to a certain health outcome but not to some other outcomes.

In summary, there are many associations of various PM properties and measures to various health outcomes. Some of these inter-dependencies are known relatively better, either qualitatively or quantitatively, while there are also numerous associations, which are currently known poorly.

(iii) Research recommendations for deciphering the impacts of various particulate matter properties

For evaluating the relative significance of various PM properties and measures on human health, a denser measurement network on advanced PM properties would be needed, on both regional and urban scales. The required PM properties would include, in particular, size distributions and chemical composition. Clearly, such a network would be especially valuable in cities and regions which include high-quality population cohorts. The most important requirement in terms of PM modelling would be improved emission inventories, which would also include sufficiently accurate information on particle size distributions and chemical composition.

Pražnikar and Pražnikar (2012) and Rodins et al. (2020) stressed the importance of the identification of the specific sources and the evaluation of the chemical composition of PM responsible for acute health effects. For instance, Hime et al. (2018) reported that there is a severe lack of epidemiological studies investigating the health impacts originating from exposure to ambient diesel exhaust PM. In addition, they pointed out that there is no clear distinction between PM originating from diesel emissions and from other sources; thus, there is a limited number of studies assessing the respective health impacts.

Despite the substantial amount of research on the impacts of various PM properties and measures, the results on the importance of the more advanced measures (in addition to PM mass fractions) are to some extent inconclusive. One reason for this uncertainty is that there are so many associations of various PM properties and measures to various health outcomes. An emerging area related to assessing the health impact of PM is the associated oxidative stress when the particles are inhaled (e.g. see Gao et al., 2020; He et al., 2021). A possible explanation for the health effects from PM is based on PM-bound reactive oxygen species (ROS) being introduced to the surface of the lung, which leads to the depletion of the lung-lining fluid antioxidants as well as other damage (Gao et al., 2020).

One prominent emerging area is the evaluation of long-term, multi-decadal concentrations and meteorology on a sufficient spatial resolution. Long-term and lifetime exposures are known to be more important in terms of human health, compared with short-term exposures. Comprehensive data sets are therefore needed, which will include multi-decadal evaluation of air quality, meteorology, exposure, and a range of health impacts. Some first examples of such data sets have already been reported (Kukkonen et al., 2018; Siddika et al., 2019; Raaschou-Nielsen et al., 2020; Thygesen et al., 2020; Siddika et al., 2020). Although it is clear that chronic diseases and chronic mortality are caused by exposure to fine PM over many years, information is scarce regarding the critical length of the exposure period in terms of premature death for example.

Elderly people are generally regarded as more sensitive to air pollution. It is well-known that the overall trend towards an ageing population can counteract improvements in air pollution levels in the future (e.g. Geels et al., 2015). However, detailed knowledge is scarce regarding whether exposure during specific periods in life can increase the risk of chronic morbidity or mortality. Inequalities in both the exposure to PM and the related risks across different population groups (like gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic position, etc) due to underlying differences in health status will also need further investigations, to ascertain that future mitigation strategies will benefit all population groups (Fairburn et at., 2019; Raaschou-Nielsen et al., 2020). With regard to chronic diseases caused by NO 2 , it is still uncertain whether NO 2 is the cause of the diseases or whether other pressures or a combination of pressures that are correlated with the NO 2 concentration are responsible.

The introduction of green spaces in urban areas can contribute either negatively or positively to air quality. Green spaces can also potentially act as sources of allergenic pollen. The health impacts of introducing green spaces would therefore need to be clarified (Hvidtfeldt et al., 2019b; Engemann et al., 2020).

7.3.2  Emerging challenges for the combined effects of air pollution and viruses

Studying the combined effects of air pollution, heat waves or cold spells, and viruses is challenging, due to numerous confounding factors and incidental correlations. For instance, air pollution is commonly a serious problem in areas where the population density is also high. The high population density tends to allow viruses to spread more easily, compared with the situation in more sparsely populated areas.

Morbidity or mortality due to pandemics is also dependent on the age distribution of the population, cultural and social differences, the level of health care, living conditions, common hygiene, and other factors. Clearly, such demographic differences should be taken into account, when comparing the frequencies of virus infections in different areas.

Due to limited data and the still evolving COVID-19 pandemic, it is difficult to draw definite conclusions related to the role of air pollution or meteorological drivers (like temperature or relative humidity) in transmission rates or in the severity of the disease. Global interdisciplinary studies, open data sharing, and scientific collaboration are the key words towards better understanding of the interaction of COVID-19 and meteorological and environmental variables. Moreover, it is important to know what the role of, for example, PM is in spreading SARS-CoV-2. Indoor or laboratory dispersion experiments are needed to find out if the virus is spreading not only in droplets but also in smaller aerosol particles. Together with a fully validated computational fluid dynamics model, it is possible to get facts about dispersion distances in different conditions and to study for example the effect of ventilation systems, furniture placements, and air cleaners to give information-based recommendations to make the environment as safe as possible without complete lockdowns.

Allergenic pollen can periodically cause substantial health impacts for numerous people. As PM is transported in the atmosphere, microbial pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses can be attached on the surfaces of particles (Morakinyo et al., 2016); clearly, these may provide an additional risk (Kalisa et al., 2019). The combination of both biological and chemical components of PM can further enhance some health effects, such as asthma and COPD (Kalisa et al., 2019).

Adverse health impacts can also be associated with short-term exposure to atmospheric particles. The short-term impacts may be important, especially during air pollution episodes. Such episodes may be caused, for example, by the emissions originating from wildfires, dust storms, or severe accidents. Episodes can also be caused by extreme meteorological conditions; two prominent examples are heat waves and extremely stable atmospheric conditions.

7.3.3  Other emerging challenges

First attempts have been made to quantify exposures by estimating concentrations in microenvironments, combined with space-time activity data. However, improvements will be necessary for virtually all the components of exposure modelling. Regarding the emissions used for concentration modelling, in particular the evaluation of the emission rates from indoor sources should be improved on a broader empirical basis.

Emission rates depend on human behaviour, for which more detailed information is needed. For example, how many people smoke indoors, and how many family members are exposed to passive smoking? Are kitchen hoods used when cooking and frying? How often are chimneys open, and how often are wood stoves used? For estimating indoor concentrations, one would need further information of ventilation habits in different seasons. Better information would be needed regarding the use of mechanical ventilation with heat recovery in new homes and office buildings.

To validate the results of the indoor air pollution models, one would need more measurements of indoor air concentrations in rooms with different emission sources and ventilation systems. Furthermore, measurements of concentrations are needed in various microenvironments, such as in cars, buses, and the underground.

With growing knowledge of the relation between exposure and health impacts, more detailed exposure indicators might be necessary. For instance, a further differentiation according to size and species of PM 2.5 and PM 10 might be needed, as well as the specification of the temperature and of the breathing rate, in other words the intake of pollutants with respiration. The use of more dynamic exposure data in epidemiological studies in the future could substantially improve the accuracy of health impact assessments.

8.1  Brief overview

While decisions about air quality management and policy development are based on political considerations, it is a scientific task to provide evidence and decision support for designing efficient air pollution control strategies that lead to an optimization of welfare of the population. To do this, integrated assessments of the available policies and measures to reduce air pollution and their impacts are made. In such assessments, two questions are addressed.

Is a policy or measure or a bundle of policies or measures beneficial for society? Does it increase the welfare of society; i.e. do the benefits outweigh the costs (including disadvantages, risks, utility losses)?

If several alternative policy measures or bundles of policy measures are proposed, how can we prioritize them according to their efficiency; i.e. which should be used first to fulfil the environmental aims?

To analyse these questions, two methodologies have been developed: cost–effectiveness analyses and cost–benefit analyses. The concept of “costs” is used here in a broad sense, referring to all negative impacts including – in addition to financial costs – also non-monetary risks and disadvantages, such as time losses, increased health risks, risks caused by climate change, biodiversity losses, comfort losses, and so on, which are monetized to be able to add them to the monetary costs. Benefits encompass all positive impacts including avoided monetary costs, avoided health risks, avoided biodiversity losses, avoided material damage, reduced risks caused by climate change, and time and comfort gains.

With a cost–effectiveness analysis (CEA) the net costs (costs plus monetized disadvantages minus monetized benefits) for improving a non-monetary indicator used in an environmental aim with a certain measure are calculated, e.g. the costs of reducing the emission of 1 t of CO 2,eq . The lower the unit costs, the higher the cost–effectiveness or efficiency of a policy or measure. The CEA is mostly used for assessing the costs associated with climatically active species, as the effects are global. The situation is different for air pollution, where the damage caused by emitting 1 t of a pollutant varies widely depending on time and place of the emission.

Cost–benefit analysis (CBA) is a more general methodology. In a CBA, the benefits, i.e. the avoided damage and risks due to an air pollution control measure or bundle of measures, are quantified and monetized. Then, costs including the monetized negative impacts of the measures are estimated. If the net present value of benefits minus costs is positive, benefits outweigh the costs. Thus the measure is beneficial for society; i.e. it increases welfare. Dividing the benefits minus the nonmonetary costs by the monetary costs of a specific measure will result in the net benefit per euro spent, which can be used for ranking policies and measures. For performing mathematical operations like summing or dividing costs and benefits, they have first to be quantified and then converted into a common unit, for which a monetary unit, e.g. euros, is usually chosen. Integrated assessment means that – as far as possible – all relevant aspects (disadvantages, benefits) should be considered, i.e. all aspects that might have a non-negligible influence.

When setting up air pollution control plans, it is essential to also consider the effect of these plans on greenhouse gas emissions. Air pollution control measures usually lead to a decrease but sometimes also to an increase in GHG emissions. And vice versa, most measures for GHG reduction influence in fact reduce the emissions of air pollutants in most cases. Thus, an optimized combined air pollution control and climate protection plan is necessary to avoid contradictions and inconsistencies.

Looking at the current praxis in the EU countries, still separate plans are made for air pollution control and climate protection. Air pollution control plans currently estimate the reduction (or sometimes increase) of GHG emissions more and more, but they do not assess these reductions by monetizing them, and thus they cannot be accounted for in a cost–benefit analysis. In the assessment of the National Energy and Climate Plans the EC states:

Despite some efforts made, there continues to be insufficient reporting of the projected impacts of the planned policies and measures on the emissions of air pollutants by Member States in their final plans. Only 13 Member States provided a sufficient level of detail and/or improved analysis of the air impacts compared to the draft plans. The final plans provide insufficient analysis of potential trade-offs between air and climate/energy objectives (mostly related to increasing amounts of bioenergy). (EC, 2020)

So, in an integrated assessment, the assessment of air pollution control measures should always take into account the impact of changes in greenhouse gas emissions. Correspondingly, climate protection plans should take changes in air pollution into account (Friedrich, 2016). In the following, advancements in the quantification and monetizing of avoided impacts from reducing emissions from air pollutants and greenhouse gases are described.

8.2  Current status and challenges

8.2.1  estimation and monetization of impacts from air pollution.

Integrated assessments, which include as a relevant element the assessment of air pollution, encompass many areas, especially the assessment of energy and transport technologies and of policies for air pollution control and climate protection. The development of such integrated assessments started in the early 1990s with a series of EU research projects, which have been called “ExternE-external costs of energy”. A summarized description of the developed methodology can be found in Bickel and Friedrich (2005); further descriptions and project results are addressed in ExternE (2012), Friedrich and Kuhn (2011), Friedrich (2016) and Roos (2017). The framework for integrated environmental assessments has been further consolidated and developed within the EU research projects INTARESE and HEIMTSA. The advanced methodology and its application are described in Friedrich and Kuhn (2011). The processes of an integrated assessment are shown in Fig. 18 (Briggs, 2008; IEHIAS, 2014), where important elements like issue framing, scenario construction, provision of data and models, uncertainty estimation, and stakeholder consultation are addressed. In the beginning of an assessment, the relevant air pollutants have to be identified, which are those that cause substantial damage. In many cases, primary and secondary particulate matter of different size classes and NO 2 will cause the worst damage, followed by O 3 .

The element in the framework that is representing the assessment of air pollution, i.e. the “impact pathway approach”, is shown in detail in Fig. 19. This figure already includes one of the emerging developments described in Sect. 8.3, namely the estimation of individual exposure instead of outdoor concentration. First, scenarios of activities are collected, for instance the distance driven with a Euro 5 diesel car or the amount of wood used in wood stoves. Multiplying the activity data with the appropriate emission factors will result in emissions. The emission data are input for chemical–transport models that are used to calculate concentrations on regional, continental, or global scales; for Europe the EMEP model (Simpson et al., 2012) and worldwide the TM5-FASST model (van Dingenen et al., 2018) are often used – see Sect. 5 of this paper.

In the next phase, concentration–response functions derived from epidemiological studies are used to estimate health impacts. For the most relevant pollutants PM 10 , PM 2.5 , NO 2 , and O 3 , the WHO (2013a) made a meta-analysis of the epidemiological studies available until 2012 and recommended exposure–response relationships for use in integrated assessments, which are still widely used. Newer epidemiological studies in particular investigating the relation between fine particulate air pollution and human mortality have been analysed by Pope et al. (2020), who present a nonlinear exposure–response function with a decreasing slope for cardiopulmonary disease mortality caused by PM 2.5 . The most important concentration–response functions for impacts of air pollution on human health are described in Sarigiannis and Karakitsios (2018) and Friedrich and Kuhn (2011).

Beneath health damage, which is the most important damage category, impacts on ecosystems, especially biodiversity losses, and on materials and crop losses should also be considered. Impacts on ecosystems are usually quantified as pdf, “potentially disappeared fraction of species” per square metre land (Dorber et al., 2020) and thus as biodiversity losses. A first methodology was developed by Ott et al. (2006), which is still used in some studies. Further approaches, partly adopted from methods developed for LCIA (life cycle impact assessment), were developed later (e.g. Souza et al., 2015; Förster et al., 2019), but because of the simplifications and uncertain assumptions made, none of these approaches reached the same full acceptance as the approaches for the other damage categories. For material damage and crop loss, deposition–response relationships have been developed in the ExternE – External Costs of Energy (ExternE, 2012) project series and are described in Bickel and Friedrich (2005); they are still used.

Finally, the health effects and the other impacts are monetized, which means that they are converted into financial costs; for the non-monetary part of the impacts results of contingent valuation (willingness to pay) studies are used (as described in OECD, 2018). As numerous contingent valuation studies have been made in the past, it is not necessary to carry out a further willingness-to-pay study; instead results of existing studies which found monetary values for the damage endpoints to be analysed can be used. Of course, as the contingent valuation studies are usually made at another time, in another area, and with other cultural situations than the planned assessment, the monetary values must be transformed with a methodology called “benefit transfer” from the original time, place, and cultural features to the ones of the assessment (see Navrud and Ready, 2007). The most important monetary value in the context of air pollution is the value for a statistical life year lost (VLYL) caused by a premature death at the end of life after lifelong exposure to air pollutants. It is often based on a study of Desaigues et al. (2011). The result for average EU citizens – transformed to 2020 – is EUR 2020 75 200 (47 000–269 450) per VLYL. A list of monetary values for health endpoints, which are used in most studies, can be found in Friedrich and Kuhn (2011).

Figure 18 Integrated assessment process involving air pollution (Briggs, 2008).

Figure 19 Schematic presentation of the use of models and the flow of data in the enhanced impact pathway approach (Friedrich, 2016).

Based on this principal approach, a growing number of tools have been developed and applied for supporting air quality control for urban, national, and regional to global scales. The tool used for the assessments for DG Environment and for the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution of the UN ECE is GAINS (Greenhouse gas – Air pollution Interactions and Synergies) developed by IIASA (Amann et al., 2017; Klimont, 2021).

A specific development in GAINS is the use of source–receptor matrices as a proxy for using an atmospheric model. A limitation of chemical transport models has been the substantial computational requirements for running the models for estimating hourly concentration values caused by an emission scenario for an entire year. To be able to simulate many scenarios within a short time, results of certain runs with the complex atmospheric model EMEP (Simpson et al., 2012) were transformed into source–receptor matrices, which provided information of the relationship between a change of emissions in a country and the change of the concentration in grid cells of a European grid. However, because of the relatively large size of the grid cells for European-wide models, concentrations in cities were underestimated; thus an “urban increment” was introduced for cities (Vautard et al., 2007; Torras and Friedrich, 2013; Torras, 2012). Thunis (2018), however, points out that this approach has certain weaknesses. Thus, newer approaches use nested modelling with regional atmospheric models using varying grid sizes (e.g. Brandt, 2012) or modelling of typical days instead of a whole year with a finer grid (Bartzis et al., 2020; Sakellaris et al., 2022). The ECOSENSE model uses a similar method as GAINS, however, distinguishing between parts of larger countries and emission heights. Furthermore a monetary assessment of greenhouse gas emissions is made (ExternE, 2012; Friedrich, 2016; Roos, 2017).

As a major application of the GAINS tool, the European Commission, DG Environment regularly assesses its directives for air pollution control. A well-known example is the impact assessment carried out for assessing the Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution and the Directive on “Ambient Air Quality and Cleaner Air for Europe” (EC, 2005). It was shown that the monetized benefits of implementing the thematic strategy for air pollution control are much higher than the costs. In the most recent assessment, DG Environment assessed the costs and benefits of the so-called NAPCPs, the national air pollution control programmes, which the member states had to provide by 2019 to show how they plan to comply with the emission reduction commitments of the National Emission Reduction Commitments Directive (NEC Directive). The benefits considered were the monetized reduced health and environmental impacts caused by the requested air pollution control measures. The results show that the health benefits alone with EUR 8 billion per year to EUR 42 billion per year are much larger than the costs of the considered measures with EUR 1.4 billion per year (EC, 2021) and that further emission reductions might also be efficient. The UN ECE (UN Economic Commission for Europe) has launched eight so-called protocols guided by the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, which require the member states to provide information on air pollution in their countries and to take actions to improve it (UNECE, 2020). The latest protocol entering into force was the revised Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone, as amended on 4 May 2012. To prepare for these protocols, the effects of air pollution on ecosystems, health, crops, and materials have been assessed with the same methods as used by the EC, i.e. using the GAINS model.

The OECD recommends carrying out cost–benefit analyses with the impact pathway methodology (OECD, 2018). Similarly, national authorities, e.g. the German Federal Environmental Agency, have proposed using the methodology for the assessment of environmental policies and infrastructure projects (Matthey and Bünger, 2019). In Denmark, the method has been used in the EVA system (Economic Valuation of Air pollution, Brandt et al., 2013) to estimate the external costs related to air pollution, as part of the national air quality monitoring programme (Ellermann et al., 2018). The same system has been used to assess the impact from different emission sectors and countries within the Nordic area, by using a CTM model with a tagging method (Im et al., 2019). Kukkonen et al. (2020c) developed an integrated assessment tool based on the impact pathway principle that can be used for evaluating the public health costs. The model was applied for evaluating the concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) in ambient air and the associated public health costs of domestic PM 2.5 emissions in Finland. Several further integrated assessment models have been described in Thunis et al. (2016). Not only in Europe but also in the USA, integrated assessment of air pollution is an issue. Keiser and Muller (2017) provide an overview of integrated assessment models for air and water in the US and hint at the intersections between air and water pollution.

Several studies are using the impact pathway approach from Fig. 8.2 for estimating health impacts and aggregate them to DALYS (disability adjusted life years), but without monetizing the impacts; i.e. they calculate the burden of disease or the overall health impacts stemming from air pollution. The WHO has estimated the burden of disease from different causes, including air pollution, in the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBDS, 2020). The European Environmental Agency regularly estimates the health impacts from air pollution in Europe and found 4 381 000 life years lost attributable to the emissions of PM 2.5 in 2018 in the EU28 (EEA, 2020a). Hänninen et al. (2014) analysed the burden of disease of nine environmental stressors, including particulate matter, for Europe. Lehtomäki et al. (2020) quantified the health impacts of particles, ozone, and nitrogen dioxide in Finland and found a burden of 34 800 DALYs per year, with fine particles being the main contributor (74 %). Recent studies also include future projections of emissions and climate. Huang (2018) assessed and monetized the health impacts of air pollution in China for 2010 and for several scenarios until 2030. Likewise, Tarín-Carrasco et al. (2021) projected the number of premature deaths in Europe towards 2050 and found that a shift to renewable energy sources (to a share of 80 %) is effective in reducing negative health impacts.

In the following, we address recent improvements in the methodology of integrated assessment with a focus on air pollution control. A milestone was the publication of concentration–response functions for NO 2 by the WHO (2013a). Following this, more and more studies calculated health impacts from exposure not only to PM 10 , PM 2.5 , and ozone but also to NO 2 (e.g. Balogun et al., 2020; Siddika et al., 2019, 2020),

Ideally, human health risks should be evaluated based on exposures instead of ambient concentrations (see Sect. 7). Until now, measured or modelled ambient (outdoor) air concentrations are input to the concentration–response functions used to estimate health risks. However, it is obvious that people are affected by the pollutants that they inhale, and that is decisive for the health impact. Therefore, a better indicator for estimating health impacts than the outside background concentration is exposure, which is the concentration of pollutants in the inhaled air averaged over a certain time interval. Only recently, in the EU projects HEALS and ICARUS, have methodologies been developed to estimate personal exposure, i.e. the concentration in the inhaled air averaged over a year or a number of years as the basis for estimating health impacts from air pollutants. Furthermore, the time span used in the exposure–response relationships commonly ranges from hourly to annual mean concentration values. By far the most important health effects are chronic effects. Although the indicator used to estimate chronic impacts is the annual mean concentrations, chronic diseases develop over several years, or even during the whole lifetime. This is the reason why the EC regulates a 3-year “average exposure index” of PM 2.5 in the air quality directive. But the relevant time period for the exposure might be larger than 3 years. Thus, exposure over a lifetime is important for estimating risks to develop chronic diseases and premature deaths, which are the most important health impacts. The methods for evaluating lifetime exposure have been addressed in Sect. 7.2.3 (see Li and Friedrich, 2019; Li et al., 2019a, c).

Thus, as a major improvement of the impact pathway approach, the exposure to pollutants should be used as an indicator for health impacts, instead of the exposure estimated from outdoor air concentrations at permanent locations. However, epidemiological studies that directly relate health impacts to exposures to air pollutants are not yet available. Instead, the existing concentration–response functions are transformed into exposure–response functions by calculating the increase in the exposure (e.g. x   µg m −3 ) caused by the increase of 1  µg m −3 in the outdoor concentration. Dividing the concentration–response relationship by x will then convert it into an exposure–response relationship (Li, 2020). Of course, it would be better to use results of epidemiological studies that directly relate exposure data with health effects. Thus, such studies should be urgently conducted.

Clearly, indoor pollution sources also influence exposure. It is therefore important to assess possibilities to reduce the contributions of indoor sources to exposure. These might include raising awareness of the dangers of smoking at home indoors, the development of more effective kitchen hoods and promoting their use, ban of incense sticks, and mandatory use of inserts in open fireplaces.

Secondly, a reduction of exposure is also possible by increasing the air exchange rate with ventilation or by filtering the indoor air. For example, if old windows are replaced by new ones, the use of mechanical ventilation with heat recovery might be recommended or even made mandatory. Also, the enhancement of HEPA filters and their use in vacuum cleaners will help as well as using air purifiers/filters. These systems will also be helpful to reduce the indoor transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

Furthermore, there is growing evidence that PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentrations in underground trains and in metro stations can be much higher than the concentration in street canyons with dense traffic (e.g. Nieuwenhuijsen et al., 2007; Loxham and Nieuwenhuijsen, 2019; Mao et al., 2019; Smith et al., 2020). Using ventilation systems with filters might improve this situation.

8.2.2  Monetization of impacts of greenhouse gas emissions

As explained above, air pollution control strategies usually influence and, in most cases, reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Thus, in an integrated assessment, both the reduction of air pollution and of greenhouse gas emissions should be quantitatively assessed. In practice, however, many national air pollution control strategies do not take changes in GHGs into account in the assessment; instead the national authorities develop separate climate protection plans. Similarly, although DG Environment estimates the changes in GHG emissions in their assessment of air pollution control strategies, the changes are not assessed or monetized.

An exception is the UK, where estimations of the “social costs of carbon” are used in assessments (Watkiss and Downing, 2008; DBEIS, 2019). The UK government currently recommends using a carbon price of GBP 69 per tonne of CO 2,eq in 2020 rising to GBP 355 per tonne of CO 2,eq in 2075–2078 at 2018 prices.

How can the benefits of a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions be monetized? A possibility is to use the same approach as with air pollution; i.e. estimate the marginal damage costs (i.e. the monetized damages and disadvantages) of emitting 1 additional tonne of CO 2 . These marginal costs would then be internalized for example as a tax per tonne of CO 2 emitted to allow the market to create optimal solutions (Baumol, 1972). Thus, first scenarios of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions would be set up, then concentrations of GHGs in the atmosphere would be calculated, and finally changes of the climate followed by the estimation of changes of risks and damages would be calculated. However, this does not lead to useful results. Uncertainties are too high and assumptions of economic parameters like the discount rate or the use of equity weighting influence the result considerably, so that the range of results encompass several orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the precautionary principle tells us that we should avoid possible impacts, even if they cannot (yet) be quantified and thus not be included in the quantitative estimation of impacts.

An alternative approach to estimating marginal damage costs is to use marginal abatement costs. A basic law of environmental economics is that for pollution control a pareto-optimal state should be achieved, where marginal damage costs (MDCs) are equal to marginal abatement costs (MACs). Thus, if MAC at the pareto-optimal state are known, they could be used instead of the MDCs. However, the pareto-optimal state is not known if MDCs are not known. But one could use an environmental aim that is universally agreed upon by society and assume that they represent the optimal solution in the view of society and then estimate the MACs to reach this aim, which is then used for the assessment. This approach was first proposed by Baumol and Oates (1971).

For assessing GHG emissions, especially the aim of the so-called Paris Agreement, which was agreed on at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 in Paris by a large number of countries, the most important aim was to keep a global temperature rise this century well below 2  ∘ C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5  ∘ C. This objective could be used as the basis for generating MACs.

Bachmann (2020) has carried out a literature research of MDCs and MACs for GHG emissions. Based on this review, MACs calculated by a meta-analysis of Kuik et al. (2009) are used here as the basis for the calculation of marginal abatement costs for reaching the above aim, resulting in EUR 2019  286 (162–503) per tonne of CO 2,eq in 2050. However, we propose starting with the most efficient measures now and gradually increasing the specific costs, until they reach the costs mentioned above in 2050. If future innovations lead to a reduction of the avoidance costs, the costs of carbon can be adjusted accordingly. With a real discount rate of 3 % a −1 , social costs of CO 2,eq to be used in 2020 would be EUR 2020  118 (67–207) per tonne of CO 2,eq .

8.2.3  Effect of integrating air pollution control and climate protection

In most cases, especially if a substitution of fossil fuels with carbon-free energy carriers or a reduction of energy demand is foreseen, a reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants is foreseen; thus, taking both air pollution control and climate protection into account will considerably improve the efficiency of such measures.

An example, showing the choice and ranking of measures for combined air pollution control and climate protection are different from the ranking in separate plans is shown in Fig. 20. In the frame of the EU TRANSPHORM project, 24 measures to reduce air pollution and climate change caused by transport in the EU have been assessed with an integrated assessment. Figure 20 shows the 8 most effective measures for both avoided health impacts and reduced climate change, where both benefits are converted into monetary units and combined (Friedrich, 2016). As can be seen, measures with benefits in both air pollution control and climate protection improve their rank compared to the separate rankings for these damage categories. The most effective measure is travel with trains instead of aeroplanes for routes of less than 500 km.

Figure 20 Ranking of measures in transport according to their effectiveness in mitigating damage from air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions in 2019. Recalculation of results of Friedrich (2016) with abatement costs of EUR 2020  118 per avoided tonne of CO 2,eq as recommended in Sect. 8.2.2.

With another example, Markandya et al. (2018) demonstrate that especially for developing and emerging countries the costs for meeting the aims of the Paris Agreement will be outweighed by the benefits that are achieved by avoiding health impacts from air pollution, so that the climate protection comes without net costs. This is due to the fact that in developing countries the use of fossil fuels is less accompanied by the use of emission reduction technologies (filters), so replacing fossil fuels by electricity from wind or solar energy or saving energy will result in a much higher reduction in air pollution than doing the same in OECD countries. For Europe, the effects of integrating the damage costs of air pollution into the optimization of energy scenarios have been analysed by Korkmaz et al. (2020) and Schmid et al. (2019). Two effects are important: firstly, biomass burning in particular in smaller boilers is significantly reduced, as firing biomass is climate friendly but leads to air pollution. Secondly, the marginal avoidance costs per tonne of avoided carbon are reduced, especially for the period 2020–2035. The reason is that in this period more efficient measures like the replacement of oil and coal with electricity from carbon-free energy carriers (except biomass) and measures for energy savings will also reduce emissions of air pollution significantly, while later more expensive measures like producing and using fuels that are produced from renewable electricity (power to X) will have a lower effect on air pollution reduction.

In most cases, integrated assessment improves the efficiency of measures for environmental and climate protection. In the following an example is shown where an efficient climate protection measure gets inefficient if air pollution is included in the assessment. This example is the use of small wood firings in cities. Wood firings are climate friendly but emit lots of fine particles and NO x . Huang et al. (2016) show that for wood firings that are operated in cities, the damage of more health impacts outweighs the benefit of less greenhouse gas emissions.

Figure 21 shows the social costs per year; this is the annuity of the monetary costs, the monetized impacts of climate change, and the monetized health impacts caused by air pollution for different heating techniques that are used in an older single-family house in the centre of the city of Stuttgart. The social costs are calculated for newly built state-of-the-art technologies fulfilling the currently valid strict regulations for small firings in Germany (BImSchV, 2021). Older stoves have emissions and thus impacts that are much larger than those shown. The social costs are highest for wood and pellet combustion caused by their high air pollution costs, although the climate change costs of wood combustion are very low. This means that the benefit of less greenhouse gas emissions of wood firings is much smaller than the additional burden caused by air pollution. Furthermore, even if we further enhance the emission reduction by equipping the wood and pellet combustion with an efficient particulate filter – these are represented by the columns marked with “ + part. filter” – the ranking is not changed. The reason is the high NO x emissions of wood combustion. The results suggest that wood combustion in rural areas should be equipped with a particulate filter, while in cities a ban on small wood combustion might be considered, unless wood and pellet firings are equipped not only with particulate filters but also with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) filters.

Figure 21 Social costs per year (annuity) of different heating boilers for an older single-family house in Stuttgart. Boilers are state-of-the-art technologies, and + part. filter means that wood or pellet heating is additionally equipped with efficient particulate filters (Huang et al., 2016).

8.3  Emerging challenges

8.3.1  challenges in improving the methodology for integrated assessments.

Estimations of damage costs caused by air pollution and climate change still show large uncertainties. Li (2020) reports a 95 % confidence interval of EUR  3.5×10 11 to EUR  2.4×10 12 for the damage costs caused by the exposure to PM 2.5 and NO 2 for 1 year (2015) for the adult EU28 + 2 population. Kuik et al. (2009) report an uncertainty range for the marginal avoidance costs to reach the “2 ∘ aim” of EUR 2020  162 to EUR 2020  503 per tonne of CO 2,eq in 2050. In addition, systematic errors might occur, for instance still unknown exposure–response relationships. Thus, methodological improvements are necessary.

In principle, all model steps and related input data shown in Fig. 19 would need improvement. Most of the improvements necessary for models and the data shown in Fig. 19 have already been addressed in the previous sections. Challenges for improving the estimation of emissions of indoor and outdoor sources are described in Sect. 3.3. Improvements in atmospheric modelling are addressed in Sect. 5.3. Exposure modelling is a relatively new field, so a lot of gaps have to be filled (see Sect. 7.3.3). Further epidemiological studies, especially for analysing the health impacts of specific PM species and PM size classes, are urgently needed, and contingent valuation studies are needed to improve the methodology. The challenges for these topics are addressed in the relevant sections above and will thus not be repeated here. However, two further methodological improvements have not been mentioned and are thus described in the following.

When assessing a policy measure for the reduction of air pollution, the first step is to estimate the reduction of emissions caused by the policy measure. Measures can be roughly classified in technical measures that improve emission factors (e.g. by demanding filters) and non-technical measures that change the behaviour or choices of emission source operators (e.g. by increasing prices of polluting goods). Especially if non-technical measures are chosen, e.g. the increase in the price for a good that is less environmentally friendly, the identification of the reaction of the operators of the emission sources is not straightforward. Do they keep using the good although it is more expensive? Do they substitute the good or do they renounce the utility of the good by using neither the good nor substitutes anymore? For energy-saving measures, it is well-known that after implementing such a measure, the users do not save the full expected energy amount but instead increase their comfort, for instance by increasing the room temperature. This is known as the rebound effect. The traditional way to deal with behavioural changes is using empirically found elasticity factors. For the transport sector, where most of the applications are made, Schieberle (2019) compiled a literature search for elasticities in the transport sector and demonstrated their use in integrated assessments. However, as a further development, recently first attempts to use agent-based modelling have been made to estimate the behavioural changes of people confronted with policy measures (Chapizanis et al., 2021).

With regard to the marginal costs of CO 2 reduction used in the assessments, further investigations taking into account emerging innovations are necessary. Furthermore, the stated estimates are quite high, so that the question arises of whether the values and thus the Paris aim gain worldwide social acceptance. More emphasis might be laid on research to develop measures for more efficient climate protection as well as measures to remove GHGs from the atmosphere and also to develop adaptation measures.

8.3.2  Challenges for the reduction of ambient air pollution

In recent years, regulations have been implemented that will decrease emissions in two important sectors considerably.

For ships, the IMO (International Maritime Organization) adopted a revised annex VI to the international Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, now known universally as MARPOL, which reduces the global sulfur limit from 3.50 % to 0.50 %, effective from 1 January 2020 (IMO, 2019). This will drastically reduce the SO 2 emissions around Europe outside of the sulfur emission control areas of the Baltic Sea, North Sea, and English Channel. Furthermore, the IMO has adopted a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 % by 2030, pursuing efforts towards 70 % by 2050, compared to 2008. A revised, more ambitious plan is currently being discussed. Geels et al. (2021) assess the effects of these new regulations by generating several future emission scenarios and assessing their impact on air pollution and health in northern Europe.

Diesel cars now must comply with the Euro 6d norm, which will drastically reduce the real driving emissions of NO x on streets and roads. In addition, electric vehicles are now promoted and subsidized in many EU countries.

In the context of a revision of the EU rules on air quality announced in the European Green Deal, the European Commission is expected to strengthen provisions on monitoring, modelling, and air quality plans to help local authorities achieve cleaner air, notably proposing to revise air quality standards to align them more closely with the World Health Organization recommendations (which was updated in 2021).

The European Commission is also expected to introduce a new Euro 7 norm for passenger cars in 2025. The Industrial Emissions Directive demands permanent reviews of the EU Best Available Techniques reference documents (BREFs), resulting in decreasing emissions from large industrial emitters. The EU has decided to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 % compared to 1990. Furthermore, national reduction plans for GHG lead to a further reduction of the combustion of fossil fuels. Thus, emissions of air pollutants from combustion processes will significantly decrease with one exception: wood and pellet firings <500  kW th . Hence, regarding combustion, the main challenge is the development of further PM 2.5 and NO x reduction measures for small wood firings. Similar trends will be observed in a number of other countries. For example the USA wants to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 to 2030 by 50 % and China wants to reach carbon neutrality by 2060.

As emissions of particulates from combustion decrease, diffuse emissions, e.g. from abrasion processes, bulk handling, or demolition of buildings, and those from evaporation of volatile organic compounds get more and more dominant. So more emphasis should be put on the determination and reduction of these emissions. In particular, the processes leading to diffuse emissions are not well-known. In transport, emissions from tyre and brake wear and road abrasion heavily depend on driving habits, speed, weather conditions, and especially the traffic situation and layout of the road network. However, emission factors for diffuse emissions are still largely expressed in grammes per vehicle kilometre, not taking situations where braking is necessary, e.g. because of traffic jams or crossroads, into account. Furthermore, reduction measures like the development of tyres and brakes with longer durability should be considered and assessed.

A key challenge for reducing secondary particulates, especially ammonium nitrates, is a further reduction of NH 3 emissions from agriculture. Certain national reduction commitments for EU countries from 2005 until 2030 are regulated by the National Emission Reduction Commitments Directive (NEC Directive) of the EU, but further reductions might be necessary.

8.3.3  Challenges for the reduction of indoor air pollution

A more precise understanding of personal exposure to air pollution and the use of exposure–response relationships (instead of relationships linking outdoor concentration with responses) will potentially change the focus of air pollution control. As people are indoors most of the time, now the reduction of indoor pollution is becoming important. Of course, reducing ambient concentration will also reduce indoor pollution, as pollutants penetrate from outside into the houses. However, around 46 % of the total exposure with PM 2.5 for an average EU citizen stems from indoor sources; for NO 2 about 25 % is caused by indoor sources (Li and Friedrich, 2019). Thus, indoor sources cannot be neglected. The reduction of exposure to emissions from passive smoking, frying, and baking in the kitchen; using open fireplaces and older wood stoves; and incense sticks and candles is especially important. Indoor concentrations can be reduced by reducing the emission factor of the source, changing behaviour when using the source; by banning the use of a source; by increasing the air exchange rate with ventilation; and by using air filters.

This review has covered a larger number of research areas and identified not only the current status but also the emerging research needs. There are of course cross-cutting needs that are a prerequisite to further air quality research and develop more robust strategies for reducing the impact of air pollution on health. The following section discusses some of the key areas and synthesizes these in the form of recommendations for further research.

9.1  Connecting emissions and exposure to air pollution

There is a progressively important need to move from static annual inventories to those that are dynamic in terms of activity patterns and of higher temporal resolution. This is driven partly by the need for activity-dependent exposure modelling and because there is an increasing availability of online observations from sensors to arrive at a better spatial and temporal resolution of emission rates and factors. Clearly community efforts are necessary for identifying and reducing uncertainties in emissions that have a large impact on the resulting air quality and exposure predictions including benefiting from source apportionment methods.

One gap is the evaluation of agricultural emissions, which are still poorly understood, and improvements will support both air quality and climate change assessment, leading to co-benefits. While considerable effort has been devoted to estimating NO x emissions, there are still uncertainties in the estimation of VOC emissions. These uncertainties have direct implications when quantifying changes in ozone levels and contributions from secondary organic aerosols to regional and global scales. One prominent example of such uncertainties is the estimation of VOC profiles in terms of the chemical species and their evaporation rates, including in particular those from shipping activities in the vicinity of ports, as a shift has occurred to both low-sulfur and carbon-neutral or non-carbon fuels.

Similarly, as exhaust emissions decrease with the increase in electric vehicles, the assessment of the consequences of airborne non-exhaust emissions is becoming more and more important. However, this needs to be examined in the context of tighter policy-driven controls on petrol and diesel vehicles. Emission factors for ultra-fine particles are also uncertain; these are also spatially and temporally highly variable, which reduces the reliability of particle number predictions necessary for estimating exposure of people (Kukkonen et al., 2016a).

Exposure connects emissions to concentrations and their impact on health. As exposure to a particular air pollutant is determined by all sources of that air pollutant, both indoor and outdoor sources are important. Indoor sources are considerable in number and variety from tobacco smoking to cooking and heating fuels, indoor furniture, body care and cleaning products, and perfumes. Not only are emission factor data for these sources needed, stricter regulations are necessary for indoor sources (e.g. indoor cleaning products and wood burning for residential heating).

9.2  Extending observations for air quality research

Our review has highlighted the urgent need to strengthen the integration of observations from different platforms, including from reference instruments, mobile and networked low-cost sensors, and other data sources, such as satellite instruments and other forms of remote sensing. In addition to providing greater spatial extent and fine-scale resolution of observations in urban and other areas, these integrated data sets can form the basis of inputs for dynamic data assimilation. Data assimilation can also be performed using machine learning and/or artificial intelligence approaches. These developments can improve the accuracy of chemistry–transport models, including air quality forecasts.

Additional requirements for low-cost sensors are (i) improving their reliability for both the gaseous and particulate matter measurements (including in particular VOCs), (ii) extending the measured size range of particulate matter up to ultra-fine particles, and (iii) including their scope to also measure bioaerosols, such as allergenic pollen species and fungi. Integrating these sensors into existing infrastructures, such as permanent air quality measurement networks, traffic counting sites, and indoor monitoring, would provide a richer data set for air quality and exposure research. Further effort is required to determine the health-relevant PM information, including in particular the chemical composition of PM.

As citizen science and crowdsourcing increase, their use in air quality research needs to be more clearly defined. It could potentially provide near-real-time air pollution information as well as information to be used for personal health protection and lifestyle decisions. Most challenging for this objective is data quality characterization and acceptance of these new data provisioning tools, which do not easily allow an analytical quality assurance and control.

9.3  Bridging scales and processes with integrated air pollution modelling

Continuing developments in fine, urban, and regional modelling have elevated scale interactions as a key area of interest. As highlighted above, research is needed to develop new approaches to connect processes operating on different scales. Baklanov et al. (2014) reviewed online approaches that include coupling of meteorology and chemistry within an Eulerian nested framework, but on the whole air pollution applications are limited to different modelling systems including Eulerian for regional, Gaussian for urban and street, and LES and advanced CFD-RANS for even finer scales. Challenges remain on how to best integrate the fast-emerging machine learning statistical tools and how parameterizations and computational approaches have to be adapted. These scale interactions are of critical importance when examining the impact of air pollution in cities which are subject to heterogeneous distribution of emissions and rapidly changing dispersion gradients of concentrations. New modelling approaches will enable multiple air quality hazards that affect cities to be examined within a consistent multi-scale framework for air quality prediction and forecasting and local air quality management, quantifying the impact of episodic high-air-pollution events involving LRT and even meteorological and climate hazards as cities prepare for the future.

One major development in this vain is that of Earth system model (ESM) approaches, which in the past have been focussed on global scales but have the potential of higher-resolution applications (e.g. WWRP, 2015). Within Earth system models, there is potential for integration of observations (e.g. through data assimilation of soil moisture and surface fluxes of short-lived pollutants and greenhouse gases). These developments are to some degree being aided by the rapidly evolving area of parallel computer systems. While the representation of urban features and processes within ESMs still require further effort, these models have the potential to include dynamical and chemical interactions on a much wider scale than is possible with traditional approaches (e.g. mesoscale circulations, urban heat island circulation, sea-breeze and mountain-valley circulations, floods, heat waves, wildfires, air quality issues, and other extreme weather events).

As primary air pollution emissions are decreasing, the role of secondary air pollutants (e.g. ozone and secondary organic and inorganic aerosols) in urban environments requires more research. Here coupled systems and potential ESMs in the future will have a key role based on two-way interaction chemistry–meteorology models combining the effects of urban, sub-urban, and rural pollutant emissions with dynamics. This is especially true in a changing climate scenario.

Cities are routinely facing multiple hazards in addition to high levels of air pollution including storm surges, flooding, heat waves, and a changing climate. Moving towards integrated urban systems and services poses research challenges but is viewed as essential to meet sustainable and environmentally smart city development goals, e.g. SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities (Baklanov et al., 2018b; Grimmond et al., 2020). More integrated assessment of risk to urban areas necessitates observation and modelling that brings together data from hydrometeorological, soil, hydrology, vegetation, and air quality communities including sophisticated and responsive early warning and forecast capabilities for city and regional administrations.

9.4  Improving air quality for better health

As air quality science continues to develop, the need to improve our understanding of PM properties and resulting health impacts remains a priority. In particular the areas that stand out are the need to better quantify particle number concentrations (PNCs), particle size distributions (PSDs), and the chemical composition of PM, especially in urban areas where population density is higher. An ongoing challenge for the science community is to investigate which of the PM properties or measures optimally describe the resulting health impacts. To aid research, a denser measurement network on advanced PM properties is needed for quantifying chemical and physical characteristics of PM in cities and regionally. Another important requirement is the availability of improved higher-resolution emission inventories of PM components and for different sizes (see Sect. 9.1). To support epidemiological studies, comprehensive long-term data sets are needed including both (i) multi-decadal evaluations of air quality, meteorology, and exposure and (ii) information on a range of health impacts.

9.5  Challenges of global pandemics

In addition to the multiple hazards facing cities mentioned in Sect. 9.3, the COVID-19 pandemic has starkly demonstrated how society can be dramatically affected across the world. Studies are indicating a dramatic impact on air quality due to the lockdown as well as possible connections between air pollutants such as aerosols in spreading the SARS-CoV-2 virus (e.g. Baldasano, 2020; Gkatzelis et al., 2021; Sokhi et al., 2021). To fully assess the interactions of viruses and air pollutants, studies need to consider both indoor and outdoor transmission as well as meteorological and climatological influences. A recent preliminary review (WMO, 2021) has concluded that there are mixed indications of links between meteorology and air quality with COVID-19, and more thorough studies are needed to ascertain the direct and indirect effects. Given the complexity of the topic, cross- and interdisciplinary studies would be needed, including a collaboration of microbiologists, epidemiologists, health professionals, and atmospheric and indoor pollution air scientists.

9.6  Integrating policy responses for air quality, climate, and health

Most control policies and measures targeted at air pollution will also change GHG emissions, which implies that taking them both into account in integrated assessments will in most cases provide considerable co-benefits. There are cases, for example in the case of biomass burning, which will increase air pollution emissions, and hence additional abatement measures (e.g. cleaning systems) will be required. On the whole, however, integrating climate change and air pollution policies where possible has the potential of making the integrated policy more efficient than separate policies for improving air quality and limiting the impact of climate change. Thus, integrated environmental policies based on assessing reductions of impacts on health, the environment, and materials caused by air pollution control and reductions of impacts of climate change caused by measures for climate protection simultaneously should be implemented. The assessment should be made following the impact pathway approach described in Sect. 8.2. The impact pathway approach uses the methods and data from all the sections of this paper, i.e. emission modelling, atmospheric modelling, exposure modelling, and health impact modelling. Thus, addressing the challenges described in this paper would help to reduce uncertainties and improve efficiency in the scientific recommendations for setting up integrated environmental policy plans. Within an integrated air pollution control and climate protection assessment, a particularly important new development would be to use the individual exposure (the concentration of a pollutant where it is inhaled by an individual averaged over a year) instead of some outdoor concentration as an indicator for health impacts, i.e. as input for the exposure–response relationship. In this case, the indoor concentration of air pollutants and thus indoor source emission rates and ventilation air exchange rates would be important elements in the assessment along with contributions from outdoor sources when planning air pollution control strategies.

9.7  Key recommendations

Below in Table 1 we present a synthesis of key recommendations for scientific research and the importance for air quality policy that have emerged from this review. The table also provides an indication of the confidence in the scientific knowledge in each of the areas, the urgency to complete the science gaps in our knowledge, and the importance of each of the listed areas for supporting policy. It should be noted that our approach provides more of an overview and does not consider the needs of specific areas or of national needs which may differ from the regional status of knowledge. For example, in the case of emission inventories for Europe and North America, there is generally high confidence but that may not be the case in other regions of the world or for specific countries or sub-regions.

Table 1 A synthesis of key recommendations for scientific research and the importance for air quality policy. A three-level scale is used to indicate the current confidence in the scientific knowledge and understanding and a measure of the urgency to fill the science gaps where they exist. Similarly, a three-level scale is used to indicate the importance of the specific issues for policy support. Scientific confidence – h: high (progress is useful but may not require significant specific research effort); m: medium (some further research is required); l: low (concerted research effort is required). Scientific urgency to meet gaps in knowledge – v: very urgent need to fill science gap; u: urgent need to fill scientific gap; w: widely accepted with less urgency to fill the science gap. Importance for policy support – H: high (is highly important for developments of new policies); M: medium (can lead to refinements of current policies); L: low (progress is useful but may not require significant effort in the short or medium term).

1  PM properties refer here to particulate matter size distributions, particle number, and chemical composition for example. 2  Dynamic exposure assessment refers to exposure studies, which treat the pollutant concentrations in different microenvironments as well as the infiltration of outdoor air to indoors. In dynamic exposure assessment, one can also treat pollution sources and sinks in indoor air.

Download XLSX

This review has mainly examined research developments that have emerged over the last decade. As part of the review, we have provided a short historical survey, before assessing the current status of the research field and then highlighting emerging challenges. We have had to be selective in the key areas of air quality research that have been examined. While the concept of this review emerged from the 12th International Conference on Air Quality (held virtually during 18–26 May 2020), each of the sections not only provided an air quality research community perspective but also included a wider literature examination of the areas.

10.1  Emissions of air pollution

The emphasis has been on air pollution emissions of major concern for health effects, namely exhaust and non-exhaust emissions from road traffic and shipping, and other anthropogenic emissions, e.g. those from agriculture and wood burning. Developments are continuing to improve global and regional emission inventories and integrating local emissions data into the larger-scale inventories. With increasing demand for cleaner vehicles, there is still the need to assess whether electric and hybrid vehicles actually reduce total PM 2.5 and PM 10 emissions, as emissions from non-exhaust PM from tyre, brake, and road wear are still present. Developments in on board monitoring to help improve estimation of real-world emission estimation is another growing area. Understanding the effects of non-exhaust emission will be important to design robust air quality management strategies in the context of other emissions, including windblown dust.

Uncertainties still exist in estimating emissions from diffuse processes, such as abrasion processes in industry, households, agriculture, and traffic, where large variabilities are still present. Other sources, which are not well characterized, include residential wood combustion as well as the spatial representation of these emissions across regions. While progress in source apportionment models has continued, inverse modelling used for improvement of emission inventories has the potential to reduce their uncertainties.

In terms of chemical speciation, while some improvements have taken place in estimating temporal profiles of agricultural emissions, the amount of NH 3 and PM emissions originating from agriculture are still uncertain for many regions. The impact of new fuels on the chemical composition of NMVOC emissions from combustion processes remains highly uncertain (e.g. low-sulfur residual fuels in shipping and new exhaust gas cleaning technologies).

Bringing together air pollution emission inventories with those of greenhouse gases will facilitate integrated assessment measures and policies benefitting from co-benefits. On the urban and street scales, emission models need to be able to simulate the spatial and temporal variations in emissions at a higher resolution from road traffic, taking account of traffic and driving conditions.

The importance of shipping emissions is growing, as there is a shift to carbon-neutral or zero-carbon fuels. Emission factors for VOC from shipping are generally less certain, and hence little is known about their contribution to particle and ozone formation. To estimate the total environmental impact of shipping, integrated approaches are needed that bring together (i) impacts from atmospheric emissions on air quality and health, deposition of pollutants to the sea; (ii) impacts of discharges to the sea on the marine environments and biota; and (iii) climatic forcing.

The greater emphasis on reducing exposure to air pollution requires consideration of both emissions from outdoor and indoor sources, as well as their exchange between indoor and outdoor environments. Emissions of VOC for example, from transportation and the use of volatile chemical products, such as pesticides, coatings, inks, personal care products, and cleaning agents, are becoming more important, as are combustion gas appliances such as stoves and boilers, smoking, heating, and cooking, which are important sources of PM 2.5 , NO, NO 2 , and PAHs. The complexity of integrated exposure models is expected to increase, as they have to include both indoor and outdoor emissions of air pollution, accurate description of the key chemical and physical processes, and treatment of dispersion of air pollution inside and outside and exchange between buildings and the ambient environment (Liu et al., 2013; Bartzis et al., 2015).

10.2  Observations to support air quality research

Regarding observation of air quality, this review has focused on low-cost sensor (LCS) networks, crowdsourcing, and citizen science and on the development of modern satellite and remote sensing technics. Connecting observational data with small-scale air quality model simulations to provide personal air pollution exposure has also been discussed.

Remote sensing measurements including satellite observations have a significant role in air quality management because of their spatial coverage, improving spatial resolution and their use in combination with modelling tasks (Hirtl et al., 2020), even for urban areas (Letheren, 2016). Machine learning algorithms are increasingly being used with remote sensing applications (e.g. Foken, 2021), and recent advances have highlighted the potential of statistical analysis tools (e.g. neural learning algorithms) for predicting air quality at the city scale based on data generated by stationary and mobile sensors (Mihăiţă et al., 2019). Geostatistical data fusion is allowing fine spatial mapping by combining sensor data with modelled spatial distribution of air pollutant concentrations (Johansson et al., 2015; Ahangar et al., 2019; Schneider et al., 2017).

Applications of LCS as well as networks based on such sensors have increased over the past decade (e.g. Thompson, 2016; Karagulian et al., 2019; Barmpas et al., 2020; Schäfer et al., 2021). These applications have also highlighted the need for proper evaluation, quality control, and calibration of these sensors. The analysis of LCS data should take account of cross-sensitivities with other air pollutants, effects of ageing, and the dependence of the sensor responses on temperatures and humidity in ambient air (e.g. Brattich et al., 2020).

10.3  Air quality modelling

Air quality research, including approaches to manage air pollution, has relied heavily on the continuing developments, applications, and evaluation of air quality models. Air quality models span a wide range of modelling approaches including CFD and RANS models used for very high resolution dispersion applications (e.g. Nuterman et al., 2011; Andronopoulos et al., 2019), and Lagrangian plume models to Eulerian grid CTMs used for urban to regional scales. An interesting development is that of the implementation of multiply nested LESs and coupling of urban-scale deterministic models with local probabilistic models (e.g. Hellsten et al., 2021), although complexities arise because of the different parameterizations and the treatment of boundary conditions. A limitation that needs addressing with CFD, including LES models, is that they are currently suited mainly for dispersion of tracer contaminants or where only simple tropospheric chemistry is relevant. Lack of more sophisticated or realistic description of NO x –VOC chemistry can cause significant bias in the concentration gradients at very fine scales.

Over the last decade new developments have focused on improving scale interactions and model resolution to resolve the spatial variability and heterogeneity of air pollution (e.g. Jensen et al., 2017; Singh et al., 2014, 2020a) at street scales in a city area. New approaches of artificial neural network models and machine learning have shown a more detailed representation of air quality in complex built-up areas (e.g. P. Wang et al., 2015; Zhan et al., 2017; Just et al., 2020; Alimissis et al., 2018). CTMs have also been developed to improve spatial resolution, for example, through downscaling approaches for predicting air quality in urban areas, forecasting air quality, and simulation of exposure at the street scale (Berrocal et al., 2020; Elessa Etuman et al., 2020; Jensen et al., 2017). Ensemble simulations have proven to be successful to provide more reliable air quality prediction and forecasting (e.g. Galmarini et al., 2012; Hu et al., 2017), and complementary hybrid approaches have been explored for multi-scale applications (Galmarini et al., 2018).

The strong interaction between local and regional contributions, especially to secondary air pollutants (PM 2.5 and O 3 ), has motivated the coupling of urban- and regional-scale models (e.g. Singh et al., 2014; Kukkonen et al., 2018). With the importance of exposure assessment increasing, the incorporation of finer spatial scales within a larger spatial domain is required, which introduces the challenging issue of representing multiscale dynamical and chemical processes, while maintaining realistic computational constraints (e.g. Tsegas et al., 2015). Similarly, machine learning approaches offer possibilities to use observational data to improve fine-scale air quality and personal exposure predictions (Shaddick et al., 2021).

10.4  Interactions between air quality, meteorology, and climate

Our review has highlighted the need to integrate predictions of weather, air quality, and climate where Earth system modelling (ESM) approaches play an increasing role (WWRP, 2015; WMO, 2016). There are also continued improvements from higher-spatial-resolution modelling and interconnected multiscale processes, while maintaining realistic computational times. Many advances have taken place in the development and use of coupled regional-scale meteorology–chemistry models for air quality prediction and forecasting applications (e.g. Kong et al., 2015; Baklanov et al., 2014, 2018a). These advances contribute to assess complex interactions between meteorology, emission, and chemistry, for example, relating to dust intrusion and wildfires (e.g. Kong et al., 2015). Data assimilation of chemical species data into CTM systems is still an evolving field of research; it has the potential to better constrain emissions in forecast applications. An example would be data assimilation of urban observations (including meteorological, chemical, and aerosol species) to investigate multiscale effects of the impacts of aerosols on weather and climate (Nguyen and Soulhac, 2021).

Urban- and finer-scale (e.g. built environment) studies are showing that improvements in the treatment of albedo, the anthropogenic heat flux, and the feedbacks between urban pollutants and radiation can influence urban air quality significantly (e.g. González-Aparicio et al., 2014; Fallmann et al., 2016; Molina, 2021). These considerations can be very important for urban air quality forecasting, as temporal variations in air pollutant concentrations in the short term are largely due to variabilities in meteorology. Understanding and parameterizing multiscale and non-linear interactions, for example evolution and dynamics of urban heat island circulation and aerosol forcing and urban aerosol interactions with clouds and radiation, remains an ongoing atmospheric science challenge. Another remaining research challenge that involves multiscale interactions includes the formation of secondary air pollutants (e.g. ozone and secondary organic and inorganic aerosols), especially to describe air quality over urban, sub-urban, and rural environments.

Development and evaluation of nature-based solutions to improve air quality demand an improved understanding of the role of biogenic emissions (Cremona et al., 2020) as a function of vegetation species and characteristics. Interactions are influenced by several factors, such as vegetation drag, pollutant absorption, and biogenic emissions. These factors will determine the impact on air quality, be it positive or negative (Karttunen et al., 2020; San José et al., 2020; Santiago et al., 2017). Advanced approaches are needed to describe biogenic emissions together with gas and particle deposition over vegetation surfaces to further assess the effectiveness of nature-based solutions to improve air quality in cities.

10.5  Air quality exposure and health

Air-quality-related observations to support air quality health impact studies are heterogeneous; for many developing regions, such as Africa, ground-based monitoring is sparse or non-existent (Rees at al., 2019). The motivation is growing for an inter-disciplinary approach to assess exposure and the burden of disease from air pollution (Shaddick et al., 2021); this could benefit from the combined use of ground and remote sensing measurements, including satellite data, with atmospheric chemical transport and urban-scale dispersion modelling.

Air quality impact on health can occur on short and long timescales. PM, which is one of the most health-relevant air pollutants, is associated with many health effects, such as all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality and childhood asthma (e.g. Dai et al., 2014; Samoli et al., 2013; Stafoggia et al., 2013; Weinmayr et al., 2010). There have been significant advances that reveal new evidence of the health impact of PM components, such as SO 4 , EC, OC, and metals (Wang et al., 2014; Adams et al., 2015; Hampel et al., 2015; Hime et al., 2018). Challenges remain to elucidate the relative role of PM components and measures in determining the total health impact. These include particle number concentrations (PNCs), secondary organic PM, primary PM, various chemical components, suspended dust, the content of metals, and toxic or hazardous pollutants.

Improved knowledge on the health impacts of PM components has also stimulated further debate on the optimal concentration–response functions and on the necessity of threshold or lower limit values, below which health impacts might not manifest (Burnett et al., 2018). These challenges will feed into health impact studies, such as EEA (2020a), which estimated that more than 3 848 000 years of life lost (about 374 000 premature deaths) were linked to exposure to PM 2.5 in 2018 in the EU-28. However, another study by Lelieveld et al. (2019) indicated that health impacts from PM 2.5 exposure may have been considerably underestimated.

The worldwide impact from the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has raised global interest in the links between air quality and the spread of viruses (van Doremalen et al., 2020). However, the exact role and mechanisms are not yet clear and require concerted effort (e.g. Pisoni and Van Dingenen, 2020). There is also evidence that poor air quality can exacerbate health effects from other environmental stressors, including heat waves, cold spells, and allergenic pollen (e.g. Klein et al., 2012; Horne et al., 2018; Xie et al., 2019; Phosri et al., 2019).

The link between population activity and actual exposure is also becoming clearer, where dynamic diurnal activity patterns provide more accurate representation of exposures to air pollution (Soares et al., 2014; Kukkonen et al., 2016b; Smith et al., 2016; Singh et al., 2020a). Recent work by Ramacher et al. (2019), for example, has also demonstrated the importance of the movements of people to assess exposure.

For evaluating the relative significance of various PM properties and measures on human health, a denser measurement network on advanced PM properties would be needed, on both regional and urban scales. The required PM properties would include, in particular, size distributions and chemical composition. Clearly, such a network would be especially valuable in cities and regions that include high-quality population cohorts. The most important requirement in terms of PM modelling would be improved emission inventories, which would also include sufficiently accurate information on particle size distributions and chemical composition.

10.6  Air quality management and policy

Integrated assessment of air pollution control policies has progressively developed over the last 2 decades and has been widely used as a tool for air quality management (e.g. EC, 2021). Relatively recently, integrated assessment for air pollution control in research projects has started to take account of climate change. Correspondingly, integrated assessment activities for climate protection have started to include impacts of air pollution in the assessment (Friedrich, 2016). Some national authorities, such as the German Federal Environmental Agency or the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, have also recommended an integrated assessment, combining the assessment of climate and air pollution impacts (Matthey and Bünger, 2019; DBEIS, 2019). Impact pathway approaches are also currently increasingly incorporating exposure to air pollutants as an indicator of health impacts, instead of the previously applied concentration of air pollutants at fixed outdoor locations (Li and Friedrich, 2019). This has an implication for epidemiological studies, which usually are based on correlation between modelled or measured concentrations at outdoor locations and health risks (e.g. Singh et al., 2020b).

Interdependence of air pollution and climatically active species allows co-benefits to be optimized. This approach also shows that costs of meeting policy obligations for climate protection (e.g. for the Paris Agreement) can be reduced or offset by the benefits of reduced health impacts from improved air quality (Markandya et al., 2018). On the other hand, for some climate protection measures, the benefits of reduced climate change are much smaller than the impacts caused by increased air pollution. This has been demonstrated for wood combustion, which while being more climate friendly than fossil fuels, will give rise to PM 2.5 and NO x emissions (Huang et al., 2016; Kukkonen et al., 2020b). Some recent studies (e.g. Schmid et al., 2019) have provided evidence on the advantages of using costs and benefits for both climate and air pollution abatement measures in integrated assessments.

Air quality management must adapt to the tightening of policy-driven regulations. Recently, the sulfur content of the fuel for ships has been reduced to 0.5 % worldwide (IMO, 2019). The EURO 6d norm has led to a significant reduction of NO x in the exhaust gas of diesel cars, whereas the EURO 7 norm planned to be implemented in 2025 will further reduce PM and NO x emissions from vehicle engines. The European Council has recently (in September 2020) agreed to reduce the EU's greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 by at least 55 % compared to the corresponding emissions in 1990. Together with national reduction plans for GHG, this will significantly reduce emissions of air pollutants from the combustion of fossil fuels. However, there is one exception: small wood and pellet firings ( <500  kW), where still further measures should be developed for reducing the PM and NO x emissions (e.g. Kukkonen et al., 2020b).

While direct combustion emissions are expected to decrease, a particular challenge will be to control diffuse emissions, e.g. from abrasion processes, bulk handling, demolition of buildings, and use of paints and cleaning agents. Despite cleaner vehicles, emissions from tyre and brake wear and road abrasion remain an important challenge. Other areas that pose challenges for air quality management are the need to reduce agricultural emissions, especially of ammonia, which can lead to the production of secondary aerosols (especially ammonium nitrates).

Using personal exposure instead of outdoor concentration as an indicator in health impact assessments offers the opportunity to assess the impacts of indoor air pollution control. Possibilities to reduce emissions from indoor sources, such as smoking, frying and cooking, candles and incense sticks, open chimneys and wood stoves, and cleaning agents, should be assessed. Furthermore, using HEPA filters in vacuum cleaners, air filters, and cooker bonnets and using mechanical ventilation with heat recovery should be analysed. In addition, possibilities for reducing PM concentrations in underground rail stations should be explored.

Finally, we consider cross-cutting needs as a synthesis of our findings and suggest recommendations for further research.

Specifically, we indicate the confidence in the scientific knowledge, the urgency to complete the science gaps and the importance of each area for supporting policy.

No data sets were used in this article.

All co-authors contributed to conceptualization and design of study, coordination, methodology development of the review, validation and checking, formal analysis, investigation and examination of the literature, writing of original draft, and review and editing of paper.

The contact author has declared that neither they nor their co-authors have any competing interests.

Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

The support of the following institutions and enterprises is gratefully acknowledged: University of Hertfordshire; Aristotle University Thessaloniki; TITAN Cement S.A., TSI GmbH; APHH UK-India Programme on Air Pollution and Human Health (funded by NERC, MOES, DBT, MRC, Newton Fund); and American Meteorological Society (AMS) Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA).

We especially acknowledge the tireless effort of Ioannis Pipilis, Afedo Koukounaris, and Eva Angelidou.

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) GAW Urban Research Meteorology and Environment (GURME) programme for supporting and contributing to this review.

Klaus Schäfer is grateful for funding within the frame of the project Smart Air Quality Network by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure – Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur (BMVI).

Tomas Halenka is grateful for funding within the activity PROGRES Q16 by the Charles University, Prague.

Vikas Singh is thanked for providing Fig. 10.

This work reflects only the authors' view, and the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

We are also thankful for the funding of NordForsk.

We wish to thank Antti Hellsten (FMI) for his useful comments on CFD modelling.

This research has been supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme (HEALS (grant agreement no. 603946), ICARUS (grant agreement no. 690105), SCIPPER (grant agreement no. 814893), EXHAUSTION (grant agreement no. 820655), and EMERGE (grant agreement no. 874990)), the EU LIFE financial programme through the project VEG-GAP “Vegetation for Urban Green Air Quality Plans” (LIFE18 PRE IT003), German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure – Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur (BMVI; grant no. 19F2003A-F), and the funding of NordForsk under the Nordic Programme on Health and Welfare (project no. 75,007: NordicWelfAir – Understanding the link between Air pollution and Distribution of related Health Impacts and Welfare in the Nordic countries).

This paper was edited by Pedro Jimenez-Guerrero and reviewed by two anonymous referees.

Abhijith, K. V., Kumar, P., Gallagher, J., McNabola, A., Baldauf, R., Pilla, F., Broderick, B., Di Sabatino, S., and Pulvirenti, B.: Air pollution abatement performances of green infrastructure in open road and built-up street canyon environments – A review, Atmos. Environ., 162, 71–86, 2017. 

Achilleos, S., Kioumourtzoglou, M.-A., Wu, C.-D., Schwartz, J. D., Koutrakis, P., and Papatheodorou, S. I.: Acute effects of fine particulate matter constituents on mortality: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis, Environ. Int., 109, 89–100, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2017.09.010 , 2017. 

Adam, M., Schikowski, T., Carsin, A. E., Cai, Y., Jacquemin, B., Sanchez, M., Vierkötter, A., Marcon, A., Keidel, D., Sugiri, D., Al Kanani, Z., Nadif, R., Siroux, V., Hardy, R., Kuh, D., Rochat, T., Bridevaux, P.-O., Eeftens, M., Tsai, M.-Y., Villani, S., Phuleria, H. C., Birk, M., Cyrys, J., Cirach, M., Nazelle, A. d., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J., Forsberg, B., Hoogh, K. d., Declerq, C., Bono, R., Piccioni, P., Quass, U., Heinrich, J., Jarvis, D., Pin, I., Beelen, R., Hoek, G., Brunekreef, B., Schindler, C., Sunyer, J., Krämer, U., Kauffmann, F., Hansell, A. L., Künzli, N., and Probst-Hensch, N.: Adult lung function and long-term air pollution exposure. ESCAPE: a multicentre cohort study and meta-analysis, Eur. Respir. J., 45, 38–50, https://doi.org/10.1183/09031936.00130014 , 2015. 

Adams, K., Greenbaum, D. S., Shaikh, R., van Erp, A. M., and Russell, A. G.: Particulate matter components, sources, and health: Systematic approaches to testing effects, J. Air Waste Manage., 65, 544–558, https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2014.1001884 , 2015. 

Ahangar, F., Freedman, F., and Venkatram, A.: Using Low-Cost Air Quality Sensor Networks to Improve the Spatial and Temporal Resolution of Concentration Maps, Int. J. Env. Res. Pub. He., 16, 1252, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16071252 , 2019. 

Ajtai, N., Stefanie, H., Botezan, C., Ozunu, A., Radovici, A., Dumitrache, R., Iriza-Burcă, A., Diamandi, A., and Hirtl, M.: Support tools for land use policies based on high resolution regional air quality modelling, Land Use Policy, 95, 103909, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.03.022 , 2020. 

Aleksandrov, V. V. and Stenchikov, G. I.: On the modeling of the climatic consequences of the nuclear war, The Proceeding of Appl. Mathematics, The Computing Center of the AS USSR, Moscow, 21 pp., http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/AleksandrovStenchikov.pdf (last access: 21 February 2022), 1983. 

Alfano, B., Barretta, L., Del Giudice, A., De Vito, S., Di Francia, G., Esposito, E., Formisano, F., Massera, E., Miglietta, M. L., and Polichetti, T.: A Review of Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensors from the Developers' Perspectives, Sensors, 20, 6819, https://doi.org/10.3390/s20236819 , 2020. 

Alimissis, A., Philippopoulos, K., Tzanis, C. G., and Deligiorgi, D.: Spatial estimation of urban air pollution with the use of artificial neural network models, Atmos. Environ., 191, 205–213, 2018. 

Amann, M., Holland, M., Maas, R., Vandyck, T., and Saveyn, B.: Costs, benefits and economic impacts of the EU Clean Air Strategy and their implications on innovation and competitiveness, IIASA, https://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/pdf/clean_air_outlook_economic_impact_report.pdf (last access 25 February 2022), 2017. 

Analitis, A., de' Donato, F., Scortichini, M., Lanki, T., Basagana, X., Ballester, F., Astrom, C., Paldy, A., Pascal, M., Gasparrini, A., Michelozzi, P., and Katsouyanni, K.: Synergistic Effects of Ambient Temperature and Air Pollution on Health in Europe: Results from the PHASE Project, Int. J. Env. Res. Pub. He., 15, 1856, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15091856 , 2018. 

Andersen, Z. J., Pedersen, M., Weinmayr, G., Stafoggia, M., Galassi, C., Jørgensen, J. T., Sommar, J. N., Forsberg, B., Olsson, D., Oftedal, B., Aasvang, G. M., Schwarze, P., Pyko, A., Pershagen, G., Korek, M., Faire, U. d., Östenson, C.-G., Fratiglioni, L., Eriksen, K. T., Poulsen, A. H., Tjønneland, A., Bräuner, E. V., Peeters, P. H., Bueno-de-Mesquita, B., Jaensch, A., Nagel, G., Lang, A., Wang, M., Tsai, M.-Y., Grioni, S., Marcon, A., Krogh, V., Ricceri, F., Sacerdote, C., Migliore, E., Vermeulen, R., Sokhi, R., Keuken, M., Hoogh, K. d., Beelen, R., Vineis, P., Cesaroni, G., Brunekreef, B., Hoek, G., and Raaschou-Nielsen, O.: Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and incidence of brain tumor: the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE), Neuro-Oncology, 20, 420–432, https://doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/nox163 , 2018. 

Anderson, H. A.: Air pollution and mortality: A history, Atmos. Environ., 43, 142–152, 2009. 

Anderson, M., Salo, K., and Fridell, E.: Particle- and Gaseous Emissions from an LNG Powered Ship, Environ. Sci. Technol., 49, 12568–12575, 2015. 

Anderson, V. and Gough, W. A.: Evaluating the potential of nature-based solutions to reduce ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon dioxide through a multi-type green infrastructure study in Ontario, Canada, City and Environment Interactions, 6, 100043, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cacint.2020.100043 , 2020. 

Andre, M., Sartelet, K., Moukhtar, S., Andre, J. M., and Redaelli, M.: Diesel, petrol or electric vehicles: What choices to improve urban air quality in the Ile-de-France region? A simulation platform and case study, Atmos. Environ., 241, 117752, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.117752 , 2020. 

Andronopoulos, S., Bartzis, J. G., Efthimiou, G. C., and Venetsanos, A. G.: Puff-dispersion variability assessment through Lagrangian and Eulerian modelling based on the JU2003 campaign, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 171, 395–422, 2019. 

Antonsen, S., Mok, P. L. H., Webb, R. T., Mortensen, P. B., McGrath, J. J., Agerbo, E., Brandt, J., Geels, C., Christensen, J. H., and Pedersen, C. B.: Exposure to air pollution during childhood and risk of developing schizophrenia: a national cohort study, The Lancet, 4, E64–E73, https://doi.org/10.1016/s2542-5196(20)30004-8 , 2020. 

Aron, R. H.: Forecasting high level oxidant concentrations in the Los Angeles basin, J. Air Pollut. Control Assoc., 20, 1227–1228, 1980. 

Aulinger, A., Matthias, V., and Quante, M.: An Approach to Temporally Disaggregate Benzo(a)pyrene Emissions and Their Application to a 3D Eulerian Atmospheric Chemistry Transport Model, Water Air Soil Poll., 216, 643–655, 2011. 

Aulinger, A., Matthias, V., Zeretzke, M., Bieser, J., Quante, M., and Backes, A.: The impact of shipping emissions on air pollution in the greater North Sea region – Part 1: Current emissions and concentrations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 739–758, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-739-2016 , 2016. 

Aunan, K., Ma, Q., Lund, M. T., and Wang, S.: Population-weighted exposure to PM 2.5 pollution in China: An integrated approach, Environ. Int., 120, 111–120, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2018.07.042 , 2018. 

Bachmann, T. M.: Considering environmental costs of greenhouse gas emissions for setting a CO 2 tax: A review, Sci. Total Environ., 720, 137524, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137524 , 2020. 

Backes, A., Aulinger, A., Bieser, J., Matthias, V., and Quante, M.: Ammonia emissions in Europe, part I: Development of a dynamical ammonia emission inventory, Atmos. Environ., 131, 55–66, 2016. 

Badeke, R., Matthias, V., and Grawe, D.: Parameterizing the vertical downward dispersion of ship exhaust gas in the near field, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5935–5951, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5935-2021 , 2021. 

Badia, A., Segura, R., Gilabert, J., Ventura, S., Vidal, V., and Villalba, G.: Air quality modeling study using wrf-chem over Barcelona, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 161, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Bai, L., Wang, J., Ma, X., and Lu, H.: Air Pollution Forecasts: An Overview, Int. J. Env. Res. Pub. He., 15, 780, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15040780 , 2018. 

Baklanov, A. and Zhang, Y.: Advances in air quality modeling and forecasting, Global Transitions, 2, 261–270, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glt.2020.11.001 , 2020. 

Baklanov, A., Lawrence, M., Pandis, S., Mahura, A., Finardi, S., Moussiopoulos, N., Beekmann, M., Laj, P., Gomes, L., Jaffrezo, J.-L., Borbon, A., Coll, I., Gros, V., Sciare, J., Kukkonen, J., Galmarini, S., Giorgi, F., Grimmond, S., Esau, I., Stohl, A., Denby, B., Wagner, T., Butler, T., Baltensperger, U., Builtjes, P., van den Hout, D., van der Gon, H. D., Collins, B., Schluenzen, H., Kulmala, M., Zilitinkevich, S., Sokhi, R., Friedrich, R., Theloke, J., Kummer, U., Jalkinen, L., Halenka, T., Wiedensholer, A., Pyle, J., and Rossow, W. B.: MEGAPOLI: concept of multi-scale modelling of megacity impact on air quality and climate, Adv. Sci. Res., 4, 115–120, https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-4-115-2010 , 2010. 

Baklanov, A., Mestayer, P. G., Clappier, A., Zilitinkevich, S., Joffre, S., Mahura, A., and Nielsen, N. W.: Towards improving the simulation of meteorological fields in urban areas through updated/advanced surface fluxes description, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 523–543, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-8-523-2008 , 2008. 

Baklanov, A., Mahura, A., Grimmond, S., and Athanassiadou, M.: Meteorological and Air Quality Models for Urban Areas, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, 184 pp., https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00298-4 , 2009. 

Baklanov, A., Mahura, A., and Sokhi, R.: Integrated Systems of Meso-Meteorological and Chemical Transport Models, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13980-2 , 2011. 

Baklanov, A., Schlünzen, K., Suppan, P., Baldasano, J., Brunner, D., Aksoyoglu, S., Carmichael, G., Douros, J., Flemming, J., Forkel, R., Galmarini, S., Gauss, M., Grell, G., Hirtl, M., Joffre, S., Jorba, O., Kaas, E., Kaasik, M., Kallos, G., Kong, X., Korsholm, U., Kurganskiy, A., Kushta, J., Lohmann, U., Mahura, A., Manders-Groot, A., Maurizi, A., Moussiopoulos, N., Rao, S. T., Savage, N., Seigneur, C., Sokhi, R. S., Solazzo, E., Solomos, S., Sørensen, B., Tsegas, G., Vignati, E., Vogel, B., and Zhang, Y.: Online coupled regional meteorology chemistry models in Europe: current status and prospects, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 317–398, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-317-2014 , 2014. 

Baklanov, A., Molina, L. T., and Gauss, M.: Megacities, air quality and climate, Atmos. Environ., 126, 235–249, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.11.059 , 2016. 

Baklanov, A., Brunner, D., Carmichael, G., Flemming, J., Freitas, S., Gauss, M., Hov, Ø., Mathur, R., Schlünzen, K., Seigneur, C., and Vogel, B.: Key Issues for Seamless Integrated Chemistry-Meteorology Modeling, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 98, 2285–2292, https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-15-00166.1 , 2018a. 

Baklanov, A., Grimmond, C. S. B., Carlson, D., Terblanche, D., Tang, X., Bouchet, V., Lee, B., Langendijk, G., Kolli, R. K., and Hovsepyan, A.: From urban meteorology, climate and environment research to integrated city services, Urban Climate, 23, 330–341, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2017.05.004 , 2018b. 

Baldasano, J. M.: COVID-19 lockdown effects on air quality by NO 2 in the cities of Barcelona and Madrid (Spain), Sci. Total Environ., 741, 140353, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140353 , 2020. 

Baldasano, J. M., Güereca, L. P., López, E., Gassó, S., and Jiménez-Guerrero, P.: Development of a high resolution (1 km × 1 km, 1 h) emission model for Spain: the High-Elective Resolution Modeling Emission System (HERMES), Atmos. Environ., 42, 7215–7233, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2008.07.026 , 2008. 

Balogun, H. A., Rantala, A. K., Antikainen, H., Siddika, N., Amegah, A. K., Ryti, N. R. I., Kukkonen, J., Sofiev, M., Jaakkola, M. S., and Jaakkola, J. J. K.: Effects of Air Pollution on the Risk of Low Birth Weight in a Cold Climate, Appl. Sci., 10, 6399, https://doi.org/10.3390/app10186399 , 2020. 

Barbero, D., Tinarelli, G., Silibello, C., et al.: A microscale hybrid modelling system to assess the air quality over a large portion of a large European city, Atmos. Environ., 264, 118656, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118656 , 2021. 

Barmpas, F., Tsegas, G., Moussiopoulos, N., and Chourdakis, E.: Interpreting measurements from air quality sensor networks: data assimilation and physical modelling, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 112, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Barré, J., Petetin, H., Colette, A., Guevara, M., Peuch, V.-H., Rouil, L., Engelen, R., Inness, A., Flemming, J., Pérez García-Pando, C., Bowdalo, D., Meleux, F., Geels, C., Christensen, J. H., Gauss, M., Benedictow, A., Tsyro, S., Friese, E., Struzewska, J., Kaminski, J. W., Douros, J., Timmermans, R., Robertson, L., Adani, M., Jorba, O., Joly, M., and Kouznetsov, R.: Estimating lockdown-induced European NO 2 changes using satellite and surface observations and air quality models, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 7373–7394, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7373-2021 , 2021. 

Bartzis, J., Wolkoff, P., Stranger, M., Efthimiou, G., Tolis, E. I., Maes, F., Nørgaard, A. W., Ventura, G., Kalimeri, K. K., Goelen, E., and Fernandes, O.: On organic emissions testing from indoor consumer products' use, J. Hazard. Mater., 285, 37–45, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2014.11.024 , 2015. 

Bartzis, J. G., Andronopoulos, S., and Efthimiou, G. C.: Simplified approaches in quantifying exposure statistical behaviour due to airborne hazardous releases of short time duration, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Bauer, S. E., Im, U., Mezuman, K., and Gao, C. Y.: Desert dust, industrialization and agricultural fires: Health impacts of outdoor air pollution in Africa, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 124, 4104–4120, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD029336 , 2019. 

Baumol, W. J.: On Taxation and the Control of Externalities, Am. Econ. Rev., 62, 307–322, 1972. 

Baumol, W. J. and Oates, W. E.: The Use of Standards and Prices for Protection of the Environment, Swed. J. Econ., 73, 42–54, https://doi.org/10.2307/3439132 , 1971. 

Beddows, D. C. S. and Harrison, R. M.: PM 10 and PM 2.5 emission factors for non-exhaust particles from road vehicles: Dependence upon vehicle mass and implications for battery electric vehicles, Atmos. Environ., 244, 117886, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.117886 , 2021. 

Beekmann, M., Prévôt, A. S. H., Drewnick, F., Sciare, J., Pandis, S. N., Denier van der Gon, H. A. C., Crippa, M., Freutel, F., Poulain, L., Ghersi, V., Rodriguez, E., Beirle, S., Zotter, P., von der Weiden-Reinmüller, S.-L., Bressi, M., Fountoukis, C., Petetin, H., Szidat, S., Schneider, J., Rosso, A., El Haddad, I., Megaritis, A., Zhang, Q. J., Michoud, V., Slowik, J. G., Moukhtar, S., Kolmonen, P., Stohl, A., Eckhardt, S., Borbon, A., Gros, V., Marchand, N., Jaffrezo, J. L., Schwarzenboeck, A., Colomb, A., Wiedensohler, A., Borrmann, S., Lawrence, M., Baklanov, A., and Baltensperger, U.: In situ, satellite measurement and model evidence on the dominant regional contribution to fine particulate matter levels in the Paris megacity, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 9577–9591, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-9577-2015 , 2015. 

Beelen, R., Hoek, G., Raaschou-Nielsen, O., Stafoggia, M., Andersen, Z. J., Weinmayr, G., Hoffmann, B., Wolf, K., Samoli, E., Fischer, P. H., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J., Xun, W. W., Katsouyanni, K., Dimakopoulou, K., Marcon, A., Vartiainen, E., Lanki, T., Yli-Tuomi, T., Oftedal, B., Schwarze, P. E., Nafstad, P., Faire, U. d., Pedersen, N. L., Östenson, C.-G., Fratiglioni, L., Penell, J., Korek, M., Pershagen, G., Eriksen, K. T., Overvad, K., Sørensen, M., Eeftens, M., Peeters, P. H., Meliefste, K., Wang, M., Bueno-de-Mesquita, H. B., Sugiri, D., Krämer, U., Heinrich, J., Hoogh, K. d., Key, T., Peters, A., Hampel, R., Concin, H., Nagel, G., Jaensch, A., Ineichen, A., Tsai, M.-Y., Schaffner, E., Probst-Hensch, N. M., Schindler, C., Ragettli, M. S., Vilier, A., Clavel-Chapelon, F., Declercq, C., Ricceri, F., Sacerdote, C., Galassi, C., Migliore, E., Ranzi, A., Cesaroni, G., Badaloni, C., Forastiere, F., Katsoulis, M., Trichopoulou, A., Keuken, M., Jedynska, A., Kooter, I. M., Kukkonen, J., Sokhi, R. S., Vineis, P., and Brunekreef, B.: Natural-Cause Mortality and Long-Term Exposure to Particle Components: An Analysis of 19 European Cohorts within the Multi-Center ESCAPE Project, Environ. Health Persp., 123, 525–533, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408095 , 2015. 

Beelen, R., Raaschou-Nielsen, O., Stafoggia, M., Andersen, Z. J., Weinmayr, G., Hoffmann, B., Wolf, K., Samoli, E., Fischer, P., Nieuwenhuijsen, M., Vineis, P., Xun, W. W., Katsouyanni, K., Dimakopoulou, K., Oudin, A., Forsberg, B., Modig, L., Havulinna, A. S., Lanki, T., Turunen, A., Oftedal, B., Nystad, W., Nafstad, P., Faire, U. d., Pedersen, N. L., Östenson, C.-G., Fratiglioni, L., Penell, J., Korek, M., Pershagen, G., Eriksen, K. T., Overvad, K., Ellermann, T., Eeftens, M., Peeters, P. H., Meliefste, K., Wang, M., Bueno-de-Mesquita, B., Sugiri, D., Krämer, U., Heinrich, J., Hoogh, K. d., Key, T., Peters, A., Hampel, R., Concin, H., Nagel, G., Ineichen, A., Schaffner, E., Probst-Hensch, N., Künzli, N., Schindler, C., Schikowski, T., Adam, M., Phuleria, H., Vilier, A., Clavel-Chapelon, F., Declercq, C., Grioni, S., Krogh, V., Tsai, M.-Y., Ricceri, F., Sacerdote, C., Galassi, C., Migliore, E., Ranzi, A., Cesaroni, G., Badaloni, C., Forastiere, F., Tamayo, I., Amiano, P., Dorronsoro, M., Katsoulis, M., Trichopoulou, A., Brunekreef, B., and Hoek, G.: Effects of long-term exposure to air pollution on natural-cause mortality: an analysis of 22 European cohorts within the multicentre ESCAPE project, Lancet, 383, 785–795, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(13)62158-3 , 2014. 

Belis, C. A., Pikridas, M., Lucarelli, F., Petralia, E., Cavalli, F., Calzolai, G., Berico, M., and Sciare, J.: Source apportionment of fine PM by combining high time resolution organic and inorganic chemical composition datasets, Atmos. Environ. X, 3, 100046, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2019.100046 , 2019. 

Belis, C. A., Pernigotti, D., Pirovano, G., Favez, O., Jaffrezo, J.L., Kuenen, J., Denier van Der Gon, H., Reizer, M., Riffault, V., Alleman, L.Y., Almeida, M., Amato, F., Angyal, A., Argyropoulos, G., Bande, S., Beslic, I., Besombes, J.-L., Bove, M.C., Brotto, P., Calori, G., Cesari, D., Colombi, C., Contini, D., De Gennaro, G., Di Gilio, A., Diapouli, E., El Haddad, I., Elbern, H., Eleftheriadis, K., Ferreira, J., Vivanco, M.G., Gilardoni, S., Golly, B., Hellebust, S., Hopke, P.K., Izadmanesh, Y., Jorquera, H., Krajsek, K., Kranenburg, R., Lazzeri, P., Lenartz, F., Lucarelli, F., Maciejewska, K., Manders, A., Manousakas, M., Masiol, M., Mircea, M., Mooibroek, D., Nava, S., Oliveira, D., Paglione, M., Pandolfi, M., Perrone, M., Petralia, E., Pietrodangelo, A., Pillon, S., Pokorna, P., Prati, P., Salameh, D., Samara, C., Samek, L., Saraga, D., Sauvage, S., Schaap, M., Scotto, F., Sega, K., Siour, G., Tauler, R., Valli, G., Vecchi, R., Venturini, E., Vestenius, M., Waked, A.,, and Yubero, E.: Evaluation of receptor and chemical transport models for PM 10 source apportionment, Atmos. Environ. X, 5, 100053, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2019.100053 , 2020. 

Benedetti, A. and Vitart, F.: Can the Direct Effect of Aerosols Improve Subseasonal Predictability?, Mon. Weather Rev., 146, 3481–3498, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-17-0282.1 , 2018. 

Benedetti, A., Reid, J. S., Knippertz, P., Marsham, J. H., Di Giuseppe, F., Rémy, S., Basart, S., Boucher, O., Brooks, I. M., Menut, L., Mona, L., Laj, P., Pappalardo, G., Wiedensohler, A., Baklanov, A., Brooks, M., Colarco, P. R., Cuevas, E., da Silva, A., Escribano, J., Flemming, J., Huneeus, N., Jorba, O., Kazadzis, S., Kinne, S., Popp, T., Quinn, P. K., Sekiyama, T. T., Tanaka, T., and Terradellas, E.: Status and future of numerical atmospheric aerosol prediction with a focus on data requirements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 10615–10643, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10615-2018 , 2018. 

Benešová, N., Belda, M., Eben, K., Geletič, J., Huszár, P., Juruš, P., Krč, P., Resler, J., and Vlček, O.: New open source emission processor for air quality models, in: Proceedings of Abstracts 11th International Conference on Air Quality Science and Application, edited by: Sokhi, R., Tiwari, P. R., Gállego, M. J., Craviotto Arnau, J. M., Castells Guiu, C., and Singh, V., University of Hertfordshire, UK, p. 27, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.19829 , 2018. 

Bergamaschi, P., Karstens, U., Manning, A. J., Saunois, M., Tsuruta, A., Berchet, A., Vermeulen, A. T., Arnold, T., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Hammer, S., Levin, I., Schmidt, M., Ramonet, M., Lopez, M., Lavric, J., Aalto, T., Chen, H., Feist, D. G., Gerbig, C., Haszpra, L., Hermansen, O., Manca, G., Moncrieff, J., Meinhardt, F., Necki, J., Galkowski, M., O'Doherty, S., Paramonova, N., Scheeren, H. A., Steinbacher, M., and Dlugokencky, E.: Inverse modelling of European CH 4 emissions during 2006–2012 using different inverse models and reassessed atmospheric observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 901–920, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-901-2018 , 2018. 

Berrocal, V. J., Guan, Y., Muyskens, A., Wang, H., Reich, B. J., Mulholland, J. A., and Chang, H. H.: A comparison of statistical and machine learning methods for creating national daily maps of ambient PM 2.5 concentration, Atmos. Environ., 222, 117130, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.117130 , 2020. 

Bi, P., Wang, J., and Hiller, J. E.: Weather: driving force behind the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome in China?, Intern. Med. J., 37, 550–554, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1445-5994.2007.01358.x , 2007. 

Bickel, P. and Friedrich, R. (Eds.): ExternE – Externalities of Energy, Methodology 2005 Update, EUR 21951, https://doi.org/10.18419/opus-11923 , 2005. 

Bieser, J., Aulinger, A., Matthias, V., Quante, M., and Builtjes, P.: SMOKE for Europe – adaptation, modification and evaluation of a comprehensive emission model for Europe, Geosci. Model Dev., 4, 47–68, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-4-47-2011 , 2011a. 

Bieser, J., Aulinger, A., Matthias, V., Quante, M., and Denier van der Gon, H. A. C.: Vertical emission profiles for Europe based on plume rise calculations, Environ. Pollut., 159, 2935–2946, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2011.04.030 , 2011b. 

BImSchV: Erste Verordnung zur Durchführung des Bundes-Immissionsschutzgesetzes (Verordnung über kleine und mittlere Feuerungsanlagen) – 1. BImSchV, https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/bimschv_1_2010/BJNR003800010.html (last access: 25 February 2022), 2021. 

Bocquet, M., Elbern, H., Eskes, H., Hirtl, M., Žabkar, R., Carmichael, G. R., Flemming, J., Inness, A., Pagowski, M., Pérez Camaño, J. L., Saide, P. E., San Jose, R., Sofiev, M., Vira, J., Baklanov, A., Carnevale, C., Grell, G., and Seigneur, C.: Data assimilation in atmospheric chemistry models: current status and future prospects for coupled chemistry meteorology models, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 5325–5358, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5325-2015 , 2015. 

Borge, R., Lumbreras, J., Pérez, J., de la Paz, D., Vedrenne, M., de Andrés, J. M., and Rodríguez, M. E.: Emission inventories and modeling requirements for the development of air quality plans. Application to Madrid (Spain), Sci. Total Environ., 466-467, 809–819, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.07.093 , 2014. 

Borken-Kleefeld, J. and Chen, Y.: New emission deterioration rates for gasoline cars – Results from long-term measurements, Atmos. Environ., 101, 58–64, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.11.013 , 2015. 

Brandt, J., Silver, J. D., Frohn, L. M., Geels, C., Gross, A., Hansen, A. B., Hansen, K. M., Hedegaard, G. B., Skjøth, C. A., Villadsen, H., Zare, A., and Christensen, J. H.: An integrated model study for Europe and North America using the Danish Eulerian Hemispheric Model with focus on intercontinental transport, Atmos. Environ., 53, 156–176, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2012.01.011 , 2012. 

Brandt, J., Silver, J. D., Christensen, J. H., Andersen, M. S., Bønløkke, J. H., Sigsgaard, T., Geels, C., Gross, A., Hansen, A. B., Hansen, K. M., Hedegaard, G. B., Kaas, E., and Frohn, L. M.: Contribution from the ten major emission sectors in Europe and Denmark to the health-cost externalities of air pollution using the EVA model system – an integrated modelling approach, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 7725–7746, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-7725-2013 , 2013. 

Brattich, E., Bracci, A., Zappi, A., Morozzi, P., Di Sabatino, S., Porcù, F., Di Nicola, F., and Tositti, L.: How to Get the Best from Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensors: Guidelines and Practical Recommendations, Sensors, 20, 3073, https://doi.org/10.3390/s20113073 , 2020. 

Briggs, D. J.: A framework for integrated environmental health impact assessment of systemic risks, Environ. Health, 7, 61, https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069x-7-61 , 2008. 

Brook, R. D., Rajagopalan, S., Pope, C. A., Brook, J. R., Bhatnagar, A., Diez-Roux, A. V., Holguin, F., Hong, Y., Luepker, R. V., Mittleman, M. A., Peters, A., Siscovick, D., Smith, S. C., Whitsel, L., and Kaufman, J. D.: Particulate Matter Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease, Circulation, 121, 2331–2378, https://doi.org/10.1161/CIR.0b013e3181dbece1 , 2010. 

Brousse, O., Martilli, A., Foley, M., Mills, G., and Bechtel, B.: WUDAPT, an efficient land use producing data tool for mesoscale models? Integration of urban LCZ in WRF over Madrid, Urban Climate, 17, 116–134, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2016.04.001 , 2016. 

Brunekreef, B. and Holgate, S. T.: Air pollution and health, Lancet, 360, 1233–1242, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(02)11274-8 , 2002. 

Buccolieri, R., Santiago, J. L., and Martilli, A.: CFD modelling: The most useful tool for developing mesoscale urban canopy parameterizations, Build. Simul., 14, 407–419, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-020-0689-z , 2021. 

Budde, M., Riedel, T., Beigl, M., Schäfer, K., Emeis, S., Cyrys, J., Schnelle-Kreis, J., Philipp, A., Ziegler, V., Grimm, H., and Gratza, T.: SmartAQnet – Remote and In-Situ Sensing of Urban Air Quality, in: Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere XXII, Bellingham, WA, USA, 6 October 2017, edited by: Comerón, A., Kassianov, E. I., Schäfer, K., Picard, R. H., Weber, K., SPIE, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2282698 , 2017. 

Burgués, J. and Marco, S.: Environmental chemical sensing using small drones: A review, Sci. Total Environ., 748, 141172, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141172 , 2020. 

Burnett, R., Chen, H., Szyszkowicz, M., Fann, N., Hubbell, B., Pope, C. A., Apte, J. S., Brauer, M., Cohen, A., Weichenthal, S., Coggins, J., Di, Q., Brunekreef, B., Frostad, J., Lim, S. S., Kan, H., Walker, K. D., Thurston, G. D., Hayes, R. B., Lim, C. C., Turner, M. C., Jerrett, M., Krewski, D., Gapstur, S. M., Diver, W. R., Ostro, B., Goldberg, D., Crouse, D. L., Martin, R. V., Peters, P., Pinault, L., Tjepkema, M., van Donkelaar, A., Villeneuve, P. J., Miller, A. B., Yin, P., Zhou, M., Wang, L., Janssen, N. A. H., Marra, M., Atkinson, R. W., Tsang, H., Quoc Thach, T., Cannon, J. B., Allen, R. T., Hart, J. E., Laden, F., Cesaroni, G., Forastiere, F., Weinmayr, G., Jaensch, A., Nagel, G., Concin, H., and Spadaro, J. V.: Global estimates of mortality associated with long-term exposure to outdoor fine particulate matter, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 115, 9592–9597, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1803222115 , 2018. 

Cai, Y., Zijlema, W. L., Doiron, D., Blangiardo, M., Burton, P. R., Fortier, I., Gaye, A., Gulliver, J., Hoogh, K. d., Hveem, K., Mbatchou, S., Morley, D. W., Stolk, R. P., Elliott, P., Hansell, A. L., and Hodgson, S.: Ambient air pollution, traffic noise and adult asthma prevalence: a BioSHaRE approach, Eur. Respir. J., 49, 1502127, https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.02127-2015 , 2017. 

Cai, Y., Hodgson, S., Blangiardo, M., Gulliver, J., Morley, D., Fecht, D., Vienneau, D., de Hoogh, K., Key, T., Hveem, K., Elliott, P., and Hansell, A. L.: Road traffic noise, air pollution and incident cardiovascular disease: A joint analysis of the HUNT, EPIC-Oxford and UK Biobank cohorts, Environ. Int., 114, 191–201, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2018.02.048 , 2018. 

Campbell, P., Zhang, Y., Yahya, K., Wang, K., Hogrefe, C., Pouliot, G., Knote, C., Hodzic, A., San Jose, R., Perez, J. L., Jimenez Guerrero, P., Baro, R., and Makar, P.: A multi-model assessment for the 2006 and 2010 simulations under the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII) phase 2 over North America: Part I. Indicators of the sensitivity of O 3 and PM 2.5 formation regimes, Atmos. Environ., 115, 569–586, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.12.026 , 2015. 

Cao, Y., Chen, M., Dong, D., Xie, S., and Liu, M.: Environmental pollutants damage airway epithelial cell cilia: Implications for the prevention of obstructive lung diseases, Thorac. Cancer, 11, 505–510, https://doi.org/10.1111/1759-7714.13323 , 2020. 

Carbajal-Hernández, J. J., Luis P. Sánchez-Fernández, J. A. C.-O., and Martínez-Trinidad, J. F.: Assessment and prediction of air quality using fuzzy logic and autoregressive Models, Atmos. Environ., 60, 37–50, 2012. 

Carmichael, G. R., Sandu, A., Chai, T., Daescu, D., Constantinescu, E., and Tang, Y.: Predicting air quality: Improvements through advanced methods to integrate models and measurements, J. Comput. Phys., 227, 3540–3571, 2008. 

Cecinato, A., Guerriero, E., Balducci, C., and Muto, V.: Use of the PAH fingerprints for identifying pollution sources, Urban Climate, 10, 630–643, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2014.04.004 , 2014. 

Cesaroni, G., Forastiere, F., Stafoggia, M., Andersen, Z. J., Badaloni, C., Beelen, R., Caracciolo, B., Faire, U. d., Erbel, R., Eriksen, K. T., Fratiglioni, L., Galassi, C., Hampel, R., Heier, M., Hennig, F., Hilding, A., Hoffmann, B., Houthuijs, D., Jockel, K.-H., Korek, M., Lanki, T., Leander, K., Magnusson, P. K. E., Migliore, E., Ostenson, C.-G., Overvad, K., Pedersen, N. L., J, J. P., Penell, J., Pershagen, G., Pyko, A., Raaschou-Nielsen, O., Ranzi, A., Ricceri, F., Sacerdote, C., Salomaa, V., Swart, W., Turunen, A. W., Vineis, P., Weinmayr, G., Wolf, K., de Hoogh, K., Hoek, G., Brunekreef, B., and Peters, A.: Long term exposure to ambient air pollution and incidence of acute coronary events: prospective cohort study and meta-analysis in 11 European cohorts from the ESCAPE Project, BMJ, 348, f7412, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f7412 , 2014. 

Chapizanis, D., Karakitsios, S., Gotti, A., and Sarigiannis, D. A.: Assessing personal exposure using Agent Based Modelling informed by sensors technology, Environ. Res., 192, 110141, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.110141 , 2021. 

Chatzimichailidis, A. C., Argyropoulos, C. D., Assael, M. J., and Kakosimos, K. E.: Using the K-means clustering method to identify flow patterns in a street canyon, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 75, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Chen, G., Zhang, W., Li, S., Zhang, Y., Williams, G., Huxley, R., Ren, H., Cao, W., and Guo, Y.: The impact of ambient fine particles on influenza transmission and the modification effects of temperature in China: A multi-city study, Environ. Int., 98, 82–88, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2016.10.004 , 2017. 

Ching, J. K. S.: A perspective on urban canopy layer modeling for weather, climate, and air quality applications, Urban Climate, 3, 13–39, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2013.02.001 , 2013. 

Christodoulou, A., Sauvage, S., Afif, C., Sarda-Estève, R., Stavroulas, I., Pikridas, M., Unga, F., Oikonomou, K., Iakovides, M., and Sciare, J.: Source apportionment of organic carbon at an urban site of the eastern Mediterranean during wintertime, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 25, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Churkina, G., Kuik, F., Bonn, B., Lauer, A., Grote, R., Tomiak, K., and Butler, T. M.: Effect of VOC Emissions from Vegetation on Air Quality in Berlin during a Heatwave, Environ. Sci. Technol., 51, 6120–6130, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b06514 , 2017. 

Clappier, A., Belis, C. A., Pernigotti, D., and Thunis, P.: Source apportionment and sensitivity analysis: two methodologies with two different purposes, Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 4245–4256, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-4245-2017 , 2017. 

Concas, F., Mineraud, J., Lagerspetz, E., Varjonen, S., Liu, X., Puolamäki, K., Nurmi, P., and Tarkoma, S.: Low-Cost Outdoor Air Quality Monitoring and Sensor Calibration: A Survey and Critical Analysis, ACM T. Sensor Network., 17, 20, https://doi.org/10.1145/3446005 , 2021. 

Conticini, E., Frediani, B., and Caro, D.: Can atmospheric pollution be considered a co-factor in extremely high level of SARS-CoV-2 lethality in Northern Italy?, Environ. Pollut., 261, 114465, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114465 , 2020. 

Coulombel, N., Dablanc, L., Gardrat, M., and Koning, M.: The environmental social cost of urban road freight: Evidence from the Paris region, Transport. Res. D-Tr. E., 63, 514–532, 2019. 

Cremona, G., Finardi, S., Mircea, M., Pepe, N., and Silibello, C.: Biogenic Emissions from Urban Vegetation: Impact of Detailed Inventories in Different European Cities, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 162, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Crippa, M., Solazzo, E., Huang, G., Guizzardi, D., Koffi, E., Muntean, M., Schieberle, C., Friedrich, R., and Janssens-Maenhout, G.: High resolution temporal profiles in the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research, Scientific Data, 7, 121, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0462-2 , 2020. 

Crutzen, P. J. and Birks, J. W.: The Atmosphere after a Nuclear War: Twilight at Noon, Ambio, 11, 114–125, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4312777 (last access: 3 June 2021), 1982. 

Cui, L. and Shi, J.: Urbanization and its environmental effects in Shanghai, China, Urban Climate, 2, 1–15, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2012.10.008 , 2012. 

Cui, Y., Zhang, Z.-F., Froines, J., Zhao, J., Wang, H., Yu, S.-Z., and Detels, R.: Air pollution and case fatality of SARS in the People's Republic of China: an ecologic study, Environ. Health, 2, 15, https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069x-2-15 , 2003. 

Dai, L., Zanobetti, A., Koutrakis, P., and Schwartz, J. D.: Associations of fine particulate matter species with mortality in the United States: A multicity time-series analysis, Environ. Health Persp., 122, 837–842, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1307568 , 2014. 

DBEIS: Valuation of energy use and greenhouse gas, Supplementary guidance to the HM Treasury Green Book on Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government, Data tables 1 to 19: supporting the toolkit and the guidance, Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, London, 2019. 

Delle Monache, L., Wilczak, J., Mckeen, S., Grell, G., Pagowski, M., Peckham, S., Stull, R., Mchenry, J., and Mcqueen, J.: A Kalman-filter bias correction method applied to deterministic, ensemble averaged and probabilistic forecasts of surface ozone, Tellus B, 60, 238–249, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0889.2007.00332.x , 2008. 

Denby, B. R., Sundvor, I., Johansson, C., Pirjola, L., Ketzel, M., Norman, M., Kupiainen, K., Gustafsson, M., Blomqvist, G., Kauhaniemi, M., and Omstedt, G.: A coupled road dust and surface moisture model to predict non-exhaust road traffic induced particle emissions (NORTRIP). Part 2: Surface moisture and salt impact modelling, Atmos. Environ., 81, 485–503, 2013. 

Denier van der Gon, H., Hendriks, C., Kuenen, J., Segers, A., and Visschedijk, A.: Description of current temporal emission patterns and sensitivity of predicted AQ for temporal emission patterns, EU, https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/sites/default/files/2019-07/MACC_TNO_del_1_3_v2.pdf , (last access 25 February 2022), 2011. 

Desaigues, B., Ami, D., Bartczak, A., Braun Kohlová, M., Chilton, S., Mikołaj Czajkowski, M., Farreras, V., Hunt, A., Hutchinson, M., Jeanrenaud, C., Kaderjack, P., Máca, V., Markiewicz, O., Markowska, A., Metcalf, H., Navrud, S., Seested Nielsen, J., Ortiz, R., Pellegrini, S., Rabl, A., Riera, P., Scasny, M., Stoeckl, M., Szánto, R., and Urban, J.: Economic Valuation of Air Pollution Mortality: A 9-Country Contingent Valuation Survey of a Value of a Life Year (VOLY), Ecol. Indic., 11, 902–910, 2011. 

Dessimond, B., Annesi-Maesano, I., Pepin, J.-L., Srairi, S., and Pau, G.: Academically Produced Air Pollution Sensors for Personal Exposure Assessment: The Canarin Project, Sensors, 21, 1876, https://doi.org/10.3390/s21051876 , 2021. 

Dias, D., Tchepel, O., and Antunes, A. P.: Integrated modelling approach for the evaluation of low emission zones, J. Environ. Manage., 177, 253–263, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.04.031 , 2016. 

Diémoz, H., Tombolato, I., Zublena, M., Magri, T., and Ferrero, L.: The impact of biomass burning emissions on PM concentration in the Greater Alpine region, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 26, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

DNV-GL: Maritime Forecast To 2050, Energy Transition Outlook, DNV GL – Maritime, 118 pp., 2019. 

Dockery, D. W., Pope, C. A., Xu, X., Spengler, J. D., Ware, J. H., Fay, M. E., Ferris, B. G., and Speizer, F. E.: An Association between Air Pollution and Mortality in Six U.S. Cities, New Engl. J. Med., 329, 1753–1759, https://doi.org/10.1056/nejm199312093292401 , 1993. 

Dorber, M., Kuipers, K., and Verones, F.: Global characterization factors for terrestrial biodiversity impacts of future land inundation in Life Cycle Assessment, Sci. Total Environ., 712, 134582, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134582 , 2020. 

Doulgeris, S., Toumasatos, Z., Raptopoulos, A., Kontses, A., Dimaratos, A., Kolokotronis, D., and Samaras, Z.: Experimental assessment of the power management and pollutant emissions of plug-in hybrid vehicles, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 161, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Duvall, R. M., Hagler, G. S. W., Clements, A. L., Benedict, K., Barkjohn, K., Kilaru, V., Hanley, T., Watkins, N., Kaufman, A., Kamal, A., Reece, S., Fransioli, P., Gerboles, M., Gillerman, G., Habre, R., Hannigan, M., Ning, Z., Papapostolou, V., Pope, R., Quintana, P. J. E., and Lam Snyder, J.: Deliberating Performance Targets: Follow-on workshop discussing PM 10 , NO 2 , CO, and SO 2 air sensor targets, Atmos. Environ., 246, 118099, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.118099 , 2021. 

EC: Impact Assessment – Annex to the Communication on Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution and the Directive on Ambient Air Quality and Cleaner Air for Europe, Commission of the European Communities, SEC (2005) 1133, https://ec.europa.eu/environment/archives/cafe/pdf/ia_report_en050921_final.pdf (last access: 22 February 2022), 2005. 

EC: Communication from the Commission COM(2019) 640 final: The European Green Deal, https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en (last access: 25 February 2022), 2019. 

EC: Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: An EU-wide assessment of National Energy and Climate Plans, Driving forward the green transition and promoting economic recovery through integrated energy and climate planning, https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-register/detail?ref=COM(2020)564&lang=en (last access: 22 February 2022), 2020. 

EC: Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: The Second Clean Air Outlook, https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/453fbba1-519a-11eb-b59f-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-225358842 (last access: 22 February 2022), 2021. 

EEA: Air quality in Europe – 2019 report, European Environment Agency, https://doi.org/10.2800/02825 , 2019a. 

EEA: Contribution of the transport sector to total emissions of the main air pollutants, EEA, https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/daviz/contribution-of-the-transport-sector-6#tab-chart_4 (last access: 22 February 2022), 2019b. 

EEA: Air quality in Europe: 2020 report, European Environmental Agency, Publications Office, https://doi.org/10.2800/602793 , 2020a. 

EEA: European Union emission inventory report 1990–2018 under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP), European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1990–2018, https://doi.org/10.2800/233574 , 2020b. 

EIONET: EIONET Central Data Repository – Data for Germany, European Environment Agency, https://cdr.eionet.europa.eu/de (last access: 22 February 2022), 2019. 

Elessa Etuman, A. and Coll, I.: OLYMPUS v1.0: development of an integrated air pollutant and GHG urban emissions model – methodology and calibration over greater Paris, Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 5085–5111, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-5085-2018 , 2018. 

Elessa Etuman, A., Coll, I., Makni, I., and Benoussaid, T.: Addressing the issue of exposure to primary pollution in urban areas: Application to Greater Paris, Atmos. Environ., 239, 117661, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.117661 , 2020. 

Ellermann, T., Nygaard, J., Nøjgaard, J. K., Nordstrøm, C., Brandt, J., Christensen, J., Ketzel, M., Massling, A., Bossi, R., Frohn, L. M., Geels, C., and Jensen, S. S.: The Danish Air Quality Monitoring Programme. Annual Summary for 2018, Aarhus University, DCE – Danish Centre for Environment and Energy, 83 pp., ISBN: 978-87-7156-293-4, 2018. 

EMEP/EEA: Chapter 7: Spatial mapping of emissions, in: EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook 2019: Technical guidance to prepare national emission inventories, EEA report No 13/2019, https://doi.org/10.2800/293657 , 2019. 

Engemann, K., Svenning, J.-C., Arge, L., Brandt, J., Geels, C., Mortensen, P. B., Plana-Ripoll, O., Tsirogiannis, C., and Pedersen, C. B.: Natural surroundings in childhood are associated with lower schizophrenia rates, Schizophr. Res., 216, 488–495, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2019.10.012 , 2020. 

English, P., Amato, H., Bejarano, E., Carvlin, G., Lugo, H., Jerrett, M., King, G., Madrigal, D., Meltzer, D., Northcross, A., Olmedo, L., Seto, E., Torres, C., Wilkie, A., and Wong, M.: Performance of a Low-Cost Sensor Community Air Monitoring Network in Imperial County, CA, Sensors, 20, 3031, https://doi.org/10.3390/s20113031 , 2020. 

Esau, I., Wolf, T., and Pettersson, L.: High-resolution assessment of urban air quality with a 3D turbulence resolving model (PALM), in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R.S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, 9–13, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

ExternE: ExternE – External Costs of Energy, Universitaet Stuttgart, https://www.ExternE.info (last access: 22 February 2022), 2012. 

Eyring, V., Bony, S., Meehl, G. A., Senior, C. A., Stevens, B., Stouffer, R. J., and Taylor, K. E.: Overview of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) experimental design and organization, Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 1937–1958, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-1937-2016 , 2016. 

Faber, J., Hanayama, S., Zhang, S., Pereda, P., Comer, B., Hauerhof, E., Schim van der Loeff, W., Smith, T., Zhang, Y., Kosaka, H., Adachi, M., Bonello, J., Galbraith, C., Gong, Z., Hirata, K., Hummels, D., Kleijn, A., Lee, D., Liu, Y., Lucchesi, A., Mao, X., Muraoka, E., Osipova, L., Qian, H., Rutherford, D., Suárez de la Fuente, S., Yuan, H., Velandia Perico, C., Wu, L., Sun, D., Yoo, D., and Xing, H.: The Fourth IMO GHG Study, London, UK, 2020. 

Fairburn, J., Schüle, S. A., Dreger, S., Karla Hilz, L., and Bolte, G.: Social Inequalities in Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution: A Systematic Review in the WHO European Region, Int. J. Env. Res. Pub. He., 16, 3127, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16173127 , 2019. 

Falcon-Rodriguez, C. I., Osornio-Vargas, A. R., Sada-Ovalle, I., and Segura-Medina, P.: Aeroparticles, Composition, and Lung Diseases, Front. Immunol., 7, 3, https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2016.00003 , 2016. 

Fallah-Shorshani, M., Shekarrizfard, M., and Hatzopoulou, M.: Integrating a street-canyon model with a regional Gaussian dispersion model for improved characterisation of near-road air pollution, Atmos. Environ., 153, 21–31, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2017.01.006 , 2017. 

Fallmann, J., Forkel, R., and Emeis, S.: Secondary effects of urban heat island mitigation measures on air quality, Atmos. Environ., 125, 199–211, 2016. 

Fameli, K.-M. and Assimakopoulos, V. D.: Residential heating in Athens, Greece: emissions and important parameters, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 27, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Fan, J., Wang, Y., Rosenfeld, D., and Liu, X.: Review of Aerosol–Cloud Interactions: Mechanisms, Significance, and Challenges, J. Atmos. Sci., 73, 4221–4252, 2016. 

Farmer, D. K., Vance, M. E., Abbatt, J. P. D., Abeleira, A., Alves, M. R., Arata, C., Boedicker, E., Bourne, S., Cardoso-Saldaña, F., Corsi, R., DeCarlo, P. F., Goldstein, A. H., Grassian, V. H., Hildebrandt Ruiz, L., Jimenez, J. L., Kahan, T. F., Katz, E. F., Mattila, J. M., Nazaroff, W. W., Novoselac, A., O'Brien, R. E., Or, V. W., Patel, S., Sankhyan, S., Stevens, P. S., Tian, Y., Wade, M., Wang, C., Zhou, S., and Zhou, Y.: Overview of HOMEChem: House Observations of Microbial and Environmental Chemistry, Environ. Sci.-Proc. Imp., 21, 1280–1300, https://doi.org/10.1039/c9em00228f , 2019. 

Feng, L., Yang, T., Wang, D., Wang, Z., Pan, Y., Matsui, I., Chen, Y., Xin, J., and Huang, H.: Identify the contribution of elevated industrial plume to ground air quality by optical and machine learning methods, Environmental Research Communications, 2, 021005, https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ab7634 , 2020. 

Filella, M.: Nanomaterials, in: Comprehensive Sampling and Sample Preparation, Elsevier, 109–124, https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-381373-2.00032-6 , 2012. 

Finardi, S., Radice, P., Cecinato, A., Gariazzo, C., Gherardi, M., and Romagnoli, P.: Seasonal variation of PAHs concentration and source attribution through diagnostic ratios analysis, Urban Climate, 22, 19–34, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2015.12.001 , 2017. 

Finardi, S., Agrillo, G., Baraldi, R., Calori, G., Carlucci, P., Ciccioli, P., D'Allura, A., Gasbarra, D., Gioli, B., Magliulo, V., Radice, P., Toscano, P., and Zaldei, A.: Atmospheric Dynamics and Ozone Cycle during Sea Breeze in a Mediterranean Complex Urbanized Coastal Site, J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 57, 1083–1099, https://doi.org/10.1175/jamc-d-17-0117.1 , 2018. 

Firket, J.: Fog along the Meuse Valley, T. Faraday Soc., 32, 1192–1197, 1936. 

Fisher, K. and Gershuny, J.: Multinational Time Use Study, User's Guide and Documentation – Version 9, Centre for Time Use Research, https://www.timeuse.org/sites/default/files/9727/mtus-user-guide-r9-february-2016.pdf (last access: 25 February 2022), 2016. 

Fisher, B. E. A., Kukkonen, J., and Schatzmann, M.: Meteorology applied to urban air pollution problems COST 715, Int. J. Environ. Pollut., 16, 560–570, https://doi.org/10.1504/IJEP.2001.000650 , 2001. 

Fisher, B., Joffre, S., Kukkonen, J., Piringer, M., Rotach, M., and Schatzmann, M.: Meteorology applied to urban air pollution problems: Final report COST-715 Action, Demetra Ltd. Publ, Bulgaria, 276 pp., ISBN 954-9526-30-5, 2005. 

Fisher, B., Kukkonen, J., Piringer, M., Rotach, M. W., and Schatzmann, M.: Meteorology applied to urban air pollution problems: concepts from COST 715, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 555–564, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-6-555-2006 , 2006. 

Flageul, C., Kim, Y., Ferrand, M., Bresson, R., and Carissimo, B.: Neighborhood scale air quality simulations with street network model and CFD, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 172, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Flemming, J., Inness, A., Flentje, H., Huijnen, V., Moinat, P., Schultz, M. G., and Stein, O.: Coupling global chemistry transport models to ECMWF's integrated forecast system, Geosci. Model Dev., 2, 253–265, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2-253-2009 , 2009. 

Foken, T. (Ed.): Springer Handbook of Atmospheric Measurements, Springer Nature, Springer International Publishing, Cham, Germany, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52171-4 , 2021. 

Folberth, G. A., Butler, T. M., Collins, W. J., and Rumbold, S. T.: Megacities and climate change – A brief overview, Environ. Pollut., 203, 235–242, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2014.09.004 , 2015. 

Förster, J., Schmidt, S., Bartkowski, B., Lienhoop, N., Albert, C., and Wittmer, H.: Incorporating environmental costs of ecosystem service loss in political decision making: A synthesis of monetary values for Germany, PLOS ONE, 14, e0211419, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211419 , 2019. 

Fowler, D., Brimblecombe, P., Burrows, J., Heal, M. R., Grennfelt, P., Stevenson, D. S., Jowett, A., Nemitz, E., Coyle, M., Lui, X., Chang, Y., Fuller, G. W., Sutton, M. A., Klimont, Z., Unsworth, M. H., and Vieno, M.: A chronology of global air quality, Philos. T. Roy. Soc. A, 378, 20190314, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2019.0314 , 2020. 

Franco, V., Kousoulidou, M., Muntean, M., Ntziachristos, L., Hausberger, S., and Dilara, P.: Road vehicle emission factors development: A review, Atmos. Environ., 70, 84–97, 2013. 

Friedrich, R. (Ed.): Natural and Biogenic Emissions of Environmentally Relevant Atmospheric Trace Constituents in Europe, Atmos. Environ., 43, 1377–1486, 2009. 

Friedrich, R.: Integrated Assessment of Policies for Reducing Health Impacts Caused by Air Pollution, in: Environmental Determinants of Human Health, edited by: Pacyna, J. and Pacyna, M., Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, 117–132, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43142-0 , 2016. 

Friedrich, R. and Kuhn, A. (Eds.): Integrated Environmental Health Impact Assessment for Europe – Methods and Results of the HEIMTSA/INTARESE Common Case Study, Universitaet Stuttgart, https://doi.org/10.18419/opus-11913 , 2011. 

Friedrich, R. and Li, N.: Life-long Exposure to PM 2.5 and NO 2 and Resulting Health Effects for Population Subgroups in Europe, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 72, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Frohn, L. M., Ketzel, M., Christensen, J. H., Brandt, J., Im, U., Massling, A., Andersen, C., Plejdrup, M.S., Nielsen, O.-K., Manders, A., and Raaschou-Nielsen, O.: Modelling ultrafine particle number concentrations at address resolution in Denmark from 1979 to 2018 – Part 1: regional and urban scale modelling and evaluation, Atmos. Environ., 264, 118631, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118631 , 2021. 

Fulton, E. A., Boschetti, F., Sporcic, M., Jones, T., Little, L. R., Dambacher, J. M., Gray, R., Scott, R., and Gorton, R.: A multi-model approach to engaging stakeholder and modellers in complex environmental problems, Environ. Sci. Policy, 48, 44–56, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2014.12.006 , 2015. 

Galmarini, S. and Hogrefe, C. (Eds.): Special Issue Section: Evaluating Coupled Models (AQMEII P2), Atmos. Environ., 115, 340–755, https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/atmospheric-environment/vol/115/suppl/C#article-37 (last access: 25 February 2022), 2015. 

Galmarini, S., Bianconi, R., Appel, W., Solazzo, E., Mosca, S., Grossi, P., Moran, M., Schere, K., and Rao, S. T.: ENSEMBLE and AMET: Two systems and approaches to a harmonized, simplified and efficient facility for air quality models development and evaluation, Atmos. Environ., 53, 51–59, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.08.076 , 2012. 

Galmarini, S., Koffi, B., Solazzo, E., Keating, T., Hogrefe, C., Schulz, M., Benedictow, A., Griesfeller, J. J., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Carmichael, G., Fu, J., and Dentener, F.: Technical note: Coordination and harmonization of the multi-scale, multi-model activities HTAP2, AQMEII3, and MICS-Asia3: simulations, emission inventories, boundary conditions, and model output formats, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 1543–1555, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-1543-2017 , 2017. 

Galmarini, S., Kioutsioukis, I., Solazzo, E., Alyuz, U., Balzarini, A., Bellasio, R., Benedictow, A. M. K., Bianconi, R., Bieser, J., Brandt, J., Christensen, J. H., Colette, A., Curci, G., Davila, Y., Dong, X., Flemming, J., Francis, X., Fraser, A., Fu, J., Henze, D. K., Hogrefe, C., Im, U., Garcia Vivanco, M., Jiménez-Guerrero, P., Jonson, J. E., Kitwiroon, N., Manders, A., Mathur, R., Palacios-Peña, L., Pirovano, G., Pozzoli, L., Prank, M., Schultz, M., Sokhi, R. S., Sudo, K., Tuccella, P., Takemura, T., Sekiya, T., and Unal, A.: Two-scale multi-model ensemble: is a hybrid ensemble of opportunity telling us more?, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 8727–8744, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8727-2018 , 2018. 

Gao, D., Godri Pollitt, K. J., Mulholland, J. A., Russell, A. G., and Weber, R. J.: Characterization and comparison of PM 2.5 oxidative potential assessed by two acellular assays, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 5197–5210, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5197-2020 , 2020. 

Gao, Z., Bresson, R., Qu, Y., Milliez, M., Demunck, C., and Carissimo, B.: High resolution unsteady RANS simulation of wind, thermal effects and pollution dispersion for studying urban renewal scenarios in a neighborhood of Toulouse, Urban Climate, 23, 114–130, 2018. 

Gariazzo, C., Carlino, G., Silibello, C., Renzi, M., Finardi, S., Pepe, N., Radice, P., Forastiere, F., Michelozzi, P., Viegi, G., and Stafoggia, M.: A multi-city air pollution population exposure study: Combined use of chemical-transport and random-Forest models with dynamic population data, Sci. Total Environ., 724, 138102, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138102 , 2020. 

GBDS: The Global Burden of Disease Study 2019, The Lancet, 396, 1129–1306, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/vol396no10258/PIIS0140-6736(20)X0042-0#closeFullCover , (last access: 28 February 2022), 2020. 

Geels, C., Andersson, C., Hänninen, O., Lansø, A., Schwarze, P., Skjøth, C., and Brandt, J.: Future Premature Mortality Due to O3, Secondary Inorganic Aerosols and Primary PM in Europe — Sensitivity to Changes in Climate, Anthropogenic Emissions, Population and Building Stock, Int. J. Env. Res. Pub. He., 12, 2837–2869, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120302837 , 2015. 

Geels, C., Winther, M., Andersson, C., Jalkanen, J.-P., Brandt, J., Frohn, L. M., Im, U., Leung, W., and Christensen, J. H.: EPITOME ship emissions: Projections of shipping emissions towards 2050, Version 1, Zenodo [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4322247 , 2020. 

Geels, C., Winther, M., Andersson, C., Jalkanen, J.-P., Brandt, J., Frohn, L. M., Im, U., Leung, W., and Christensen, J. H.: Projections of shipping emissions and the related impact on air pollution and human health in the Nordic region, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12495–12519, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12495-2021 , 2021. 

Gehring, U., Gruzieva, O., Agius, R. M., Beelen, R., Custovic, A., Cyrys, J., Eeftens, M., Flexeder, C., Fuertes, E., Heinrich, J., Hoffmann, B., Jongste, J. C. d., Kerkhof, M., Klümper, C., Korek, M., Mölter, A., Schultz, E. S., Simpson, A., Sugiri, D., Svartengren, M., Berg, A. v., Wijga, A. H., Pershagen, G., and Brunekreef, B.: Air Pollution Exposure and Lung Function in Children: The ESCAPE Project, Environ. Health Persp., 121, 1357–1364, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1306770 , 2013. 

Genc, S., Zadeoglulari, Z., Fuss, S. H., and Genc, K.: The Adverse Effects of Air Pollution on the Nervous System, J. Toxicol., 2012, 782462 , https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/782462 , 2012. 

Genz, C., Schrödner, R., Heinold, B., Henning, S., Baars, H., Spindler, G., and Tegen, I.: Estimation of cloud condensation nuclei number concentrations and comparison to in situ and lidar observations during the HOPE experiments, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 8787–8806, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8787-2020 , 2020. 

Ghorani-Azam, A., Riahi-Zanjani, B., and Balali-Mood M.: Effects of air pollution on human health and practical measures for prevention in Iran, J. Res. Med. Sci., 21, 65, https://doi.org/10.4103/1735-1995.189646 , 2016. 

Gilliam, R. C., Hogrefe, C., Godowitch, J. M., Napelenok, S., Mathur, R., and Rao, S. T.: Impact of inherent meteorology uncertainty on air quality model predictions, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 120, 12259–12280, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015jd023674 , 2015. 

Gioli, B., Gualtieri, G., Busillo, C., Calastrini, F., Zaldei, A., and Toscano, P.: Improving high resolution emission inventories with local proxies and urban eddy covariance flux measurements, Atmos. Environ., 115, 246–256, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.05.068 , 2015. 

Gkatzelis, G. I., Gilman, J. B., Brown, S. S., Eskes, H., Gomes, A. R., Lange, A. C., McDonald, B. C., Peischl, J., Petzold, A., Thompson, C. R., and Kiendler-Scharr, A.: The global impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on urban air pollution: A critical review and recommendations, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 9, 00176, https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2021.00176 , 2021. 

Gohil, K. and Jin, M. S.: Validation and Improvement of the WRF Building Environment Parametrization (BEP) Urban Scheme, Climate, 7, 109, https://doi.org/10.3390/cli7090109 , 2019. 

González-Aparicio, I., Baklanov, A., Hidalgo, J., Korsholm, U., and Nuterman, R.: Impact of city expansion and increased heat fluxes scenarios on the urban boundary layer of Bilbao using Enviro-HIRLAM, Urban Climate, 10, 831–845, 2014. 

Gou, H., Lu, J., Li, S., Tong, Y., Xie, C., and Zheng, X.: Assessment of microbial communities in PM 1 and PM 10 of Urumqi during winter, Environ. Pollut., 214, 202–210, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2016.03.073 , 2016. 

Goulier, L., Paas, B., Ehrnsperger, L., and Klemm, O.: Modelling of Urban Air Pollutant Concentrations with Artificial Neural Networks Using Novel Input Variables, Int. J. Env. Res. Pub. He., 17, 2025, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17062025 , 2020. 

Grange, S. K., Lötscher, H., Fischer, A., Emmenegger, L., and Hueglin, C.: Exploring equivalent black carbon (EBC) concentrations in Switzerland with the aethalometer model, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 17, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Grell, G. A. and Baklanov, A.: Integrated modelling for forecasting weather and air quality: A call for fully coupled approaches, Atmos. Environ., 45, 6845–6851, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.01.017 , 2011. 

Gressent, A., Malherbe, L., Colette, A., Rollin, H., and Scimia, R.: Data fusion for air quality mapping using low-cost sensor observations: Feasibility and added-value, Environ. Int., 143, 105965, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.105965 , 2020. 

Grimmond, S., Bouchet, V., Molina, L. T., Baklanov, A., Tan, J., Schlünzen, K. H., Mills, G., Golding, B., Masson, V., Ren, C., Voogt, J., Miao, S., Lean, H., Heusinkveld, B., Hovespyan, A., Teruggi, G., Parrish, P., and Joe, P.: Integrated urban hydrometeorological, climate and environmental services: Concept, methodology and key messages, Urban Climate, 33, 100623, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2020.100623 , 2020. 

Grythe, H., Lopez-Aparicio, S., Vogt, M., Vo Thanh, D., Hak, C., Halse, A. K., Hamer, P., and Sousa Santos, G.: The MetVed model: development and evaluation of emissions from residential wood combustion at high spatio-temporal resolution in Norway, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 10217–10237, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10217-2019 , 2019. 

Gu, J., Wensing, M., Uhde, E., and Salthammer, T.: Characterization of particulate and gaseous pollutants emitted during operation of a desktop 3D printer, Environ. Int., 123, 476–485, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2018.12.014 , 2019. 

Gu, Q., Michanowicz, D. R., and Jia, C.: Developing a Modular Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Platform for Air Pollution Profiling, Sensors, 18, 4363, https://doi.org/10.3390/s18124363 , 2018. 

Guevara, M., Martínez, F., Arévalo, G., Gassó, S., and Baldasano, J. M.: Improved system for modeling Spanish emissions: HERMESv2.0, Atmos. Environ., 81, 209–221 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2013.08.053 , 2013. 

Guevara, M., Tena, C., Porquet, M., Jorba, O., and Pérez García-Pando, C.: HERMESv3, a stand-alone multi-scale atmospheric emission modelling framework – Part 1: global and regional module, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 1885–1907, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-1885-2019 , 2019. 

Guevara, M., Tena, C., Porquet, M., Jorba, O., and Pérez García-Pando, C.: HERMESv3, a stand-alone multi-scale atmospheric emission modelling framework – Part 2: The bottom–up module, Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 873–903, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-873-2020 , 2020. 

Guevara, M., Jorba, O., Tena, C., Denier van der Gon, H., Kuenen, J., Elguindi, N., Darras, S., Granier, C., and Pérez García-Pando, C.: Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service TEMPOral profiles (CAMS-TEMPO): global and European emission temporal profile maps for atmospheric chemistry modelling, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 367–404, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-367-2021 , 2021. 

Gurney, K. R., Liang, J., Patarasuk, R., O'Keeffe, D., Huang, J., Hutchins, M., Lauvaux, T., Turnbull, J. C., and Shepson, P. B.: Reconciling the differences between a bottom-up and inverse-estimated FFCO 2 emissions estimate in a large US urban area, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 5, 44, https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.137 , 2017. 

Gwaze, P.: Physical and chemical properties of aerosol particles in the troposphere: An approach from microscopy methods, Sierke, Göttingen, 187 pp., http://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0014-89C8-0 (last access: 11 August 2020), 2007. 

Halenka, T., Belda, M., Huszar, P., Karlicky, J., Novakova, T., and Zak, M.: On the comparison of urban canopy effects parameterisation, Int. J. Environ. Pollut., 65, 177–194, https://doi.org/10.1504/IJEP.2019.101840 , 2019. 

Hamer, P. D., Walker, S.-E., Sousa-Santos, G., Vogt, M., Vo-Thanh, D., Lopez-Aparicio, S., Schneider, P., Ramacher, M. O. P., and Karl, M.: The urban dispersion model EPISODE v10.0 – Part 1: An Eulerian and sub-grid-scale air quality model and its application in Nordic winter conditions, Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 4323–4353, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-4323-2020 , 2020. 

Hampel, R., Peters, A., Beelen, R., Brunekreef, B., Cyrys, J., Faire, U. d., Hoogh, K. d., Fuks, K., Hoffmann, B., Hüls, A., Imboden, M., Jedynska, A., Kooter, I., Koenig, W., Künzli, N., Leander, K., Magnusson, P., Männistö, S., Penell, J., Pershagen, G., Phuleria, H., Probst-Hensch, N., Pundt, N., Schaffner, E., Schikowski, T., Sugiri, D., Tiittanen, P., Tsai, M.-Y., Wang, M., Wolf, K., and Lanki, T.: Long-term effects of elemental composition of particulate matter on inflammatory blood markers in European cohorts, Environ. Int., 82, 76–84, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2015.05.008 , 2015. 

Hänninen, O., Lebret, E., Ilacqua, V., Katsouyanni, K., Künzli, N., Sram, R., and Jantunen, M.: Infiltration of ambient PM 2.5 and levels of indoor generated non-ETS PM 2.5 in residences of four European cities, Atmos. Environ., 38, 6411–6423, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2004.07.015 , 2004. 

Hänninen, O., Palonen, J., Tuomisto, J., Yli-Tuomi, T., Seppänen, O., and Jantunen, M. J.: Reduction potential of urban PM 2.5 mortality risk using modern ventilation systems in buildings, Indoor Air, 15, 246–256, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2005.00365.x , 2005. 

Hänninen, O., Knol, A., Jantunen, M., Lim, T., Conrad, A., Rappolder, M., Carrer P., Fanetti, A., Kim, R., Buekers, J., Torfs, R., Iavarone, I., Classen, T., Hornberg, C., and Mekel, O.: Environmental burden of disease in Europe: assessing nine risk factors in six countries, Environ. Health Perspect., 122, 439–446, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1206154 , 2014. 

Hassan, A. M., ELMokadem, A. A., Megahed, N. A., and Abo Eleinen, O. M.: Urban morphology as a passive strategy in promoting outdoor air quality, Journal of Building Engineering, 29, 101204, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2020.101204 , 2020. 

Hausberger, S., Rodler, J., Sturm, P., and Rexeis, M.: Emission factors for heavy-duty vehicles and validation by tunnel measurements, Atmos. Environ., 37, 5237–5245, 2003. 

He, L., Norris, C., Cui, X., Li, Z., Barkjohn, K. K., Brehmer, C., Teng, Y., Fang, L., Lin, L., Wang, Q., Zhou, X., Hong, J., Li, F., Zhang, Y., Schauer, J. J., Black, M., Bergin, M. H., and Zhang, J. J.: Personal Exposure to PM 2.5 Oxidative Potential in Association with Pulmonary Pathophysiologic Outcomes in Children with Asthma, Environ Sci Technol., 55, 3101–3111, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c06114 , 2021. 

Health Effects Institute (HEI): Reanalysis of the Harvard Six Cities Study and the American Cancer Society Study of Particulate Air Pollution and Mortality: A Special Report of the Institute’s Particle Epidemiology Reanalysis Project, Health Effects Institute, Cambridge, MA, https://www.healtheffects.org/system/files/HEI-Reanalysis-2000.pdf (last access: 30 September 2020), 2000. 

Health Effects Institute (HEI): State of Global Air 2020. Special Report on Global Exposure to Air Pollution and its Health Effects, Health Effects Institute, Boston, MA, 2578–6873, 2020. 

Heinold, B., Assmann, D., Käthner, R., Knoth, O., Macke, A., Müller, T., Tõnisson, L., Voigtländer, J., Weger, M., and Wolke, R.: Assessing the spatio-temporal distribution of urban air pollutants – an integrated system based on crowdsourcing with mobile sensors and multi-scale modelling, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 116, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Hellsten, A., Aarnio, M. A., and Hannuniemi, H.: Fast pre-computed large-eddy simulation based dispersion modelling method for hazardous material releases in urban environments – Part 1: the concept, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 73, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Hellsten, A., Ketelsen, K., Sühring, M., Auvinen, M., Maronga, B., Knigge, C., Barmpas, F., Tsegas, G., Moussiopoulos, N., and Raasch, S.: A nested multi-scale system implemented in the large-eddy simulation model PALM model system 6.0, Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 3185–3214, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-3185-2021 , 2021. 

Hendriks, C.: Ammonia emission time profiles based on manure transport data improve ammonia modelling across north western Europe, Elsevier Ltd., 2016. 

Henne, S., Brunner, D., Oney, B., Leuenberger, M., Eugster, W., Bamberger, I., Meinhardt, F., Steinbacher, M., and Emmenegger, L.: Validation of the Swiss methane emission inventory by atmospheric observations and inverse modelling, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 3683–3710, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3683-2016 , 2016. 

Héroux, M. E., Anderson, H. R., Atkinson, R., Brunekreef, B., Cohen, A., Forastiere, F., Hurley, F., Katsouyanni, K., Krewski, D., Krzyzanowski, M., Kunzli, N., Mills, I., Querol, X., Ostro, B., and Walton, H.: Quantifying the health impacts of ambient air pollutants: recommendations of a WHO/Europe project, Int. J. Public Health, 60, 619–627, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-015-0690-y , 2015. 

Hidalgo, J., Masson, V., Baklanov, A., Pigeon, G., and Gimeno, L.: Advances in Urban Climate Modeling, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 1146, 354–374, https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1446.015 , 2008. 

Hime, N., Marks, G., and Cowie, C.: A Comparison of the Health Effects of Ambient Particulate Matter Air Pollution from Five Emission Sources, Int. J. Env. Res. Pub. He., 15, 1206, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15061206 , 2018. 

Hirtl, M., Arnold, D., Briese, C., Figuera, R. M., Flandorfer, C., Haselsteiner, M., Humer, H., Maurer, C., Natali, S., Ng, T., Placho, T., Santillan, D., Scherllin-Pirscher, B., Skarbal, B., Triebnig, G., and Uhrner, U.: Innovative applications for the augmented use of satellite observations to support air quality management, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 9, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb , 2020. 

Hoek, G., Krishnan, R. M., Beelen, R., Peters, A., Ostro, B., Brunekreef, B., and Kaufman, J. D.: Long-term air pollution exposure and cardio-respiratory mortality: a review, Environ. Health, 12, 43, https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069x-12-43 , 2013. 

Hoesly, R. M., Smith, S. J., Feng, L., Klimont, Z., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Pitkanen, T., Seibert, J. J., Vu, L., Andres, R. J., Bolt, R. M., Bond, T. C., Dawidowski, L., Kholod, N., Kurokawa, J.-I., Li, M., Liu, L., Lu, Z., Moura, M. C. P., O'Rourke, P. R., and Zhang, Q.: Historical (1750–2014) anthropogenic emissions of reactive gases and aerosols from the Community Emissions Data System (CEDS), Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 369–408, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-369-2018 , 2018. 

Hoffmann, B., Weinmayr, G., Hennig, F., Fuks, K., Moebus, S., Weimar, C., Dragano, N., Hermann, D. M., Kälsch, H., Mahabadi, A. A., Erbel, R., and Jöckel, K.-H.: Air Quality, Stroke, and Coronary Events, Dtsch. Arztebl. Online, 112, 195–201, https://doi.org/10.3238/arztebl.2015.0195 , 2015. 

Hood, C., MacKenzie, I., Stocker, J., Johnson, K., Carruthers, D., Vieno, M., and Doherty, R.: Air quality simulations for London using a coupled regional-to-local modelling system, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11221–11245, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11221-2018 , 2018. 

Hopke, P. K.: Review of receptor modeling methods for source apportionment, J. Air Waste Manage., 66, 237–259, https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2016.1140693 , 2016. 

Horne, B. D., Joy, E. A., Hofmann, M. G., Gesteland, P. H., Cannon, J. B., Lefler, J. S., Blagev, D. P., Korgenski, E. K., Torosyan, N., Hansen, G. I., Kartchner, D., and Pope, C. A.: Short-Term Elevation of Fine Particulate Matter Air Pollution and Acute Lower Respiratory Infection, Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care, 198, 759–766, https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.201709-1883OC , 2018. 

Host, S., Honoré, C., Joly, F., Saunal, A., Le Tertre, A., and Medina, S.: Implementation of various hypothetical low emission zone scenarios in Greater Paris: Assessment of fine-scale reduction in exposure and expected health benefits, Environ. Res., 185, 109405, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109405 , 2020. 

Hu, J., Li, X., Huang, L., Ying, Q., Zhang, Q., Zhao, B., Wang, S., and Zhang, H.: Ensemble prediction of air quality using the WRF/CMAQ model system for health effect studies in China, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 13103–13118, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-13103-2017 , 2017. 

Hu, T., Singer, B. C., and Logue, J. M.: Compilation of Published PM 2.5 Emission Rates for Cooking, Candles and Incense for Use in Modeling of Exposures in Residences, Tech. report, United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Science, Washington, D.C., 29 pp., https://doi.org/10.2172/1172959 , 2012. 

Huang, G.: Integrated assessment of atmospheric environmental management in China, dissertation, University of Stuttgart, https://doi.org/10.18419/opus-9852 , 2018. 

Huang, G., Schmid, D., Friedrich, R., Vogt, U., Mahami, G., Struschka, M., and Juschka, W.: Ganzheitliche Bewertung von Holzheizungen, https://doi.org/10.18419/opus-11108 , 2016. 

Huang, G., Brook, R., Crippa, M., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Schieberle, C., Dore, C., Guizzardi, D., Muntean, M., Schaaf, E., and Friedrich, R.: Speciation of anthropogenic emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds: a global gridded data set for 1970–2012, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 7683–7701, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7683-2017 , 2017. 

Huang, M., Gao, Z., Miao, S., and Chen, F.: Sensitivity of urban boundary layer simulation to urban canopy models and PBL schemes in Beijing, Meteorol. Atmos. Phys., 131, 1235–1248, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-018-0634-1 , 2019. 

Huszár, P., Belda, M., Karlický, J., Pišoft, P., and Halenka, T.: The regional impact of urban emissions on climate over central Europe: present and future emission perspectives, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 12993–13013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12993-2016 , 2016. 

Huszar, P., Belda, M., Karlický, J., Bardachova, T., Halenka, T., and Pisoft, P.: Impact of urban canopy meteorological forcing on aerosol concentrations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 14059–14078, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14059-2018 , 2018. 

Huszar, P., Karlický, J., Ďoubalová, J., Nováková, T., Šindelářová, K., Švábik, F., Belda, M., Halenka, T., and Žák, M.: The impact of urban land-surface on extreme air pollution over central Europe, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11655–11681, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11655-2020 , 2020. 

Hvidtfeldt, U. A., Geels, C., Sørensen, M., Ketzel, M., Khan, J., Tjønneland, A., Christensen, J. H., Brandt, J., and Raaschou-Nielsen, O.: Long-term residential exposure to PM 2.5 constituents and mortality in a Danish cohort, Environ. Int., 133, 105268, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.105268 , 2019a. 

Hvidtfeldt, U. A., Sørensen, M., Geels, C., Ketzel, M., Khan, J., Tjønneland, A., Overvad, K., Brandt, J., and Raaschou-Nielsen, O.: Long-term residential exposure to PM 2.5 , PM 10 , black carbon, NO 2 , and ozone and mortality in a Danish cohort, Environ. Int., 123, 265–272, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2018.12.010 , 2019b. 

Im, U., Bianconi, R., Solazzo, E., Kioutsioukis, I., Badia, A., Balzarini, A., Baró, R., Bellasio, R., Brunner, D., Chemel, C., Curci, G., Denier van der Gon, H., Flemming, J., Forkel, R., Giordano, L., Jiménez-Guerrero, P., Hirtl, M., Hodzic, A., Honzak, L., Jorba, O., Knote, C., Makar, P. A, Manders-Groot, A., Neal, L., Pérez, J. L., Pirovano, G., Pouliot, G., San Jose, R., Savage, N., Schroder, W., Sokhi, R S., Syrakov, D., Torian, A., Tuccella, P., Wang, K., Werhahn, J., Wolke, R., Zabkar, R., Zhang, Y., Zhang, J., Hogrefe, C., and Galmarini, S.: Evaluation of operational online coupled regional air quality models over Europe and North America in the context of AQMEII phase 2, Part II: particulate matter, Atmos. Environ., 115, 421–441, 2015a. 

Im, U., Bianconi, R., Solazzo, E., Kioutsioukis, I., Badia, A., Balzarini, A., Baró, R., Bellasio, R., Brunner, D., Chemel, C., Curci, G., Flemming, J., Forkel, R., Giordano, L., Jiménez-Guerrero, P., Hirtl, M., Hodzic, A., Honzak, L., Jorba, O., Knote, C., Kuenen, J. J. P., Makar, P. A., Manders-Groot, A., Neal, L., Pérez, J. L., Pirovano, G., Pouliot, G., San Jose, R., Savage, N., Schroder, W., Sokhi, R. S., Syrakov, D., Torian, A., Tuccella, P., Werhahn, J., Wolke, R., Yahya, K., Zabkar, R., Zhang, Y., Zhang, J., Hogrefe, C., and Galmarini, S.: Evaluation of operational online-coupled regional air quality models over Europe and North America in the context of AQMEII phase 2, Part I: Ozone, Atmos. Environ., 115, 404–420, 2015b. 

Im, U., Brandt, J., Geels, C., Hansen, K. M., Christensen, J. H., Andersen, M. S., Solazzo, E., Kioutsioukis, I., Alyuz, U., Balzarini, A., Baro, R., Bellasio, R., Bianconi, R., Bieser, J., Colette, A., Curci, G., Farrow, A., Flemming, J., Fraser, A., Jimenez-Guerrero, P., Kitwiroon, N., Liang, C.-K., Nopmongcol, U., Pirovano, G., Pozzoli, L., Prank, M., Rose, R., Sokhi, R., Tuccella, P., Unal, A., Vivanco, M. G., West, J., Yarwood, G., Hogrefe, C., and Galmarini, S.: Assessment and economic valuation of air pollution impacts on human health over Europe and the United States as calculated by a multi-model ensemble in the framework of AQMEII3, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 5967–5989, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5967-2018 , 2018. 

Im, U., Christensen, J. H., Nielsen, O.-K., Sand, M., Makkonen, R., Geels, C., Anderson, C., Kukkonen, J., Lopez-Aparicio, S., and Brandt, J.: Contributions of Nordic anthropogenic emissions on air pollution and premature mortality over the Nordic region and the Arctic, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 12975–12992, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12975-2019 , 2019. 

IMO: Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships, International Maritime Organization, https://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Environment/Pages/Air-Pollution.aspx (last access: 22 February 2022), 2019. 

IMO: IMO's work to cut GHG emissions from ships, International Maritime Organisation, https://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/HotTopics/Pages/Cutting-GHG-emissions.aspx (last access: 25 February 2022), 2021. 

Inness, A., Ades, M., Agustí-Panareda, A., Barré, J., Benedictow, A., Blechschmidt, A.-M., Dominguez, J. J., Engelen, R., Eskes, H., Flemming, J., Huijnen, V., Jones, L., Kipling, Z., Massart, S., Parrington, M., Peuch, V.-H., Razinger, M., Remy, S., Schulz, M., and Suttie, M.: The CAMS reanalysis of atmospheric composition, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 3515–3556, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-3515-2019 , 2019. 

IOM (Institute of Medicine): Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, https://doi.org/10.17226/13209 , 2011. 

IPCC: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 151 pp., 2014. 

IPCC: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, edited be: Masson-Delmotte, V., Zhai, P., Pirani, A., Connors, S. L., Péan, C., Berger, S., Caud, N., Chen, Y., Goldfarb, L., Gomis, M. I., Huang, M., Leitzell, K., Lonnoy, E., Matthews, J. B. R., Maycock, T. K., Waterfield, T., Yelekçi, O., Yu, R., and Zhou, B., Cambridge University Press, https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/#FullReport (last access: 28 February 2022. 

Jalkanen, J.-P., Brink, A., Kalli, J., Pettersson, H., Kukkonen, J., and Stipa, T.: A modelling system for the exhaust emissions of marine traffic and its application in the Baltic Sea area, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 9209–9223, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-9-9209-2009 , 2009. 

Jalkanen, J.-P., Johansson, L., Kukkonen, J., Brink, A., Kalli, J., and Stipa, T.: Extension of an assessment model of ship traffic exhaust emissions for particulate matter and carbon monoxide, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 2641–2659, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-2641-2012 , 2012. 

Jalkanen, J.-P., Johansson, L., and Kukkonen, J.: A comprehensive inventory of ship traffic exhaust emissions in the European sea areas in 2011, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 71–84, 2016. 

Jeanjean, A. P. R., Buccolieri, R., Eddy, J., Monks, P. S., and Leigh, R. J.: Air quality affected by trees in real street canyons: The case of Marylebone neighbourhood in central London, Urban For. Urban Gree., 22, 41–53, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2017.01.009 , 2017. 

Jensen, S. S., Ketzel, M., Becker, T., Christensen, J., Brandt, J., Plejdrup, M., Winther, M., Nielsen, O. K., Hertel, O., and Ellermann, T.: High resolution multi-scale air quality modelling for all streets in Denmark, Transport. Res. D-Tr. E., 52, 322–339, 2017. 

Jesus, A. L. d., Rahman, M. M., Mazaheri, M., Thompson, H., Knibbs, L. D., Jeong, C., Evans, G., Nei, W., Ding, A., Qiao, L., Li, L., Portin, H., Niemi, J. V., Timonen, H., Luoma, K., Petäjä, T., Kulmala, M., Kowalski, M., Peters, A., Cyrys, J., Ferrero, L., Manigrasso, M., Avino, P., Buonano, G., Reche, C., Querol, X., Beddows, D., Harrison, R. M., Sowlat, M. H., Sioutas, C., and Morawska, L.: Ultrafine particles and PM 2.5 in the air of cities around the world: Are they representative of each other?, Environ. Int., 129, 118–135, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.05.021 , 2019. 

Johansson, L., Jalkanen, J.-P., Kalli, J., and Kukkonen, J.: The evolution of shipping emissions and the costs of regulation changes in the northern EU area, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 11375-11389, 2013. 

Johansson, L., Epitropou, V., Karatzas, K., Karppinen, A., Wanner, L., Vrochidis, S., Bassoukos, A., Kukkonen, J., and Kompatsiaris, I.: Fusion of meteorological and air quality data extracted from the web for personalized environmental information services, Environmental Modelling & Software 64, 143-155, 2015. 

Johansson, L., Jalkanen, J.-P., and Kukkonen, J.: Global assessment of shipping emissions in 2015 on a high spatial and temporal resolution., Atmos. Environ., 167, 403–415, 2017. 

Jones, L., Vieno, M., Fitch, A., Carnell, E., Steadman, C., Cryle, P., Holland, M., Nemitz, E., Morton, D., Hall, J., Mills, G., Dickie, I., and Reis, S.: Urban natural capital accounts: developing a novel approach to quantify air pollution removal by vegetation, Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, 8, 413–428, https://doi.org/10.1080/21606544.2019.1597772 , 2019. 

Jonson, J. E., Jalkanen, J. P., Johansson, L., Gauss, M., and Denier van der Gon, H. A. C.: Model calculations of the effects of present and future emissions of air pollutants from shipping in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 783–798, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-783-2015 , 2015. 

Just, A. C., Arfer, K. B., Rush, J., Dorman, M., Shtein, A., Lyapustin, A., and Kloog, I.: Advancing methodologies for applying machine learning and evaluating spatiotemporal models of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) using satellite data over large regions, Atmos. Environ., 239, 117649, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.117649 , 2020. 

Kalisa, E., Archer, S., Nagato, E., Bizuru, E., Lee, K., Tang, N., Pointing, S., Hayakawa, K., and Lacap-Bugler, D.: Chemical and Biological Components of Urban Aerosols in Africa: Current Status and Knowledge Gaps, Int. J. Env. Res. Pub. He., 16, 941, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16060941 , 2019. 

Karagulian, F., Barbiere, M., Kotsev, A., Spinelle, L., Gerboles, M., Lagler, F., Redon, N., Crunaire, S., and Borowiak, A.: Review of the Performance of Low-Cost Sensors for Air Quality Monitoring, Atmosphere, 10, 506, https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10090506 , 2019. 

Karakitsios, S., Busker, R., Tjärnhage, T., Armand, P., Dybwad, M., Nielsen, M. F., Burman, J., Burke, J., Brinek, J., Bartzis, J., Maggos, T., Theocharidou, M., Gattinesi, P., Giannopoulos, G., and Sarigiannis, D.: Challenges on detection, identification and monitoring of indoor airborne chemical-biological agents, Safety Sci., 129, 104789, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104789 , 2020. 

Karl, M., Jonson, J. E., Uppstu, A., Aulinger, A., Prank, M., Sofiev, M., Jalkanen, J.-P., Johansson, L., Quante, M., and Matthias, V.: Effects of ship emissions on air quality in the Baltic Sea region simulated with three different chemistry transport models, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 7019–7053, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-7019-2019 , 2019a. 

Karl, M., Walker, S.-E., Solberg, S., and Ramacher, M. O. P.: The Eulerian urban dispersion model EPISODE – Part 2: Extensions to the source dispersion and photochemistry for EPISODE–CityChem v1.2 and its application to the city of Hamburg, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 3357–3399, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-3357-2019 , 2019b. 

Karl, M., Bieser, J., Geyer, B., Matthias, V., Jalkanen, J.-P., Johansson, L., and Fridell, E.: Impact of a nitrogen emission control area (NECA) on the future air quality and nitrogen deposition to seawater in the Baltic Sea region, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 1721–1752, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-1721-2019 , 2019c 

Karl, M., Pirjola, L., Karppinen, A., Jalkanen, J.-P., Ramacher, M. O. P., and Kukkonen, J.: Modeling of the Concentrations of Ultrafine Particles in the Plumes of Ships in the Vicinity of Major Harbors, Int. J. Env. Res. Pub. He., 17, 777, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17030777 , 2020. 

Karttunen, S., Kurppa, M., Auvinen, M., Hellsten, A., and Järvi, L.: Large-eddy simulation of the optimal street-tree layout for pedestrian-level aerosol particle concentrations – A case study from a city-boulevard, Atmos. Environ. X, 6, 100073, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2020.100073 , 2020. 

Katsouyanni, K., Samet, J. M., Anderson, H. R., Atkinson, R., Le Tertre, A., Medina, S., Samoli, E., Touloumi, G., Burnett, R. T., Krewski, D., Ramsay, T., Dominici, F., Peng, R. D., Schwartz, J., and Zanobetti, A.: Air pollution and health: a European and North American approach (APHENA), Research report (Health Effects Institute), 5–90, 2009. 

Keiser, D. and Muller, A.: Air and Water: Integrated Assessment Models for Multiple Media, Annu. Rev. Resour. Econ., 9, 165–184, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-100516-053501 , 2017. 

Kermenidou, M., Hondrogiorgis, C., Karakitsios, S., and Sarigiannis, D.: Source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in aerosols and study of their effect in human health: a comparison between the warm and the cold season of the year, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 19, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Ketzel, M., Frohn, L. M., Christensen, J. H., Brandt, J., Massling, A., Andersen, C., Im, U., Jensen, S. S., Khan, J., Nielsen, O.-K., Plejdrup, M. S., Manders, A., van der Gon, H. D., Kumar, P., and Raaschou-Nielsen, O.: Modelling ultrafine particle number concentrations at address resolution in Denmark from 1979 to 2018 – Part 2: Local and street scale modelling and evaluation, Atmos. Environ., 264, 118633, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118633 , 2021. 

Khan, A., Plana-Ripoll, O., Antonsen, S., Brandt, J., Geels, C., Landecker, H., Sullivan, P. F., Pedersen, C. B., and Rzhetsky, A.: Environmental pollution is associated with increased risk of psychiatric disorders in the US and Denmark, PLOS Biol., 17, e3000353, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000353 , 2019a. 

Khan, J., Kakosimos, K., Raaschou-Nielsen, O., Brandt, J., Jensen, S. S., Ellermann, T., and Ketzel, M.: Development and performance evaluation of new AirGIS – A GIS based air pollution and human exposure modelling system, Atmos. Environ., 198, 102–121, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2018.10.036 , 2019b. 

Khan, B., Banzhaf, S., Chan, E. C., Forkel, R., Kanani-Sühring, F., Ketelsen, K., Kurppa, M., Maronga, B., Mauder, M., Raasch, S., Russo, E., Schaap, M., and Sühring, M.: Development of an atmospheric chemistry model coupled to the PALM model system 6.0: implementation and first applications, Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 1171–1193, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-1171-2021 , 2021. 

Kim, J., Jeong, U., Ahn, M.-H., Kim, J. H., Park, R. J., Lee, H., Song, C. H., Choi, Y.-S., Lee, K.-H., Yoo, J.-M., Jeong, M.-J., Park, S. K., Lee, K.-M., Song, C.-K., Kim, S.-W., Kim, Y. J., Kim, S.-W., Kim, M., Go, S., Liu, X., Chance, K., Chan Miller, C., Al-Saadi, J., Veihelmann, B., Bhartia, P. K., Torres, O., Abad, G. G., Haffner, D. P., Ko, D. H., Lee, S. H., Woo, J.-H., Chong, H., Park, S. S., Nicks, D., Choi, W. J., Moon, K.-J., Cho, A., Yoon, J., Kim, S.-k., Hong, H., Lee, K., Lee, H., Lee, S., Choi, M., Veefkind, P., Levelt, P. F., Edwards, D. P., Kang, M., Eo, M., Bak, J., Baek, K., Kwon, H.-A., Yang, J., Park, J., Han, K. M., Kim, B.-R., Shin, H.-W., Choi, H., Lee, E., Chong, J., Cha, Y., Koo, J.-H., Irie, H., Hayashida, S., Kasai, Y., Kanaya, Y., Liu, C., Lin, J., Crawford, J. H., Carmichael, G. R., Newchurch, M. J., Lefer, B. L., Herman, J. R., Swap, R. J., Lau, A. K. H., Kurosu, T. P., Jaross, G., Ahlers, B., Dobber, M., McElroy, C. T., and Choi, Y.: New Era of Air Quality Monitoring from Space: Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS), B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 101, E1–E22, https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-18-0013.1 , 2020. 

Kim, Y., Wu, Y., Seigneur, C., and Roustan, Y.: Multi-scale modeling of urban air pollution: development and application of a Street-in-Grid model (v1.0) by coupling MUNICH (v1.0) and Polair3D (v1.8.1), Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 611–629, 2018. 

Kioutsioukis, I., Im, U., Solazzo, E., Bianconi, R., Badia, A., Balzarini, A., Baró, R., Bellasio, R., Brunner, D., Chemel, C., Curci, G., van der Gon, H. D., Flemming, J., Forkel, R., Giordano, L., Jiménez-Guerrero, P., Hirtl, M., Jorba, O., Manders-Groot, A., Neal, L., Pérez, J. L., Pirovano, G., San Jose, R., Savage, N., Schroder, W., Sokhi, R. S., Syrakov, D., Tuccella, P., Werhahn, J., Wolke, R., Hogrefe, C., and Galmarini, S.: Insights into the deterministic skill of air quality ensembles from the analysis of AQMEII data, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 15629–15652, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-15629-2016 , 2016. 

Klein, T., Kukkonen, J., Dahl, A., Bossioli, E., Baklanov, A., Vik, A. F., Agnew, P., Karatzas, K. D., and Sofiev, M.: Interactions of physical, chemical, and biological weather calling for an integrated approach to assessment, forecasting, and communication of air quality, Ambio, 41, 851–864, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-012-0288-z , 2012. 

Klimont, Z.: Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS), IIASA, https://iiasa.ac.at/models-and-data/greenhouse-gas-and-air-pollution-interactions-and-synergies (last access 25 February 2022), 2021. 

Kong, X., Forkel, R., Sokhi, R. S., Suppan, P., Baklanov, A., Gauss, M., Brunner, D., Baro, R., Balzarini, A., Chemel, C., Curci, G., Jimenez-Guerrero, P., Hirtl, M., Honzak, L., Im, U., Perez, J. L., Pirovano, G., San Jose, R., Schlünzen, K. H., Tsegas, G., Tuccella, P., Werhahn, J., Zabkar, R., and Galmarini, S.: Analysis of meteorology-chemistry interactions during air pollution episodes using online coupled models within AQMEII phase-2, Atmos. Environ., 115, 527-540, 2015. 

Korkmaz, P., Cunha Montenegro, R., Schmid, D., Blesl, M., and Fahl, U.: On the Way to a Sustainable European Energy System: Setting Up an Integrated Assessment Toolbox with TIMES PanEU as the Key Component, Energies, 13, 707, https://doi.org/10.3390/en13030707 , 2020. 

Kousa, A., Kukkonen, J., Karppinen, A., Aarnio, P., and Koskentalo, T.: A model for evaluating the population exposure to ambient air pollution in an urban area, Atmos. Environ., 36, 2109–2119, https://doi.org/10.1016/s1352-2310(02)00228-5 , 2002. 

Koutsourakis, N., Bartzis, J. G., and Venetsanos, A.: Determination of optimum positioning of atmospheric pollutant measuring instruments using computational fluid dynamics, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis I., Hatfield, UK, p. 72, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.2221729 645–655, 2020. 

Kramshøj, M., Vedel-Petersen, I., Schollert, M., Rinnan, Å., Nymand, J., Ro-Poulsen, H., and Rinnan, R.: Large increases in Arctic biogenic volatile emissions are a direct effect of warming, Nat. Geosci., 9, 349–352, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2692 , 2016. 

Kristensen, K., Lunderberg, D. M., Liu, Y., Misztal, P. K., Tian, Y., Arata, C., Nazaroff, W. W., and Goldstein, A. H.: Sources and dynamics of semivolatile organic compounds in a single-family residence in northern California, Indoor Air, 29, 645–655, https://doi.org/10.1111/ina.12561 , 2019. 

Kristovich, D. A. R., Takle, E., Young, G. S., and Sharma, A.: 100 Years of Progress in Mesoscale Planetary Boundary Layer Meteorological Research, Meteor. Mon., 59, 19.1–19.41, https://doi.org/10.1175/amsmonographs-d-18-0023.1 , 2019. 

Kuik, O. J., Brander, L., and Tol, R. S. J.: Marginal abatement costs of greenhouse gas emissions: A meta-analysis, Energ. Policy, 37, 1395–1403, 2009. 

Kukkonen, J., Partanen, L., Karppinen, A., Ruuskanen, J., Junninen, H., Kolehmainen, M., Niska, H., Dorling, S., Chatterton, T., Foxall, R., and Cawley, G.: Extensive evaluation of neural network models for the prediction of NO 2 and PM 10 concentrations, compared with a deterministic modelling system and measurements in central Helsinki, Atmos. Environ., 37, 4539–4550, 2003. 

Kukkonen, J., Pohjola, M., Sokhi, R. S., Luhana, L., Kitwiroon, N., Rantamäki, M., Berge, E., Odegaard, V., Slørdal, L. H., Denby, B., and Finardi, S.: Analysis and evaluation of selected local-scale PM10 air pollution episodes in four European cities: Helsinki, London, Milan and Oslo, Atmos. Environ., 39, 2759–2773, 2005a. 

Kukkonen, J., Sokhi, R., Slordal, L. H., Finardi, S., Fay, B., Millan, M., Salvador, R., Palau, J. L., Rasmussen, A., Schayes, G., and Berge, E.: Analysis and evaluation of European air pollution episodes, in: Meteorology applied to urban air pollution problems, Final report COST Action 715, edited by: Fisher, B., Joffre, S., Kukkonen, J., Piringer, M., Rotach, M., and Schatzmann, M., Demetra Ltd Publishers, Bulgaria, 99–114, 2005b. 

Kukkonen, J., Olsson, T., Schultz, D. M., Baklanov, A., Klein, T., Miranda, A. I., Monteiro, A., Hirtl, M., Tarvainen, V., Boy, M., Peuch, V.-H., Poupkou, A., Kioutsioukis, I., Finardi, S., Sofiev, M., Sokhi, R., Lehtinen, K. E. J., Karatzas, K., San José, R., Astitha, M., Kallos, G., Schaap, M., Reimer, E., Jakobs, H., and Eben, K.: A review of operational, regional-scale, chemical weather forecasting models in Europe, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 1–87, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-1-2012 , 2012. 

Kukkonen, J., Karl, M., Keuken, M. P., Denier van der Gon, H. A. C., Denby, B. R., Singh, V., Douros, J., Manders, A., Samaras, Z., Moussiopoulos, N., Jonkers, S., Aarnio, M., Karppinen, A., Kangas, L., Lützenkirchen, S., Petäjä, T., Vouitsis, I., and Sokhi, R. S.: Modelling the dispersion of particle numbers in five European cities, Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 451–478, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-451-2016 , 2016a. 

Kukkonen, J., Singh, V., Sokhi, R. S., Soares, J., Kousa, A., Matilainen, L., Kangas, L., Kauhaniemi, M., Riikonen, K., Jalkanen, J.-P., Rasila, T., Hänninen, O., Koskentalo, T., Aarnio, M., Hendriks, C., and Karppinen, A.: Assessment of Population Exposure to Particulate Matter for London and Helsinki, in: Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XXIV, edited by: Steyn, D. G. and Chaumerliac, N., Springer Proceedings in Complexity, Springer International Publishing, Cham, 99–105, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24478-5_16 , 2016b. 

Kukkonen, J., Kangas, L., Kauhaniemi, M., Sofiev, M., Aarnio, M., Jaakkola, J. J. K., Kousa, A., and Karppinen, A.: Modelling of the urban concentrations of PM 2.5 on a high resolution for a period of 35 years, for the assessment of lifetime exposure and health effects, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 8041–8064, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8041-2018 , 2018. 

Kukkonen, J., Fridell, E., Moldanova, J., Jalkanen, J.-P., Maragkidou, A., Sofiev, M., Ntziachristos, L., Borken-Kleefeld, J., Sokhi, R. S., Zervakis, V., Hassellöv, I.-M., Ytreberg, E., Williams, I., Hole, L. R., Petrovic, M., Maragkidou, S., Ktoris, A., and Monteiro, A.: Environmental impacts of shipping: from global to local scales, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 161, https://doi.org/10.18745/PB.22217 , 2020a. 

Kukkonen, J., López-Aparicio, S., Segersson, D., Geels, C., Kangas, L., Kauhaniemi, M., Maragkidou, A., Jensen, A., Assmuth, T., Karppinen, A., Sofiev, M., Hellén, H., Riikonen, K., Nikmo, J., Kousa, A., Niemi, J. V., Karvosenoja, N., Santos, G. S., Sundvor, I., Im, U., Christensen, J. H., Nielsen, O.-K., Plejdrup, M. S., Nøjgaard, J. K., Omstedt, G., Andersson, C., Forsberg, B., and Brandt, J.: The influence of residential wood combustion on the concentrations of PM 2.5 in four Nordic cities, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 4333–4365, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4333-2020 , 2020b. 

Kukkonen, J., Savolahti, M., Palamarchuk, Y., Lanki, T., Nurmi, V., Paunu, V.-V., Kangas, L., Sofiev, M., Karppinen, A., Maragkidou, A., Tiittanen, P., and Karvosenoja, N.: Modelling of the public health costs of fine particulate matter and results for Finland in 2015, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 9371–9391, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9371-2020 , 2020c. 

Kumar, P., Morawska, L., Birmili, W., Paasonen, P., Hu, M., Kulmala, M., Harrison, R. M., Norford, L., and Britter, R.: Ultrafine particles in cities, Environ. Int., 66, 1–10, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2014.01.013 , 2014. 

Kurppa, M., Hellsten, A., Auvinen, M., Raasch, S., Vesala, T., and Järvi, L.: Ventilation and Air Quality in City Blocks Using Large-Eddy Simulation–Urban Planning Perspective, Atmosphere 9, 65, https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9020065 , 2018. 

Kurppa, M., Hellsten, A., Roldin, P., Kokkola, H., Tonttila, J., Auvinen, M., Kent, C., Kumar, P., Maronga, B., and Järvi, L.: Implementation of the sectional aerosol module SALSA2.0 into the PALM model system 6.0: model development and first evaluation, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 1403–1422, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-1403-2019 , 2019. 

Kurppa, M., Roldin, P., Strömberg, J., Balling, A., Karttunen, S., Kuuluvainen, H., Niemi, J. V., Pirjola, L., Rönkkö, T., Timonen, H., Hellsten, A., and Järvi, L.: Sensitivity of spatial aerosol particle distributions to the boundary conditions in the PALM model system 6.0, Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 5663–5685, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-5663-2020 , 2020. 

Lehtomäki, H., Geels, C., Brandt, J., Rao, S., Yaramenka, K., Åström, S., Andersen, M. S., Frohn, L. M., Im, U., and Hänninen, O.: Deaths Attributable to Air Pollution in Nordic Countries: Disparities in the Estimates, Atmosphere, 11, 467, https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11050467 , 2020. 

Lejri, D., Can, A., Schiper, N., and Leclercq, L.: Accounting for traffic speed dynamics when calculating COPERT and PHEM pollutant emissions at the urban scale, Transport. Res. D-Tr. E., 63, 588–603, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2018.06.023 , 2018. 

Lelieveld, J., Klingmüller, K., Pozzer, A., Pöschl, U., Fnais, M., Daiber, A., and Münzel, T.: Cardiovascular disease burden from ambient air pollution in Europe reassessed using novel hazard ratio functions, Eur. Heart J., 40, 1590–1596, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehz135 , 2019. 

Lepeule, J., Litonjua, A. A., Gasparrini, A., Koutrakis, P., Sparrow, D., Vokonas, P. S., and Schwartz, J.: Lung function association with outdoor temperature and relative humidity and its interaction with air pollution in the elderly, Environ. Res., 165, 110–117, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2018.03.039 , 2018. 

Letheren, B.: Air Quality Monitoring using Aircraft, Satellite or UAVs, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, https://doi.org/10.13140/rg.2.1.2455.2720 , 2016. 

Lewis, A., Zellweger, C., Schultz, M. G., and Tarasova, O. A.: Technical advice note on lower cost air pollution sensors,, World Meteorological Organization, Global Atmospheric Watch, WMOGeneva, Switzerland, 4 pp., 2017. 

Lewis, A., von Schneidemesser, E., and Peltier, R. E.: Low-cost sensors for the measurement of atmospheric composition: overview of topic and future applications, WMO-No. 1215, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 46 pp., 2018. 

Li, J., Sun, S., Tang, R., Qiu, H., Huang, Q., Mason, T., and Tian, L.: Major air pollutants and risk of COPD exacerbations: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Int. J. Chronic Obstr., 11, 3079–3091, https://doi.org/10.2147/copd.S122282 , 2016. 

Li, J., Woodward, A., Hou, X.-Y., Zhu, T., Zhang, J., Brown, H., Yang, J., Qin, R., Gao, J., Gu, S., Xu, L., Liu, X., and Liu, Q.: Modification of the effects of air pollutants on mortality by temperature: A systematic review and meta-analysis, Sci. Total Environ., 575, 1556–1570, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.10.070 , 2017. 

Li, N.: Long-term exposure of European population subgroups to PM 2.5 and NO 2 , dissertation, Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, https://doi.org/10.18419/opus-11104 , 2020. 

Li, N. and Friedrich, R.: Methodology for Estimating the Lifelong Exposure to PM 2.5 and NO 2 – The Application to European Population Subgroups, Atmosphere, 10, 507, https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10090507 , 2019. 

Li, N., Friedrich, R., Maesano, C. N., Medda, E., Brescianini, S., Stazi, M. A., Sabel, C. E., Sarigiannis, D., and Annesi-Maesano, I.: Lifelong exposure to multiple stressors through different environmental pathways for European populations, Environ. Res., 179, 108744, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2019.108744 , 2019a. 

Li, N., Huang, G., Friedrich, R., Vogt, U., Schürmann, S., and Straub, D.: Messung und Bewertung der Schadstoffemissionen von Holzfeuerungen in Innenräumen, Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Forschungsbericht Band 144, https://doi.org/10.18419/opus-11139 , 2019b. 

Li, N., Maesano, C. N., Friedrich, R., Medda, E., Brandstetter, S., Kabesch, M., Apfelbacher, C., Melter, M., Seelbach-Göbel, B., Annesi-Maesano, I., and Sarigiannis, D.: A model for estimating the lifelong exposure to PM 2.5 and NO 2 and the application to population studies, Environ. Res., 178, 108629, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2019.108629 , 2019c. 

Li, X., Peng, L., Yao, X., Cui, S., Hu, Y., You, C., and Chi, T.: Long short-term memory neural network for air pollutant concentration predictions: Method development and evaluation, Environ. Pollut., 231, 997–1004, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.08.114 , 2017. 

Liakakou, E., Stavroulas, I., Kaskaoutis, D. G., Grivas, G., Paraskevopoulou, D., Dumka, U. C., Tsagkaraki, M., Bougiatioti, A., Oikonomou, K., Sciare, J., Gerasopoulos, E., and Mihalopoulos, N.: Levels and sources of black carbon long-term measurements in Athens, Greece, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, 18, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Liang, C.-K., West, J. J., Silva, R. A., Bian, H., Chin, M., Davila, Y., Dentener, F. J., Emmons, L., Flemming, J., Folberth, G., Henze, D., Im, U., Jonson, J. E., Keating, T. J., Kucsera, T., Lenzen, A., Lin, M., Lund, M. T., Pan, X., Park, R. J., Pierce, R. B., Sekiya, T., Sudo, K., and Takemura, T.: HTAP2 multi-model estimates of premature human mortality due to intercontinental transport of air pollution and emission sectors, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 10497–10520, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10497-2018 , 2018. 

Lippmann, M., Chen, L.-C., Gordon, T., Ito, K., and Thurston, G. D.: National Particle Component Toxicity (NPACT) Initiative: integrated epidemiologic and toxicologic studies of the health effects of particulate matter components, Research report (Health Effects Institute), 5–13, 2013. 

Liu, S., Xing, J., Zhang, H., Ding, D., Zhang, F., Zhao, B., Sahu, S. K., and Wang, S.: Climate-driven trends of biogenic volatile organic compound emissions and their impacts on summertime ozone and secondary organic aerosol in China in the 2050s, Atmos. Environ., 218, 117020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.117020 , 2019. 

Liu, Z., Ye, W., and Little, J. C.: Predicting emissions of volatile and semivolatile organic compounds from building materials: A review, Build. Environ., 64, 7–25, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2013.02.012 , 2013. 

Loxham, M. and Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J.: Health effects of particulate matter air pollution in underground railway systems – a critical review of the evidence, Part. Fibre Toxicol., 16, 12, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12989-019-0296-2 , 2019. 

Lozhkina, O. V., Timofeev, V. D., and Lozhkin, V. N.: Modelling of air pollution by peat fire smoke and forecast of its impact on road visibility and drivers' health, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 161, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Luben, T. J., Nichols, J. L., Dutton, S. J., Kirrane, E., Owens, E. O., Datko-Williams, L., Madden, M., and Sacks, J. D.: A systematic review of cardiovascular emergency department visits, hospital admissions and mortality associated with ambient black carbon, Environ. Int., 107, 154–162, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2017.07.005 , 2017. 

MacIntyre, E. A., Gehring, U., Mölter, A., Fuertes, E., Klümper, C., Krämer, U., Quass, U., Hoffmann, B., Gascon, M., Brunekreef, B., Koppelman, G. H., Beelen, R., Hoek, G., Birk, M., Jongste, J. C. d., Smit, H. A., Cyrys, J., Gruzieva, O., Korek, M., Bergström, A., Agius, R. M., Vocht, F. d., Simpson, A., Porta, D., Forastiere, F., Badaloni, C., Cesaroni, G., Esplugues, A., Fernández-Somoano, A., Lerxundi, A., Sunyer, J., Cirach, M., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J., Pershagen, G., and Heinrich, J.: Air Pollution and Respiratory Infections during Early Childhood: An Analysis of 10 European Birth Cohorts within the ESCAPE Project, Environ. Health Persp., 122, 107–113, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1306755 , 2014. 

Maki, T., Hara, K., Kobayashi, F., Kurosaki, Y., Kakikawa, M., Matsuki, A., Chen, B., Shi, G., Hasegawa, H., and Iwasaka, Y.: Vertical distribution of airborne bacterial communities in an Asian-dust downwind area, Noto Peninsula, Atmos. Environ., 119, 282–293, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.08.052 , 2015. 

Mallet, V.: Ensemble forecast of analyses: Coupling data assimilation and sequential aggregation, J. Geophys. Res., 115, D24303, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD014259 , 2010. 

Mallet, V., Stoltz, G., and Mauricette, B.: Ozone ensemble forecast with machine learning algorithms, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D05307, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008jd009978 , 2009. 

Manders, A. M. M., Builtjes, P. J. H., Curier, L., Denier van der Gon, H. A. C., Hendriks, C., Jonkers, S., Kranenburg, R., Kuenen, J. J. P., Segers, A. J., Timmermans, R. M. A., Visschedijk, A. J. H., Wichink Kruit, R. J., van Pul, W. A. J., Sauter, F. J., van der Swaluw, E., Swart, D. P. J., Douros, J., Eskes, H., van Meijgaard, E., van Ulft, B., van Velthoven, P., Banzhaf, S., Mues, A. C., Stern, R., Fu, G., Lu, S., Heemink, A., van Velzen, N., and Schaap, M.: Curriculum vitae of the LOTOS–EUROS (v2.0) chemistry transport model, Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 4145–4173, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-4145-2017 , 2017. 

Manisalidis, I., Stavropoulou, E., Stavropoulos, A., and Bezirtzoglou, E.: Environmental and Health Impacts of Air Pollution: A Review, Frontiers in Public Health, 8, 14, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00014 , 2020. 

Manning, A. J., O'Doherty, S., Jones, A. R., Simmonds, P. G., and Derwent, R. G.: Estimating UK methane and nitrous oxide emissions from 1990 to 2007 using an inversion modeling approach, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D02305, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD014763 , 2011. 

Mao, P., Li, J., Xiong, L., Wang, L., Wang,X., Tan, Y., and Li, H.: Characterization of Urban Subway Microenvironment Exposure – A Case of Nanjing in China, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 16, 625, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16040625 , 2019. 

Maragkidou, A.: Exposure to coarse particles and floor dust biological and chemical contamination inside Jordanian indoor environments, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, PhD thesis, http://hdl.handle.net/10138/241380 (last access: 21 February 2022), 2018. 

Marécal, V., Peuch, V.-H., Andersson, C., Andersson, S., Arteta, J., Beekmann, M., Benedictow, A., Bergström, R., Bessagnet, B., Cansado, A., Chéroux, F., Colette, A., Coman, A., Curier, R. L., Denier van der Gon, H. A. C., Drouin, A., Elbern, H., Emili, E., Engelen, R. J., Eskes, H. J., Foret, G., Friese, E., Gauss, M., Giannaros, C., Guth, J., Joly, M., Jaumouillé, E., Josse, B., Kadygrov, N., Kaiser, J. W., Krajsek, K., Kuenen, J., Kumar, U., Liora, N., Lopez, E., Malherbe, L., Martinez, I., Melas, D., Meleux, F., Menut, L., Moinat, P., Morales, T., Parmentier, J., Piacentini, A., Plu, M., Poupkou, A., Queguiner, S., Robertson, L., Rouïl, L., Schaap, M., Segers, A., Sofiev, M., Tarasson, L., Thomas, M., Timmermans, R., Valdebenito, Á., van Velthoven, P., van Versendaal, R., Vira, J., and Ung, A.: A regional air quality forecasting system over Europe: the MACC-II daily ensemble production, Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 2777–2813, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2777-2015 , 2015. 

Maricq, M. M.: Chemical characterization of particulate emissions from diesel engines: A review, J. Aerosol Sci., 38, 1079–1118, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaerosci.2007.08.001 , 2007. 

Markandya, A., Sampedro, J., Smith, S., van Dingenen, R., Pizarro-Irizar, C., Arto, I., and González-Eguino, M.: Health Co-benefits from Air Pollution and Mitigation Costs of the Paris Agreement: Modelling Study, Lancet, 2, E126–E113, 2018. 

Maronga, B., Gryschka, M., Heinze, R., Hoffmann, F., Kanani-Sühring, F., Keck, M., Ketelsen, K., Letzel, M. O., Sühring, M., and Raasch, S.: The Parallelized Large-Eddy Simulation Model (PALM) version 4.0 for atmospheric and oceanic flows: model formulation, recent developments, and future perspectives, Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 2515–2551, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2515-2015 , 2015. 

Martilli, A., Santiago, J., and Salamanca, F.: On the representation of urban heterogeneities in mesoscale models, Environ. Fluid Mech., 15, 305–328, 2015. 

Mathur, R., Xing, J., Gilliam, R., Sarwar, G., Hogrefe, C., Pleim, J., Pouliot, G., Roselle, S., Spero, T. L., Wong, D. C., and Young, J.: Extending the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system to hemispheric scales: overview of process considerations and initial applications, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 12449–12474, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12449-2017 , 2017. 

Matthey, A. and Bünger, B. C.: Methodenkonvention 3.0 zur Ermittlung von Umweltkosten: Kostensätze: Stand 02/2019, Stand 02/2019, Broschüren/Umweltbundesamt, Umweltbundesamt, Dessau-Roßlau, 48 pp., https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/1410/publikationen/2019-02-11_methodenkonvention-3-0_kostensaetze_korr.pdf (last access: 25 February 2022), 2019. 

Matthias, V., Bewersdorff, I., Aulinger, A., and Quante, M.: The contribution of ship emissions to air pollution in the North Sea regions, Environ. Pollut., 158, 2241–2250, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2010.02.013 , 2010. 

Matthias, V., Aulinger, A., Backes, A., Bieser, J., Geyer, B., Quante, M., and Zeretzke, M.: The impact of shipping emissions on air pollution in the greater North Sea region – Part 2: Scenarios for 2030, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 759–776, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-759-2016 , 2016 

Matthias, V., Arndt, J. A., Aulinger, A., Bieser, J., van der Denier Gon, H., Kranenburg, R., Kuenen, J., Neumann, D., Pouliot, G., and Quante, M.: Modeling emissions for three-dimensional atmospheric chemistry transport models, J. Air Waste Manage., 68, 763–800, https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2018.1424057 , 2018. 

Matthias, V., Bieser, J., Mocanu, T., Pregger, T., Quante, M., Ramacher, M. O. P., Seum, S., and Winkler, C.: Modelling road transport emissions in Germany – Current day situation and scenarios for 2040, Transport. Res. D-Tr. E., 87, 102536, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2020.102536 , 2020a. 

Matthias, V., Bieser, J., Quante, M., Seum, S., and Winkler, C.: Impact of traffic emissions in 2040 on air quality in Germany, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 31, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020b. 

McCarthy, M. P., Best, M. J., and Betts, R. A.: Climate change in cities due to global warming and urban effects, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L09705, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL042845 , 2010. 

McDonald, B. C., Gouw, J. A. d., Gilman, J. B., Jathar, S. H., Akherati, A., Cappa, C. D., Jimenez, J. L., Lee-Taylor, J., Hayes, P. L., McKeen, S. A., Cui, Y. Y., Kim, S.-W., Gentner, D. R., Isaacman-VanWertz, G., Goldstein, A. H., Harley, R. A., Frost, G. J., Roberts, J. M., Ryerson, T. B., and Trainer, M.: Volatile chemical products emerging as largest petrochemical source of urban organic emissions, Science, 359, 760–764, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq0524 , 2018. 

McNider, R. T. and Pour-Biazar, A.: Meteorological modeling relevant to mesoscale and regional air quality applications: a review, J. Air Waste Manage., 70, 2–43, https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2019.1694602 , 2020. 

Michaelis, A. C., Lackmann, G. M., and Robinson, W. A.: Evaluation of a unique approach to high-resolution climate modeling using the Model for Prediction Across Scales – Atmosphere (MPAS-A) version 5.1, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 3725–3743, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-3725-2019 , 2019. 

Mihăiţă, A. S., Dupont, L., Chery, O., Camargo, M., and Cai, C.: Evaluating air quality by combining stationary, smart mobile pollution monitoring and data-driven modelling, J. Clean. Prod., 221, 398–418, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.02.179 , 2019. 

Mircea, M., Calori, G., Pirovano, G., and Belis, C. A.: European guide on air pollution source apportionment for particulate matter with source-oriented models and their combined use with receptor models, JRC, 66 pp., https://doi.org/10.2760/470628 , 2020. 

Molina, L. T.: Introductory lecture: air quality in megacities, Faraday Discuss., 226, 9–52, https://doi.org/10.1039/d0fd00123f , 2021. 

Monteiro, A., Durka, P., Flandorfer, C., Georgieva, E., Guerreiro, C., Kushta, J., Malherbe, L., Maiheu, B., Miranda, A. I., Santos, G., Stocker, J., Trimpeneers, E., Tognet, F., Stortini, M., Wesseling, J., Janssen, S., and Thunis, P.: Strengths and weaknesses of the FAIRMODE benchmarking methodology for the evaluation of air quality models, Air Qual. Atmos. Hlth., 11, 373–383, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-018-0554-8 , 2018. 

Morakinyo, O., Mokgobu, M., Mukhola, M., and Hunter, R.: Health Outcomes of Exposure to Biological and Chemical Components of Inhalable and Respirable Particulate Matter, Int. J. Env. Res. Pub. He., 13, 592, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13060592 , 2016. 

Morawska, L., He, C., Johnson, G., Jayaratne, R., Salthammer, T., Wang, H., Uhde, E., Bostrom, T., Modini, R., Ayoko, G., McGarry, P., and Wensing, M.: An investigation into the characteristics and formation mechanisms of particles originating from the operation of laser printers, Environ. Sci. Technol., 43, 1015–1022, https://doi.org/10.1021/es802193n , 2009. 

Morawska, L., Thai, P. K., Liu, X., Asumadu-Sakyi, A., Ayoko, G., Bartonova, A., Bedini, A., Chai, F., Christensen, B., Dunbabin, M., Gao, J., Hagler, G. S. W., Jayaratne, R., Kumar, P., Lau, A. K. H., Louie, P. K. K., Mazaheri, M., Ning, Z., Motta, N., Mullins, B., Rahman, M. M., Ristovski, Z., Shafiei, M., Tjondronegoro, D., Westerdahl, D., and Williams, R.: Applications of low-cost sensing technologies for air quality monitoring and exposure assessment: How far have they gone?, Environ. Int., 116, 286–299, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2018.04.018 , 2018. 

Moussiopoulos, N., Tsegas, G., and Chourdakis, E.: The impact of port operations on air quality in Piraeus and the surrounding urban areas, in: Air Pollution Modelling and its Application, edited by: Mensink, C., Gong, W., and Hakami, A., 159–164, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22055-6_25 , 2019. 

Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I. (Eds.): Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, Hatfield, UK, 162 pp., https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Mues, A., Kuenen, J., Hendriks, C., Manders, A., Segers, A., Scholz, Y., Hueglin, C., Builtjes, P., and Schaap, M.: Sensitivity of air pollution simulations with LOTOS-EUROS to the temporal distribution of anthropogenic emissions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 939–955, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-939-2014 , 2014. 

Munir, S., Mayfield, M., Coca, D., and Jubb, S. A.: Structuring an integrated air quality monitoring network in large urban areas – Discussing the purpose, criteria and deployment strategy, Atmos. Environ. X, 2, 100027, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2019.100027 , 2019. 

Murena, F. and Prati, M. V.: The contribution of high emitters vehicles to FPS number concentration in the historical centre of Naples, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 161, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Mussetti, G., Brunner, D., Henne, S., Allegrini, J., Krayenhoff, E. S., Schubert, S., Feigenwinter, C., Vogt, R., Wicki, A., and Carmeliet, J.: COSMO-BEP-Tree v1.0: a coupled urban climate model with explicit representation of street trees, Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 1685–1710, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-1685-2020 , 2020. 

Navrud, S. and Ready, R. C.: Environmental value transfer: issues and methods, The economics of non-market goods and resources, Springer, Dordrecht, 9, 290 pp., 2007. 

Nemery, B., Hoet, P. H. M., and Nemmar, A.: The Meuse Valley fog of 1930: an air pollution disaster, Lancet, 357, 704–708, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(00)04135-0 , 2001. 

Ngan, F., Loughner, C. P., and Stein, A.: The evaluation of mixing methods in HYSPLIT using measurements from controlled tracer experiments, Atmos. Environ., 219, 117043, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.117043 , 2019. 

Nguyen, C. V. and Soulhac, L.: Data assimilation methods for urban air quality at the local scale, Atmos. Environ., 253, 118366, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118366 , 2021. 

Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J., Gomez-Perales, J. E., and Colvile, R. N.: Levels of particulate air pollution, its elemental composition, determinants and health effects in metro systems, Atmos. Environ., 41, 7995–8006, 2007. 

Niemeyer, L. E.: Forecasting air pollution potential, Mon. Weather Rev., 88, 88–96, 1960. 

Niska, H., Rantamäki, M., Hiltunen, T., Karppinen, A., Kukkonen, J., Ruuskanen, J., Kolehmainen, M., Evaluation of an integrated modelling system containing a multi-layer perceptron model and the numerical weather prediction model HIRLAM for the forecasting of urban airborne pollutant concentrations, Atmos. Environ., 39, 6524–6536, 2005. 

Nuterman, R., Starchenko, A., and Baklanov, A.: Numerical Model of Urban Aerodynamics and Pollution Dispersion, Int. J. Environ. Pollut., 44, 385–393, 2011. 

Nuterman, R., Mahura, A., Baklanov, A., Amstrup, B., and Zakey, A.: Downscaling system for modeling of atmospheric composition on regional, urban and street scales, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 11099–11112, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11099-2021 , 2021. 

OECD: OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050: The Consequences of Inaction, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264122246-en , 2012. 

OECD: Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Environment – Further Developments and Policy Use, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264085169-en , 2018. 

Ogen, Y.: Assessing nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) levels as a contributing factor to coronavirus (COVID-19) fatality, Sci. Total Environ., 726, 138605, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138605 , 2020. 

Ostro, B., Lipsett, M., Reynolds, P., Goldberg, D., Hertz, A., Garcia, C., Henderson, K. D., and Bernstein, L.: Long-term exposure to constituents of fine particulate air pollution and mortality: results from the California Teachers Study, Environ. Health Persp., 118, 363–369, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.0901181 , 2010. 

Ostro, B., Reynolds, P., Goldberg, D., Hertz, A., Burnett, R. T., Shin, H., Hughes, E., Garcia, C., Henderson, K. D., Bernstein, L., and Lipsett, M.: Assessing Long-Term Exposure in the California Teachers Study, Environ. Health Persp., 119, A242–A243, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.119-3114832 , 2011. 

Ostro, B., Hu, J., Goldberg, D., Reynolds, P., Hertz, A., Bernstein, L., and Kleeman, M. J.: Associations of Mortality with Long-Term Exposures to Fine and Ultrafine Particles, Species and Sources: Results from the California Teachers Study Cohort, Environ. Health Persp., 123, 549–556, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408565 , 2015. 

Otalora, M., Soulhac, L., Nguyen, C. V., and Derognat, C.: Challenges in the assimilation of mobile sensors data for urban air quality – analysis of a Paris study, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis I., Hatfield, UK, p. 117, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Ots, R., Heal, M. R., Young, D. E., Williams, L. R., Allan, J. D., Nemitz, E., Di Marco, C., Detournay, A., Xu, L., Ng, N. L., Coe, H., Herndon, S. C., Mackenzie, I. A., Green, D. C., Kuenen, J. J. P., Reis, S., and Vieno, M.: Modelling carbonaceous aerosol from residential solid fuel burning with different assumptions for emissions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 4497–4518, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4497-2018 , 2018. 

Ott, W., Baur, M., Kaufmann, Y., Frischknecht, R., and Steiner, R.: Assessment of Biodiversity Losses – Monetary Valuation of Biodiversity Losses due to Land Use Changes and Airborne Emissions, Deliverable D.4.2.-RS 1b/WP4 of the EU FP6 project No. 02687 NEEDS, https://www.econcept.ch/en/focus/needs-new-energy-externalities-developments-sustainability/ (last access: 25 February 2022), 2006. 

Papadogeorgou, G., Kioumourtzoglou, M.-A., Braun, D., and Zanobetti, A.: Low Levels of Air Pollution and Health: Effect Estimates, Methodological Challenges, and Future Directions, Current Environmental Health Reports, 6, 105–115, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-019-00235-7 , 2019. 

Park, M., Joo, H. S., Lee, K., Jang, M., Kim, S. D., Kim, I., Borlaza, L. J. S., Lim, H., Shin, H., Chung, K. H., Choi, Y.-H., Park, S. G., Bae, M.-S., Lee, J., Song, H., and Park, K.: Differential toxicities of fine particulate matters from various sources, Sci. Rep., 8, 17007, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35398-0 , 2018. 

Parra, R.: Effects of global meteorological datasets in modeling meteorology and air quality in the andean region of southern Ecuador, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 54, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Paunu, V.-V., Karvosenoja, N., D., S., Lopez-Aparicio, S., Nielsen, O.-K., Plejdrup, M. S., Vo, D. T., Thorsteinsson, T., Denier van der Gon, H., Brandt, J., and Geels, C.: New Nordic emission inventory – spatial distribution of machinery and residential combustion emissions, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 17, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Pavlovic, R., Belair, S., Leroyer, S., Nikiema, O., Popadic, I., Munoz-Alpizar, R., and Stroud, C.: Urban meteorology and air quality as a function of different urban features, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 151, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Pedersen, M., Giorgis-Allemand, L., Bernard, C., Aguilera, I., Andersen, A.-M. N., Ballester, F., Beelen, R. M. J., Chatzi, L., Cirach, M., Danileviciute, A., Dedele, A., van Eijsden, M., Estarlich, M., Fernández-Somoano, A., Fernández, M. F., Forastiere, F., Gehring, U., Grazuleviciene, R., Gruzieva, O., Heude, B., Hoek, G., Hoogh, K. d., van den Hooven, E. H., Håberg, S. E., Jaddoe, V. W. V., Klümper, C., Korek, M., Krämer, U., Lerchundi, A., Lepeule, J., Nafstad, P., Nystad, W., Patelarou, E., Porta, D., Postma, D., Raaschou-Nielsen, O., Rudnai, P., Sunyer, J., Stephanou, E., Sørensen, M., Thiering, E., Tuffnell, D., Varró, M. J., Vrijkotte, T. G. M., Wijga, A., Wilhelm, M., Wright, J., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J., Pershagen, G., Brunekreef, B., Kogevinas, M., and Slama, R.: Ambient air pollution and low birthweight: a European cohort study (ESCAPE), Lancet Resp. Med., 1, 695–704, https://doi.org/10.1016/s2213-2600(13)70192-9 , 2013. 

Pelliccioni, A. and Tirabassi, T.: Air dispersion model and neural network: a new perspective for integrated models in the simulation of complex situations, Environ. Modell. Softw., 21, 539–546, 2006. 

Peters, A., Dockery, D. W., Muller, J. E., and Mittleman, M. A.: Increased Particulate Air Pollution and the Triggering of Myocardial Infarction, Circulation, 103, 2810–2815, https://doi.org/10.1161/01.Cir.103.23.2810 , 2001. 

Petroff, A. and Zhang, L.: Development and validation of a size-resolved particle dry deposition scheme for application in aerosol transport models, Geosci. Model Dev., 3, 753–769, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-3-753-2010 , 2010. 

Petroff, A., Mailliat, A., Amielh, M., and Anselmet, F.: Aerosol dry deposition on vegetative canopies. Part II: A new modeling approach and applications, Atmos. Environ., 42, 3654–3683, 2008. 

Pfister, G., Eastham, S., Arellano, A. F., Aumont, B., Barsanti, K., Barth, M., Conley, A., Davis, N., Emmons, L., Fast, J., Fiore, A., Gaubert, B., Goldhaber, S., Granier, C., Grell, G., Guevara, M., Henze, D., Hodzic, A., Liu, X., Marsh, D., Orlando, J., Plane, J., Polvani, L., Rosenlof, K., Steiner, A., Jacob, D., and Brasseur, G.: The Multi-Scale Infrastructure for Chemistry and Aerosols (MUSICA), B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 101, E1743–E1760, https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-19-0331.1 , 2020. 

Phosri, A., Ueda, K., Phung, V. L. H., Tawatsupa, B., Honda, A., and Takano, H.: Effects of ambient air pollution on daily hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in Bangkok, Thailand, Sci. Total Environ., 651, 1144–1153, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.183 , 2019. 

Pisoni, E. and Van Dingenen, R.: Comment to the paper “Assessing nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) levels as a contributing factor to coronavirus (COVID-19) fatality”, by Ogen, 2020, Sci. Total Environ., 738, 139853, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139853 , 2020. 

Pleim, J., Mathur, R., Rao, S. T., Fast, J., and Baklanov, A.: Integrated Meteorology and Chemistry Modeling: Evaluation and Research Needs, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 95, ES81– ES84, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-13-00107.1 , 2014. 

Plejdrup, M. S., Nielsen, O.-K., and Brandt, J.: Spatial emission modelling for residential wood combustion in Denmark, Atmos. Environ., 144, 389–396, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2016.09.013 , 2016. 

Pope III, C. A., Burnett, R. T., Thun, M. J., Calle, E. E., Krewski, D., Ito, K., and Thurston, G. D.: Lung Cancer, Cardiopulmonary Mortality, and Long-term Exposure to Fine Particulate Air Pollution, JAMA-J. Am. Med. Assoc., 287, 1132–1141, https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.287.9.1132 , 2002. 

Pope III, C. A., Lefler, J. S., Ezzati, M., Higbee, J. D., Marshall, J. D., Kim, S.-Y., Bechle, M., Gilliat, K. S., Vernon, S. E., Robinson, A. L., and Burnett, R. T.: Mortality Risk and Fine Particulate Air Pollution in a Large, Representative Cohort of U.S. Adults, Environ. Health Persp., 127, 077007, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp4438 , 2019. 

Pope III, C. A., Coleman, N., Pond, Z. A., and Burnett, R. T.: Fine particulate air pollution and human mortality: 25 + years of cohort studies, Environ. Res., 183, 108924, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2019.108924 , 2020. 

Poulsen, A. H., Hvidtfeldt U. A., Sørensen, M., Puett, R., Ketzel, M., Brandt, J., Christensen, J. H., Geels, C., and Raaschou-Nielsen, O.: Components of particulate matter air-pollution and brain tumors, Environ. Int., 144, 106046, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.106046 , 2020. 

Prank, M., Sofiev, M., Tsyro, S., Hendriks, C., Semeena, V., Vazhappilly Francis, X., Butler, T., Denier van der Gon, H., Friedrich, R., Hendricks, J., Kong, X., Lawrence, M., Righi, M., Samaras, Z., Sausen, R., Kukkonen, J., and Sokhi, R.: Evaluation of the performance of four chemical transport models in predicting the aerosol chemical composition in Europe in 2005, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 6041–6070, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6041-2016 , 2016. 

Pražnikar, Z. and Pražnikar, J.: The effects of particulate matter air pollution on respiratory health and on the cardiovascular system, Slovenian Journal of Public Health, 51, 190–199, https://doi.org/10.2478/v10152-012-0022-z , 2012. 

Pregger, T. and Friedrich, R.: Effective pollutant emission heights for atmospheric transport modelling based on real-world information, Environ. Pollut., 157, 552–560, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2008.09.027 , 2009. 

Raaschou-Nielsen, O., Andersen, Z. J., Beelen, R., Samoli, E., Stafoggia, M., Weinmayr, G., Hoffmann, B., Fischer, P., Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J., Brunekreef, B., Xun, W. W., Katsouyanni, K., Dimakopoulou, K., Sommar, J., Forsberg, B., Modig, L., Oudin, A., Oftedal, B., Schwarze, P. E., Nafstad, P., Faire, U. d., Pedersen, N. L., Östenson, C.-G., Fratiglioni, L., Penell, J., Korek, M., Pershagen, G., Eriksen, K. T., Sørensen, M., Tjønneland, A., Ellermann, T., Eeftens, M., Peeters, P. H., Meliefste, K., Wang, M., Bueno-de-Mesquita, B., Key, T. J., Hoogh, K. d., Concin, H., Nagel, G., Vilier, A., Grioni, S., Krogh, V., Tsai, M.-Y., Ricceri, F., Sacerdote, C., Galassi, C., Migliore, E., Ranzi, A., Cesaroni, G., Badaloni, C., Forastiere, F., Tamayo, I., Amiano, P., Dorronsoro, M., Trichopoulou, A., Bamia, C., Vineis, P., and Hoek, G.: Air pollution and lung cancer incidence in 17 European cohorts: prospective analyses from the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE), Lancet Oncol., 14, 813–822, https://doi.org/10.1016/s1470-2045(13)70279-1 , 2013. 

Raaschou-Nielsen, O., Beelen, R., Wang, M., Hoek, G., Andersen, Z. J., Hoffmann, B., Stafoggia, M., Samoli, E., Weinmayr, G., Dimakopoulou, K., Nieuwenhuijsen, M., Xun, W. W., Fischer, P., Eriksen, K. T., Sørensen, M., Tjønneland, A., Ricceri, F., Hoogh, K. d., Key, T., Eeftens, M., Peeters, P. H., Bueno-de-Mesquita, H. B., Meliefste, K., Oftedal, B., Schwarze, P. E., Nafstad, P., Galassi, C., Migliore, E., Ranzi, A., Cesaroni, G., Badaloni, C., Forastiere, F., Penell, J., Faire, U. d., Korek, M., Pedersen, N., Östenson, C.-G., Pershagen, G., Fratiglioni, L., Concin, H., Nagel, G., Jaensch, A., Ineichen, A., Naccarati, A., Katsoulis, M., Trichpoulou, A., Keuken, M., Jedynska, A., Kooter, I. M., Kukkonen, J., Brunekreef, B., Sokhi, R. S., Katsouyanni, K., and Vineis, P.: Particulate matter air pollution components and risk for lung cancer, Environ. Int., 87, 66–73, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2015.11.007 , 2016. 

Raaschou-Nielsen, O., Thorsteinson, E., Antonsen, S., Holst, G. J., Sigsgaard, T., Geels, C., Frohn, L. M., Christensen, J. H., Brandt, J., Pedersen, C. B., and Hvidtfeldt, U. A.: Long-term exposure to air pollution and mortality in the Danish population a nationwide study, eClinicalMedicine, 28, 100605, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100605 , 2020. 

Ramacher, M. O. P., Karl, M., Bieser, J., Jalkanen, J.-P., and Johansson, L.: Urban population exposure to NO x emissions from local shipping in three Baltic Sea harbour cities – a generic approach, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9153–9179, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9153-2019 , 2019. 

Ramacher, M. O. P., Tang, L., Moldanová, J., Matthias, V., Karl, M., Fridell, E., and Johansson, L.: The impact of ship emissions on air quality and human health in the Gothenburg area – Part II: Scenarios for 2040, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10667–10686, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10667-2020 , 2020. 

Rao, S. T., Luo, H., Astitha, M., Hogrefe, C., Garcia, V., and Mathur, R.: On the limit to the accuracy of regional-scale air quality models, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1627–1639, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1627-2020 , 2020. 

Rees, N., Wickham, A., and Choi, Y.: Silent Suffocation in Africa – Air Pollution is a Growing Menace, Affecting the Poorest Children the Most, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), New York, https://www.unicef.org/media/55081/file/Silentsuffocationinafricaairpollution201920.pdf (last access: 21 February 2022), 2019. 

Resler, J., Geletič, J., Krč, P., Eben, K., Belda, M., Fuka, L., Huszár, P., Karlický, J., Vlček, O., Benešová, N., Keder, J., Bauerová, P., Škáchová, H., Ďoubalová, J., Žák, M., Sühring, M., and Schwenkel, J.: Validation of the air quality and meteorological values modelled by PALM-4U model against observation campaign in Prague-Dejvice, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 160, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Ribeiro, I., Martilli, A., Falls, M., Zonato, A., and Villalba, G.: Highly resolved WRF-BEP/BEM simulations over Barcelona urban area with LCZ, Atmos. Res., 248, 105220, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2020.105220 , 2021. 

Robock, A., Oman, L., and Stenchikov, G. L.: Nuclear winter revisited with a modern climate model and current nuclear arsenals: Still catastrophic consequences, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D13107, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD008235 , 2007. 

Rodins, V., Lucht, S., Ohlwein, S., Hennig, F., Soppa, V., Erbel, R., Jöckel, K.-H., Weimar, C., Hermann, D. M., Schramm, S., Moebus, S., Slomiany, U., and Hoffmann, B.: Long-term exposure to ambient source-specific particulate matter and its components and incidence of cardiovascular events – The Heinz Nixdorf Recall study, Environ. Int., 142, 105854, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.105854 , 2020. 

Rodriguez, D., Parent, E., Eymard, L., Valari, M., and Payan, S.: NO X and PM 10 Bayesian concentration estimates using high-resolution numerical simulations and ground measurements over Paris, France, Atmos. Environ. X, 3, 100038, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2019.100038 , 2019. 

Roos, J.: Ermittlung und Bewertung von vermiedenen Gesundheitsschäden im Rahmen der Technikbewertung, Universität Stuttgart, https://doi.org/10.18419/opus-9177 , 2017. 

Russell, W. T.: The relative influence of fog and low temperature on the mortality from respiratory disease, Lancet, 2, 1128, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(01)02367-4 , 1926. 

Sakai, R., Sasaki, D., Obayashi, S., and Nakahashi, K.: Wavelet-based data compression for flow simulation on block-structured Cartesian mesh, Int. J. Numer. Meth. Fl., 73, 462–476, https://doi.org/10.1002/fld.3808 , 2013. 

Sakellaris, I., Bartzis, J., Neuhäuser, J., Friedrich, R., Gotti, A., and Sarigiannis, D.: A novel approach for air quality trend studies and its application to European urban environments: The ICARUS project, Atmos. Environ., 273, 118973, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2022.118973 , 2022. 

Salamanca, F., Martilli, A., Tewari, M., and Chen, F.: A Study of the Urban Boundary Layer Using Different Urban Parameterizations and High-Resolution Urban Canopy Parameters with WRF, J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 50, 1107–1128, https://doi.org/10.1175/2010jamc2538.1 , 2011. 

Salamanca, F., Zhang, Y., Barlage, M., Chen, F., Mahalov, A., and Miao, S.: Evaluation of the WRF-Urban Modeling System Coupled to Noah and Noah-MP Land Surface Models Over a Semiarid Urban Environment, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 123, 2387–2408, https://doi.org/10.1002/2018jd028377 , 2018. 

Salthammer, T., Schripp, T., Wientzek, S., and Wensing, M.: Impact of operating wood-burning fireplace ovens on indoor air quality, Chemosphere, 103, 205–211, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.11.067 , 2014. 

Samoli, E., Stafoggia, M., Rodopoulou, S., Ostro, B., Declercq, C., Alessandrini, E., Díaz, J., Karanasiou, A., Kelessis, A. G., Le Tertre, A., Pandolfi, P., Randi, G., Scarinzi, C., Zauli-Sajani, S., Katsouyanni, K., and Forastiere, F.: Associations between Fine and Coarse Particles and Mortality in Mediterranean Cities: Results from the MED-PARTICLES Project, Environ. Health Persp., 121, 932–938, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1206124 , 2013. 

San José, R., Pérez, J. L., Pérez, L., and Gonzalez, R. M.: A multiscale simulation tool to assess the effects of nature-based solutions (NBS) in urban air quality, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis I., Hatfield, UK, p. 10, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Santiago, J. L., Borge, R., Martin, F., La Paz, D. d., Martilli, A., Lumbreras, J., and Sanchez, B.: Evaluation of a CFD-based approach to estimate pollutant distribution within a real urban canopy by means of passive samplers, Sci. Total Environ., 576, 46–58, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.09.234 , 2017. 

Saraga, D., Maggos, T., Degrendele, C., Klanova, J., Horvat, M., Kocman, D., Kanduc, T., Dos Santos, S. G., Franco, R., Gomez, P. M., Manousakas, M., Bairachtari, K., Eleftheriadis, K., Kermenidou, M., Karakitsios, S., Gotti, A., and Sarigiannis, D.: Multi-city comparative PM 2.5 source apportionment for fifteen sites in Europe: The ICARUS project, Sci. Total Environ., 751, 141855, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141855 , 2021. 

Sarigiannis, D. and Karakitsios, S.: Report on the methodology for estimating health effects of individuals or population groups and health impact results in the ICARUS participating cities, Deliverable D4.3 of the EU Horizon 2020 project ICARUS, 45 pp., https://icarus2020.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/ICARUS_D4.3.pdf (last access: 25 February 2022), 2018. 

Savolahti, M., Karvosenoja, N., Soimakallio, S., Kupiainen, K., Tissari, J., and Paunu, V.-V.: Near-term climate impacts of Finnish residential wood combustion, Energ. Policy, 133, 110837, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.06.045 , 2019. 

Schade, S., Herding, W., Fellermann, A., and Kotsev, A.: Joint Statement on new opportunities for air quality sensing – lower-cost sensors for public authorities and citizen science initiatives, Research Ideas and Outcomes, 5, e34059, https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.5.e34059 , 2019. 

Schäfer, K., Lande, K., Grimm, H., Jenniskens, G., Gijsbers, R., Ziegler, V., Hank, M., and Budde, M.: High-resolution Assessment of Air Quality in Urban Areas – A Business Model Perspective, Atmosphere, 12, 595, https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12050595 , 2021. 

Scherer, D., Ament, F., Emeis, S., Fehrenbach, U., Leitl, B., Scherber, K., Schneider, C., and Vogt, U.: Three-Dimensional Observation of Atmospheric Processes in Cities, Meteorol. Z., 28, 121–138, 2019. 

Schieberle, C.: Development of a stochastic optimization approach to determine cost-efficient environmental protection strategies: case study of policies for the future European passenger transport sector with a focus on rail-bound and on-road activities, Institut fuer Energiewirtschaft und Rationelle Energieanwendung, Universitaet Stuttgart, Stuttgart, https://doi.org/10.18419/opus-10473 , 2019. 

Schmid, D.: D2.1 Report and data on emission inventory at EU-wide level for the considered pollutants and GHGs for the years 2015, 2020 and 2030, EU Horizon 2020 Project: 690105 – ICARUS, https://icarus2020.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ICARUS-Deliverable-D2.1_FINAL_REVISED.pdf (last access: 22 February 2022), 2018. 

Schmid, D., Korkmaz, P., Blesl, M., Fahl, U., and Friedrich, R.: Analyzing transformation pathways to a sustainable European energy system – Internalization of health damage costs caused by air pollution, Energy Strateg. Rev., 26, 100417, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2019.100417 , 2019. 

Schneider, P., Castell, N., Vogt, M., Dauge, F. R., Lahoz, W. A., and Bartonova, A.: Mapping urban air quality in near real-time using observations from low-cost sensors and model information, Environ. Int., 106, 234–247, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2017.05.005 , 2017. 

Schraufnagel, D. E., Balmes, J. R., Cowl, C. T., Matteis, S. d., Jung, S.-H., Mortimer, K., Perez-Padilla, R., Rice, M. B., Riojas-Rodriguez, H., Sood, A., Thurston, G. D., To, T., Vanker, A., and Wuebbles, D. J.: Air Pollution and Noncommunicable Diseases, Chest, 155, 409–416, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2018.10.042 , 2019. 

Schrenk, H. H.: Air pollution in Donora, Pa, Federal Security Agency Public Health Service Bureau of State Services Division of Industrial Hygiene, Washington, Public health bulletin no. 306, 173 pp., 1949. 

Schripp, T., Kirsch, I., and Salthammer, T.: Characterization of particle emission from household electrical appliances, Sci. Total Environ., 409, 2534–2540, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.03.033 , 2011. 

Schripp, T., Markewitz, D., Uhde, E., and Salthammer, T.: Does e-cigarette consumption cause passive vaping?, Indoor Air, 23, 25–31, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2012.00792.x , 2013. 

Schripp, T., Salthammer, T., Wientzek, S., and Wensing, M.: Chamber studies on nonvented decorative fireplaces using liquid or gelled ethanol fuel, Environ. Sci. Technol., 48, 3583–3590, 2014. 

Schrödner, R., Genz, C., Heinold, B., Baars, H., Henning, S., Madenach, N., Carbajal Henken, C., Costa Surós, M., Sourdeval, O., Hesemann, J., Brueck, M., Cioni, G., Hoose, C., Tegen, I., and Quaas, J.: Aerosol-cloud interaction in 1985 and today, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 61, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Schubert, S. and Grossman-Clarke, S.: Evaluation of the coupled COSMO-CLM/DCEP model with observations from BUBBLE, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 140, 2465–2483, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.2311 , 2014. 

Schwartz, J., Dockery, D. W., and Neas, L. M.: Is Daily Mortality Associated Specifically with Fine Particles?, J. Air Waste Manage., 46, 927–939, https://doi.org/10.1080/10473289.1996.10467528 , 1996. 

Seinfeld, J. H. and Pandis, S. N.: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics: From Air Pollution to Climate Change, 3rd edn., John Wiley & Sons, 1152 pp., ISBN: 978-1-118-94740-1, 2016. 

Sevilla, I., Chrobocinski, P., Barmpas, F., Schmidt, F., Kerle, N., Kostaridis, A., Doulamis, A., Russotto, R., and Huang, R.: Improving Resilience of Transport Instrastructure to Climate Change and other natural and Manmande events based on the combined use of Terrestrial and Airbone Sensors and Advanced Modelling Tools, 14 ∘ Congreso Nacional del Medio Ambiente (CONAMA 2018), November 2018, MADRID, Spain, 11 pp., hal-02280917v2, 2018. 

Shaddick, G., Thomas, M. L., Mudu, P., Ruggeri, G., and Gumy, S.: Half the world's population are exposed to increasing air pollution, npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, 3, 23, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-020-0124-2 , 2020. 

Shaddick, G., Salter, J. M., Peuch, V.-H., Ruggeri, G., Thomas, M. L., Mudu, P., Tarasova, O., Baklanov, A., and Gumy, S.: Global Air Quality: An Inter-Disciplinary Approach to Exposure Assessment for Burden of Disease Analyses, Atmosphere, 12, 48, https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12010048 , 2021. 

Sharma, A., Fernando, H. J. S., Hamlet, A. F., Hellmann, J. J., Barlage, M., and Chen, F.: Urban meteorological modeling using WRF: A sensitivity study, Int. J. Climatol., 37, 1885–1900, https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4819 , 2017. 

Siddika, N., Rantala, A. K., Antikainen, H., Balogun, H., Amegah, A. K., Ryti, N. R. I., Kukkonen, J., Sofiev, M., Jaakkola, M. S., and Jaakkola, J. J. K.: Synergistic effects of prenatal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and ozone (O 3 ) on the risk of preterm birth: A population-based cohort study, Environ. Res., 176, 108549, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2019.108549 , 2019. 

Siddika, N., Rantala, A. K., Antikainen, H., Balogun, H., Amegah, A. K., Ryti, N. R. I., Kukkonen, J., Sofiev, M., Jaakkola, M. S., and Jaakkola, J. J. K.: Short-term prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution and risk of preterm birth – A population-based cohort study in Finland, Environ. Res., 184, 109290, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109290 , 2020. 

Simpson, D., Benedictow, A., Berge, H., Bergström, R., Emberson, L. D., Fagerli, H., Flechard, C. R., Hayman, G. D., Gauss, M., Jonson, J. E., Jenkin, M. E., Nyíri, A., Richter, C., Semeena, V. S., Tsyro, S., Tuovinen, J.-P., Valdebenito, Á., and Wind, P.: The EMEP MSC-W chemical transport model – technical description, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 7825–7865, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-7825-2012 , 2012. 

Singh, V., Sokhi, R. S., and Kukkonen, J.: PM 2.5 concentrations in London for 2008 – A modeling analysis of contributions from road traffic, J. Air Waste Manage., 64, 509–518, https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2013.848244 , 2014. 

Singh, V., Sokhi, R. S., Beig, G., Biswal, A., Sahu, S. K., Sandeepan, S., Stanley, W., Momoh, K., and Fritz, S. C.: Analysis of air quality in the megacity of Delhi with observations and a multiscale coupled modelling system, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 150, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020a. 

Singh, V., Sokhi, R. S., and Kukkonen, J.: An approach to predict population exposure to ambient air PM 2.5 concentrations and its dependence on population activity for the megacity London, Environ. Pollut., 257, 113623, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2019.113623 , 2020b. 

Skamarock, W. C., Duda, M. G., Ha, S., and Park, S.-H.: Limited-Area Atmospheric Modeling Using an Unstructured Mesh, Mon. Weather Rev., 146, 3445–3460, https://doi.org/10.1175/mwr-d-18-0155.1 , 2018. 

Skjøth, C. A., Geels, C., Berge, H., Gyldenkærne, S., Fagerli, H., Ellermann, T., Frohn, L. M., Christensen, J., Hansen, K. M., Hansen, K., and Hertel, O.: Spatial and temporal variations in ammonia emissions – a freely accessible model code for Europe, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 5221–5236, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-5221-2011 , 2011. 

Smith, T. W. P., Jalkanen, J. P., Anderson, B. A., Corbett, J. J., Faber, J., Hanayama, S., O'Keeffe, E., Parker, S., Johansson, L., Aldous, L., Raucci, C., Traut, M., Ettinger, S., Nelissen, D., Lee, D. S., Ng, S., Agrawal, A., Winebrake, J. J., Hoen, M., Chesworth, S., and Pandey, A.: Third IMO GHG Study 2014, International Maritime Organization (IMO) London, UK, April 2015. 

Smith, J. D., Mitsakou, C., Kitwiroon, N., Barratt, B. M., Walton, H. A., Taylor, J. G., Anderson, H. R., Kelly, F. J., and Beevers, S. D.: London Hybrid Exposure Model: Improving Human Exposure Estimates to NO 2 and PM 2.5 in an Urban Setting, Environ. Sci. Technol., 50, 11760–11768, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b01817 , 2016. 

Smith, J. D., Barratt, B. M., Fuller, G. W., Kelly, F. J., Loxham, M., Nicolosi, E., Priestman, M., Tremper, A. H., and Green, D. C.: PM 2.5 on the London Underground, Environ. Int., 134, 105188, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.105188 , 2020. 

Soares, J., Kousa, A., Kukkonen, J., Matilainen, L., Kangas, L., Kauhaniemi, M., Riikonen, K., Jalkanen, J.-P., Rasila, T., Hänninen, O., Koskentalo, T., Aarnio, M., Hendriks, C., and Karppinen, A.: Refinement of a model for evaluating the population exposure in an urban area, Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 1855–1872, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-1855-2014 , 2014. 

Sofiev, M., Winebrake, J. J., Johansson, L., Carr, E. W., Prank, M., Soares, J., Vira, J., Kouznetsov, R., Jalkanen, J.-P., and Corbett, J. J.: Cleaner fuels for ships provide public health benefits with climate tradeoffs, Nat. Commun., 9, 406, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02774-9 , 2018. 

Sokhi, R. (Ed.): World Atlas of Atmospheric Pollution, Anthem Press, London, https://doi.org/10.7135/upo9780857288448 , 2012. 

Sokhi, R. S., Baklanov, A., and Schlünzen, K. H. (Eds.): Mesoscale modelling for meteorological and air pollution applications, Anthem Press, an imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company, London, 342 pp., 2018. 

Sokhi, R. S., Singh, V., Querol, X., Finardi. S., Targino, A. C., Andrade, M. F., Pavlovic, R., Garland, R. M., Massagué, J., Kong, S., Baklanov, A., Ren, L., Tarasova, O., Carmichael, G., Peuch, V. H., Anand, V., Arbilla, G., Badali, K., Beig, G., Belalcazar, L. C., Bolignano, A., Brimblecombe, P., Camacho, P., Casallas, A., Charland, J. P., Choi, J., Chourdakis, E., Coll, I., Collins, M., Cyrys, J., da Silva, C. M., Di Giosa, A. D., Di Leo, A., Ferro, C., Gavidia-Calderon, M., Gayen, A., Ginzburg, A., Godefroy, F., Gonzalez, Y. A., Guevara-Luna, M., Haque, S. M., Havenga, H., Herod, D., Hõrrak, U., Hussein, T., Ibarra, S., Jaimes, M., Kaasik, M., Khaiwal, R., Kim, J., Kousa, A., Kukkonen, J., Kulmala, M., Kuula, J., La Violette, N., Lanzani, G., Liu, X., MacDougall, S., Manseau, P. M., Marchegiani, G., McDonald, B., Mishra, S. V., Molina, L. T., Mooibroek, D., Mor, S., Moussiopoulos, N., Murena, F., Niemi, J. V., Noe, S., Nogueira, T., Norman, M., Pérez-Camaño, J. L., Petäjä, T., Piketh, S., Rathod, A., Reid, K., Retama, A., Rivera, O., Rojas, N. Y., Rojas-Quincho, J. P., San José, R., Sánchez, O., Seguel, R. J., Sillanpää, S., Su, Y., Tapper, N., Terrazas, A., Timonen, H., Toscano, D., Tsegas, G., Velders, G. J. M., Vlachokostas, C., von Schneidemesser, E., VPM, R., Yadav, R., Zalakeviciute, R., and Zavala, M.: A global observational analysis to understand changes in air quality during exceptionally low anthropogenic emission conditions, Environ Int., 157, 106818, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106818 , 2021. 

Solazzo, E., Bianconi, R., Vautard, R., Appel, K. W., Moran, M. D., Hogrefe, C., Bessagnet, B., Brandt, J., Christensen, J. H., Chemel, C., Coll, I., Denier van der Gon, H., Ferreira, J., Forkel, R., Francis, X. V., Grell, G., Grossi, P., Hansen, A. B., Jeričević, A., Kraljević, L., Miranda, A. I., Nopmongcol, U., Pirovano, G., Prank, M., Riccio, A., Sartelet, K. N., Schaap, M., Silver, J. D., Sokhi, R. S., Vira, J., Werhahn, J., Wolke, R., Yarwood, G., Zhang, J., Rao, S. T., and Galmarini, S.: Model evaluation and ensemble modelling of surface-level ozone in Europe and North America in the context of AQMEII, Atmos. Environ., 53, 60–74, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2012.01.003 , 2012. 

Son, J.-Y., Liu, J. C., and Bell, M. L.: Temperature-related mortality: a systematic review and investigation of effect modifiers, Environ. Res. Lett., 14, 073004, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab1cdb , 2019. 

Sonawane, N. V., Patil, R. S., and Sethi, V.: Health benefit modelling and optimization of vehicular pollution control strategies, Atmos. Environ., 60, 193–201, 2012. 

Soret, A., Guevara, M., and Baldasano, J. M.: The potential impacts of electric vehicles on air quality in the urban areas of Barcelona and Madrid (Spain), Atmos. Environ., 99, 51–63, 2014. 

Soulhac, L., Salizzoni, P., Mejean, P., Didier, D., and Rios, I.: The model SIRANE for atmospheric urban pollutant dispersion; PART II, validation of the model on a real case study, Atmos. Environ., 49, 320–337, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.11.031 , 2012. 

Souza, D. M., Teixeira, R. F. M., and Ostermann, O. P.: Assessing biodiversity loss due to land use with Life Cycle Assessment: are we there yet?, Glob. Change Biol., 21, 32–47, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12709 , 2015. 

Stafoggia, M., Samoli, E., Alessandrini, E., Cadum, E., Ostro, B., Berti, G., Faustini, A., Jacquemin, B., Linares, C., Pascal, M., Randi, G., Ranzi, A., Stivanello, E., and Forastiere, F.: Short-term Associations between Fine and Coarse Particulate Matter and Hospitalizations in Southern Europe: Results from the MED-PARTICLES Project, Environ. Health Persp., 121, 1026–1033, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1206151 , 2013. 

Stafoggia, M., Cesaroni, G., Peters, A., Andersen, Z. J., Badaloni, C., Beelen, R., Caracciolo, B., Cyrys, J., Faire, U. d., Hoogh, K. d., Eriksen, K. T., Fratiglioni, L., Galassi, C., Gigante, B., Havulinna, A. S., Hennig, F., Hilding, A., Hoek, G., Hoffmann, B., Houthuijs, D., Korek, M., Lanki, T., Leander, K., Magnusson, P. K., Meisinger, C., Migliore, E., Overvad, K., Östenson, C.-G., Pedersen, N. L., Pekkanen, J., Penell, J., Pershagen, G., Pundt, N., Pyko, A., Raaschou-Nielsen, O., Ranzi, A., Ricceri, F., Sacerdote, C., Swart, W. J. R., Turunen, A. W., Vineis, P., Weimar, C., Weinmayr, G., Wolf, K., Brunekreef, B., and Forastiere, F.: Long-Term Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution and Incidence of Cerebrovascular Events: Results from 11 European Cohorts within the ESCAPE Project, Environ. Health Persp., 122, 919–925, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1307301 , 2014. 

Stohl, A., Kim, J., Li, S., O'Doherty, S., Mühle, J., Salameh, P. K., Saito, T., Vollmer, M. K., Wan, D., Weiss, R. F., Yao, B., Yokouchi, Y., and Zhou, L. X.: Hydrochlorofluorocarbon and hydrofluorocarbon emissions in East Asia determined by inverse modeling, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 3545–3560, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-3545-2010 , 2010. 

Stojiljkovic, A., Kauhaniemi, M., Kukkonen, J., Kupiainen, K., Karppinen, A., Denby, B. R., Kousa, A., Niemi, J. V., and Ketzel, M.: The impact of measures to reduce ambient air PM 10 concentrations originating from road dust, evaluated for a street canyon in Helsinki, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11199–11212, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11199-2019 , 2019. 

Stone, R.: Counting the Cost of London's Killer Smog, Science, 298, 2106–2107, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.298.5601.2106b , 2002. 

Stone, V., Miller, M. R., Clift, M. J. D., Elder, A., Mills, N. L., Møller, P., Schins, R. P. F., Vogel, U., Kreyling, W. G., Alstrup Jensen, K., Kuhlbusch, T. A. J., Schwarze, P. E., Hoet, P., Pietroiusti, A., Vizcaya-Ruiz, A. d., Baeza-Squiban, A., Teixeira, J. P., Tran, C. L., and Cassee, F. R.: Nanomaterials Versus Ambient Ultrafine Particles: An Opportunity to Exchange Toxicology Knowledge, Environ. Health Persp., 125, 106002, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp424 , 2017. 

Sun, D., Zhang, Y., Xue, R., and Zhang, Y.: Modeling carbon emissions from urban traffic system using mobile monitoring, Sci. Total Environ., 599–600, 944–951, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.04.186 , 2017. 

Suter, I. and Brunner, D.: Influence of boundary conditions and cloud chemistry on sulfate concentrations in a nested model setup, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 55, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Tan, J., Mu, L., Huang, J., Yu, S., Chen, B., and Yin, J.: An initial investigation of the association between the SARS outbreak and weather: with the view of the environmental temperature and its variation, J. Epidemiol. Commun. H., 59, 186–192, https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2004.020180 , 2005. 

Tan, J., Fu, J. S., Carmichael, G. R., Itahashi, S., Tao, Z., Huang, K., Dong, X., Yamaji, K., Nagashima, T., Wang, X., Liu, Y., Lee, H.-J., Lin, C.-Y., Ge, B., Kajino, M., Zhu, J., Zhang, M., Liao, H., and Wang, Z.: Why do models perform differently on particulate matter over East Asia? A multi-model intercomparison study for MICS-Asia III, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 7393–7410, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7393-2020 , 2020. 

Tarín-Carrasco, P., Im, U., Geels, C., Palacios-Peña, L., and Jiménez-Guerrero, P.: Reducing future air pollution-related premature mortality over Europe by mitigating emissions: assessing an 80 % renewable energies scenario, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-86 , in review, 2021. 

Teuchies, J., Cox, T. J. S., Van Itterbeeck, K., Meysman, F. J. R., and Blust, R.: The impact of scrubber discharge on the water quality in estuaries and ports, Environmental Sciences Europe, 32, 103, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-020-00380-z , 2020. 

Theloke, J. and Friedrich, R.: Compilation of a database on the composition of anthropogenic VOC emissions for atmospheric modeling in Europe, Atmos. Environ., 41, 4148–4160, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2006.12.026 , 2007. 

Thiruchittampalam, B.: Entwicklung und Anwendung von Methoden und Modellen zur Berechnung von räumlich und zeitlich hochaufgelösten Emissionen in Europa, Institut für Energiewirtschaft und Rationelle Energieanwendung, https://doi.org/10.18419/opus-2325 , 2014. 

Thompson, J. E.: Crowd-sourced air quality studies: A review of the literature & portable sensors, Trends in Environmental Analytical Chemistry, 11, 23–34, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teac.2016.06.001 , 2016. 

Thunis, P.: On the validity of the incremental approach to estimate the impact of cities on air quality, Atmos. Environ., 173, 210–222, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2017.11.012 , 2018. 

Thunis, P., Miranda, A., Baldasano, J. M., Blond, N., Douros, J., Graff, A., Janssen, S., Juda-Rezler, K., Karvosenoja, N., Maffeis, G., Martilli, A., Rasoloharimahefa, M., Real, E., Viaene, P., Volta, M., and White, L.: Overview of current regional and local scale air quality modelling practices: Assessment and planning tools in the EU, Environ. Sci. Policy, 65, 13–21, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2016.03.013 , 2016. 

Thunis, P., Clappier, A., Tarrason, L., Cuvelier, C., Monteiro, A., Pisoni, E., Wesseling, J., Belis, C. A., Pirovano, G., Janssen, S., Guerreiro, C., and Peduzzi, E.: Source apportionment to support air quality planning: Strengths and weaknesses of existing approaches, Environ. Int., 130, 104825, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.05.019 , 2019. 

Thurston, G. D., Kipen, H., Annesi-Maesano, I., Balmes, J., Brook, R. D., Cromar, K., De Matteis, S., Forastiere, F., Forsberg, B., Frampton, M. W., Grigg, J., Heederik, D., Kelly, F. J., N., K., Laumbach, R., Peters, A., Rajagopalan, S. T., Rich, D., Ritz, B., Samet, J. M., Sandstrom, T., Sigsgaard, T., Sunyer, J., and Brunekreef, B.: A joint ERA/ATS policy statement: What constitutes an adverse health effect of air pollution? An analytical framework, Eur. Respir. J., 49, 1600419, https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.00419-2016 , 2017. 

Thygesen, M., Holst, G. J., Hansen, B., Geels, C., Kalkbrenner, A., Schendel, D., Brandt, J., Pedersen, C. B., and Dalsgaard, S.: Exposure to air pollution in early childhood and the association with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Environ. Res., 183, 108930, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2019.108930 , 2020. 

Tinarelli, G. L. and Trini Castelli, S.: Assessment of the Sensitivity to the Input Conditions with a Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model in the UDINEE Project, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 171, 491–512, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-018-0413-z , 2019. 

Toon, O. B., Bardeen, C. G., Robock, A., Xia, L., and Kristensen, H.: Rapidly expanding nuclear arsenals in Pakistan and India portend regional and global catastrophe, Science Advances, 5, eaay5478, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aay5478 , 2019. 

Torras Ortiz, S.: A hybrid dispersion modelling approach for quantifying and assessing air quality in Germany with focus on urban background and kerbside concentrations, dissertation, Universtät Stuttgart, Stuttgart, https://doi.org/10.18419/opus-1990 , 2012. 

Torras Ortiz, S. and Friedrich, R.: A modelling approach for estimating background pollutant concentrations in urban areas, Atmos. Pollut. Res., 4, 147–156, https://doi.org/10.5094/apr.2013.015 , 2013. 

Trusilova, K., Schubert, S., Wouters, H., Früh, B., Grossman-Clarke, S., Demuzere, M., and Becker, P.: The urban land use in the COSMO-CLM model: a comparison of three parameterizations for Berlin, Meteorol. Z., 25, 231–244, https://doi.org/10.1127/metz/2015/0587 , 2016. 

Tsegas, G., Moussiopoulos, N., Barmpas, F., Akylas, V., and Douros, I.: An integrated numerical methodology for describing multiscale interactions on atmospheric flow and pollutant dispersion in the urban atmospheric boundary layer, J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerod., 144, 191–201, 2015. 

Turco, R. P., Toon, O. B., Ackerman, T. P., Pollack, J. B., and Sagan, C.: Nuclear Winter: Global Consequences of Multiple Nuclear Explosions, Science, 222, 1283–1992, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.222.4630.1283 , 1983. 

UNECE: Protocols, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, https://unece.org/protocols (last access: 21 February 2022), 2020. 

Van Dingenen, R., Dentener, F., Crippa, M., Leitao, J., Marmer, E., Rao, S., Solazzo, E., and Valentini, L.: TM5-FASST: a global atmospheric source–receptor model for rapid impact analysis of emission changes on air quality and short-lived climate pollutants, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 16173–16211, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16173-2018 , 2018. 

van Doremalen, N., Bushmaker, T., and Munster, V. J.: Stability of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) under different environmental conditions, Euro Surveill., 18, 20590, https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.es2013.18.38.20590 , 2013. 

van Doremalen, N., Bushmaker, T., Morris, D. H., Holbrook, M. G., Gamble, A., Williamson, B. N., Tamin, A., Harcourt, J. L., Thornburg, N. J., Gerber, S. I., Lloyd-Smith, J. O., de Wit, E., and Munster, V. J.: Aerosol and surface stability of SARS-CoV-2 as compared with SARS-CoV-1, New Engl. J. Med., 382, 1564–1567, 2020. 

Vardoulakis, S., Giagloglou, E., Steinle, S., Davis, A., Sleeuwenhoek, A., Galea, K. S., Dixon, K., and Crawford, J. O.: Indoor Exposure to Selected Air Pollutants in the Home Environment: A Systematic Review, Int. J. Env. Res. Pub. He., 17, 8972, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17238972 , 2020. 

Vautard, R., Buitjes, P., Thunis, P., Cuvelier, C., Bedonj, M., Bessagnet, B., Honore, C., Moussiopoulos, N., Pirovano, M., Schaap, M., Stern, R., Tarrason, L., and Wind, P.: Evaluation and intercomparison of Ozone and PM 10 simulations by several chemistry transport models over four European cities within the CityDelta project, Atmos. Environ., 41, 173–188, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2006.07.039 , 2007. 

Veratti, G., Fabbi, S., Bigi, A., Lupascu, A., Tinarelli, G., Teggi, S., Brusasca, G., Butler, T. M., and Ghermandi, G.: Towards the coupling of a chemical transport model with a micro-scale Lagrangian modelling system for evaluation of urban NO x levels in a European hotspot, Atmos. Environ., 223, 117285, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.117285 , 2020. 

Viana, M., Kuhlbusch, T. A. J., Querol, X., Alastuey, A., Harrison, R. M., Hopke, P. K., Winiwarter, W., Vallius, M., Szidat, S., Prévôt, A. S. H., Hueglin, C., Bloemen, H., Wåhlin, P., Vecchi, R., Miranda, A. I., Kasper-Giebl, A., Maenhaut, W., and Hitzenberger, R.: Source apportionment of particulate matter in Europe: A review of methods and results, J. Aerosol Sci., 39, 827–849, 2008. 

Villeneuve, P. J., Jerrett, M., Su, J., Burnett, R. T., Chen, H., Brook, J., Wheeler, A. J., Cakmak, S., and Goldberg, M. S.: A cohort study of intra-urban variations in volatile organic compounds and mortality, Toronto, Canada, Environ. Pollut., 183, 30–39, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2012.12.022 , 2013. 

Vodonos, A., Awad, Y. A., and Schwartz, J.: The concentration-response between long-term PM 2.5 exposure and mortality; A meta-regression approach, Environ. Res., 166, 677–689, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2018.06.021 , 2018. 

Voss, V., Schlünzen, K.H., and Grawe, D.: Atmospheric model data (ATMODAT) - creation of a model data standard for obstacle resolving models, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis I., Hatfield, UK, p. 128, https://doi.org/10.18745/PB.22217 , 2020. 

Vouitsis, I., Ntziachristos, L., Samaras, C., and Samaras, Z.: Particulate mass and number emission factors for road vehicles based on literature data and relevant gap filling methods, Atmos. Environ., 168, 75–89, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2017.09.010 , 2017. 

Wang, M., Beelen, R., Stafoggia, M., Raaschou-Nielsen, O., Andersen, Z. J., Hoffmann, B., Fischer, P., Houthuijs, D., Nieuwenhuijsen, M., Weinmayr, G., Vineis, P., Xun, W. W., Dimakopoulou, K., Samoli, E., Laatikainen, T., Lanki, T., Turunen, A. W., Oftedal, B., Schwarze, P., Aamodt, G., Penell, J., Faire, U. d., Korek, M., Leander, K., Pershagen, G., Pedersen, N. L., Östenson, C.-G., Fratiglioni, L., Eriksen, K. T., Sørensen, M., Tjønneland, A., Bueno-de-Mesquita, B., Eeftens, M., Bots, M. L., Meliefste, K., Krämer, U., Heinrich, J., Sugiri, D., Key, T., Hoogh, K. d., Wolf, K., Peters, A., Cyrys, J., Jaensch, A., Concin, H., Nagel, G., Tsai, M.-Y., Phuleria, H., Ineichen, A., Künzli, N., Probst-Hensch, N., Schaffner, E., Vilier, A., Clavel-Chapelon, F., Declerq, C., Ricceri, F., Sacerdote, C., Marcon, A., Galassi, C., Migliore, E., Ranzi, A., Cesaroni, G., Badaloni, C., Forastiere, F., Katsoulis, M., Trichopoulou, A., Keuken, M., Jedynska, A., Kooter, I. M., Kukkonen, J., Sokhi, R. S., Brunekreef, B., Katsouyanni, K., and Hoek, G.: Long-term exposure to elemental constituents of particulate matter and cardiovascular mortality in 19 European cohorts: Results from the ESCAPE and TRANSPHORM projects, Environ. Int., 66, 97–106, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2014.01.026 , 2014. 

Wang, K., Yahya, K., Zhang, Y., Hogrefe, C., Pouliot, G., Knote, C., Hodzic, A., San Jose, R., Perez, J. L., Jiménez-Guerrero, P., Baro, R., Makar, P., and Bennartz, R.: A multi-model assessment for the 2006 and 2010 simulations under the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII) Phase 2 over North America: Part II. Evaluation of column variable predictions using satellite data, Atmos. Environ., 115, 587–603, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.07.044 , 2015. 

Wang, P., Liu, Y., Qin, Z., and Zhang, G.: A novel hybrid forecasting model for PM10 and SO2 daily concentrations, Sci. Total Environ., 505, 1202–1212, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.10.078 , 2015. 

Wang, Q., Li, B., Benmarhnia, T., Hajat, S., Ren, M., Liu, T., Knibbs, L. D., Zhang, H., Bao, J., Zhang, Y., Zhao, Q., and Huang, C.: Independent and Combined Effects of Heatwaves and PM 2.5 on Preterm Birth in Guangzhou, China: A Survival Analysis, Environ. Health Persp., 128, 017006, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp5117 , 2020. 

Watkiss, P. and Downing, T.: The social cost of carbon: valuation estimates and their use in UK policy, Integr. Assess., 8, 85–105, 2008. 

Weichenthal, S., Olaniyan, T., Christidis, T., Lavigne, E., Hatzopoulou, M., van Ryswyk, K., Tjepkema, M., and Burnett, R.: Within-city Spatial Variations in Ambient Ultrafine Particle Concentrations and Incident Brain Tumors in Adults, Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.), 31, 177–183, https://doi.org/10.1097/ede.0000000000001137 , 2020. 

Weinmayr, G., Romeo, E., De Sario, M., Weiland, S. K., and Forastiere, F.: Short-Term Effects of PM 10 and NO 2 on Respiratory Health among Children with Asthma or Asthma-like Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, Environ. Health Persp., 118, 449–457, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.0900844 , 2010. 

Werhahn, J., Forkel, R., Emeis, S., Reifeltshammer, R., and Uhrner, U.: Air quality simulations in an urban area within a smart air quality network by the large eddy simulation model PALM-4U, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 126, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Weschler, C. J. and Carslaw, N.: Indoor Chemistry, Environ. Sci. Technol., 52, 2419–2428, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b06387 , 2018. 

WHO: Health risks of air pollution in Europe – HRAPIE project; Recommendations for concentration–response functions for cost–benefit analysis of particulate matter, ozone and nitrogen dioxide, WHO Regional Office for Europe, https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/environment-and- health/air-quality/publications/2013/health-risks-of-air- pollution-in-europe-hrapie-project.-recommendations-for-concentrationresponse-pollution-in-europe-hrapie-project.-recommendations-for-concentrationresponse- functions-for-costbenefit-analysis-of-particulate-matter,-ozone-and-nitrogen-dioxide (last access: 22 February 2022), 2013a. 

WHO: Review of evidence on health aspects of air pollution – REVIHAAP Project: Technical Report, Regional Office Europe, Copenhagen, https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/193108/REVIHAAP-Final-technical-report-final-version.pdf (last access: 25 February 2022), 2013b. 

WHO: Ambient air pollution: A global assessment of exposure and burden of disease, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 131 pp., https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/250141 (last access: 25 February 2022), 2016. 

WHO: WHO global air quality guidelines. Particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide, ISBN 978-92-4-003422-8 (electronic version), https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/345329 (last access: 25 February 2022), 2021. 

Williams, R., Duvall, R., Kilaru, V., Hagler, G., Hassinger, L., Benedict, K., Rice, J., Kaufman, A., Judge, R., Pierce, G., Allen, G., Bergin, M., Cohen, R. C., Fransioli, P., Gerboles, M., Habre, R., Hannigan, M., Jack, D., Louie, P., Martin, N. A., Penza, M., Polidori, A., Subramanian, R., Ray, K., Schauer, J., Seto, E., Thurston, G., Turner, J., Wexler, A. S., and Ning, Z.: Deliberating performance targets workshop: Potential paths for emerging PM 2.5 and O3 air sensor progress, Atmos. Environ. X, 2, 100031, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2019.100031 , 2019. 

Winnes, H., Fridell, E., and Moldanova, J.: Effects of Marine Exhaust Gas Scrubbers on Gas and Particle Emissions, J. Mar. Sci. Eng., 8, 299, https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8040299 , 2020. 

WMO: Coupled Chemistry-Meteorology/Climate Modelling (CCMM): Status and Relevance for Numerical Weather Prediction, Atmospheric Pollution and Climate Research, Geneva, Switzerland, 23–25 February 2015, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, ISBN 978-92-63-11172-2, 165 pp., 2016. 

WMO: WMO Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Implementation Plan: 2016–2023, Geneva, Switzerland, 84 pp., ISBN 978-92-63-11156-2, https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=10439 (last access: 11 March 2022), 2017. 

WMO: Best Practices and Training Materials for Chemical Weather/Air Quality Forecasting (CW-AQF), WMO Geneva, Chair, Publications Board, World Meteorological Organization 7 bis, avenue de la Paix – P.O. Box 2300 – CH 1211 Geneva 2 – Switzerland, ISBN: 978-92-63-11262-0, 2020. 

WMO: Review on Meteorological and Air Quality Factors Affecting the COVID-19 Pandemic, World Meteorological Organization, WMO-No. 1262, ISBN: 978-92-63-11262-0, 2021. 

Wolf, K., Stafoggia, M., Cesaroni, G., Andersen, Z. J., Beelen, R., Galassi, C., Hennig, F., Migliore, E., Penell, J., Ricceri, F., Sørensen, M., Turunen, A. W., Hampel, R., Hoffmann, B., Kälsch, H., Laatikainen, T., Pershagen, G., Raaschou-Nielsen, O., Sacerdote, C., Vineis, P., Badaloni, C., Cyrys, J., Hoogh, K. d., Eriksen, K. T., Jedynska, A., Keuken, M., Kooter, I., Lanki, T., Ranzi, A., Sugiri, D., Tsai, M.-Y., Wang, M., Hoek, G., Brunekreef, B., Peters, A., and Forastiere, F.: Long-term Exposure to Particulate Matter Constituents and the Incidence of Coronary Events in 11 European Cohorts, Epidemiology, 26, 565–574, https://doi.org/10.1097/ede.0000000000000300 , 2015. 

Wolf, T., Pettersson, L. H., and Esau, I.: A very high-resolution assessment and modelling of urban air quality, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 625–647, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-625-2020 , 2020. 

Wolf-Grosse, T., Esau, I., and Reuder, J.: Sensitivity of local air quality to the interplay between small- and large-scale circulations: a large-eddy simulation study, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 7261–7276, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7261-2017 , 2017. 

World Meteorological Congress: Abridged Final Report of the Eighteenth Session, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) – WMO, WMO-No. 1236, ISBN: 978-92-63-11236-1, 2019. 

Wouters, H., Demuzere, M., Blahak, U., Fortuniak, K., Maiheu, B., Camps, J., Tielemans, D., and van Lipzig, N. P. M.: The efficient urban canopy dependency parametrization (SURY) v1.0 for atmospheric modelling: description and application with the COSMO-CLM model for a Belgian summer, Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 3027–3054, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-3027-2016 , 2016. 

WWRP: Seamless prediction of the earth system: From minutes to months, WMO, Geneva, No. 1156, 471 pp., ISBN: 9789263111562, 2015. 

Xie, J. and Zhu, Y.: Association between ambient temperature and COVID-19 infection in 122 cities from China, Sci. Total Environ., 724, 138201, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138201 , 2020. 

Xie, Y., Dai, H. C., Zhang, Y. X., Wu, Y. Z., Hanaoka, T., and Masui, T.: Comparison of health and economic impacts of PM 2.5 and ozone pollution in China, Environ. Int., 130, 104881, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.05.075 , 2019. 

Xu, C., Kan, H.-D., Fan, Y.-N., Chen, R.-J., Liu, J.-H., Li, Y.-F., Zhang, Y., Ji, A.-L., and Cai, T.-J. Acute effects of air pollution on enteritis admissions in Xi'an, China, J. Toxicol. Env. Heal. A, 79, 1183–1189, 2016. 

Yang, L. Q., Chen, G., Zhao, J. L., and Rytter, N. G. M.: Ship Speed Optimization Considering Ocean Currents to Enhance Environmental Sustainability in Maritime Shipping, Sustainability, 12, 3649, https://doi.org/10.3390/su12093649 , 2020. 

Yang, Y., Pun, V. C., Sun, S., Lin, H., Mason, T. G., and Qiu, H.: Particulate matter components and health: a literature review on exposure assessment, Journal of Public Health and Emergency, 2, 14, https://doi.org/10.21037/jphe.2018.03.03 , 2018. 

Zacharof, N., Doulgeris, S., Myrsinias, I., Toumasatos, Z., Kolokotronis, D., Dimaratos, A., Mellios, G., and Samaras, Z.: MILE 21: Raising user awareness on on-road fuel consumption, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 36, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Żak, M., Melaniuk-Wolny, E., and Widziewicz, K.: The exposure of pedestrians, drivers and road transport passengers to nitrogen dioxide, Atmos. Pollut. Res., 8, 781–790, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2016.10.011 , 2017. 

Zanini, P., Chevalier, J., Lebegue, B., Allard, J., and Lascaux, F.: High-resolution mapping of urban air quality based on low-cost sensors and neural network model: application to Grenoble City, in: Proceedings of 12th International Conference on Air Quality, Science and Application, edited by: Moussiopoulos, N., Sokhi, R. S., Tsegas, G., Fragkou, E., Chourdakis, E., and Pipilis, I., Hatfield, UK, p. 112, https://doi.org/10.18745/pb.22217 , 2020. 

Zanobetti, A. and Schwartz, J.: The effect of fine and coarse particulate air pollution on mortality: A national analysis, Environ. Health Persp., 117, 898–903, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.0800108 , 2009.  

Zhan, Y., Luo, Y., Deng, X., Chen, H., Grieneisen, M. L., Shen, X., Zhu, L., and Zhang, M.: Spatiotemporal prediction of continuous daily PM 2.5 concentrations across China using a spatially explicit machine learning algorithm, Atmos. Environ., 155, 129–139, 2017. 

Zhang, X., Chen, X., and Zhang, X.: The impact of exposure to air pollution on cognitive performance, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 115, 9193–9197, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1809474115 , 2018. 

Zhang, Y., Bocquet, M., Mallet, V., Seigneur, C., and Baklanov, A.: Real-time air quality forecasting, part I: History, techniques, and current status, Atmos. Environ., 60, 632–655, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2012.06.031 , 2012a. 

Zhang, Y., Bocquet, M., Mallet, V., Seigneur, C., and Baklanov, A.: Real-time air quality forecasting, part II: State of the science, current research needs, and future prospects, Atmos. Environ., 60, 656–676, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2012.02.041 , 2012b. 

Zhang, Y., Hong, C., Yahya, K., Li, Q., Zhang, Q., and He, K.: Comprehensive evaluation of multi-year real-time air quality forecasting using an online-coupled meteorology-chemistry model over southeastern United States, Atmos. Environ., 138, 162–182, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2016.05.006 , 2016. 

Zhao, B., Zheng, H., Wang, S., Smith, K. R., Lu, X., Aunan, K., Gu, Y., Wang, Y., Ding, D., Xing, J., Fu, X., Yang, X., Liou, K.-N., and Hao, J.: Change in household fuels dominates the decrease in PM 2.5 exposure and premature mortality in China in 2005–2015, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 115, 12401–12406, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1812955115 , 2018. 

Zhao, J., Birmili, W., Wehner, B., Daniels, A., Weinhold, K., Wang, L., Merkel, M., Kecorius, S., Tuch, T., Franck, U., Hussein, T., and Wiedensohler, A.: Particle Mass Concentrations and Number Size Distributions in 40 Homes in Germany: Indoor-to-Outdoor Relationships, Diurnal and Seasonal Variation, Aerosol Air Qual. Res., 20, 576–589, https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2019.09.0444 , 2020a. 

Zhao, J. R., Zhang, Y., Patton, A. P., Ma, W. C., Kan, H. D., Wu, L. B., Fung, F., Wang, S. X., Ding, D., and Walker, K.: Projection of ship emissions and their impact on air quality in 2030 in Yangtze River delta, China, Environ. Pollut., 263, 114643, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114643 , 2020b. 

Zhu, Y., Xie, J., Huang, F., and Cao, L.: Association between short-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 infection: Evidence from China, Sci. Total Environ., 727, 138704, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138704 , 2020. 

• Introduction
• Scope and structure of the review
• Air pollution sources and emissions
• Air quality observations and instrumentation
• Air quality modelling from local to regional scales
• Interactions between air quality, meteorology, and climate
• Air quality exposure and health
• Air quality management and policy development
• Discussion, synthesis, and recommendations
• Conclusions and future direction
• Data availability
• Author contributions
• Competing interests
• Acknowledgements
• Financial support
• Review statement

Suggestions or feedback?

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Machine learning
• Social justice
• Black holes
• Classes and programs

Departments

• Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Brain and Cognitive Sciences
• Architecture
• Political Science
• Mechanical Engineering

Centers, Labs, & Programs

• Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
• Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
• Lincoln Laboratory
• School of Architecture + Planning
• School of Engineering
• School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
• Sloan School of Management
• School of Science
• MIT Schwarzman College of Computing

Study finds natural sources of air pollution exceed air quality guidelines in many regions

Press contact :.

Previous image Next image

Alongside climate change, air pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats to human health. Tiny particles known as particulate matter or PM2.5 (named for their diameter of just 2.5 micrometers or less) are a particularly hazardous type of pollutant. These particles are produced from a variety of sources, including wildfires and the burning of fossil fuels, and can enter our bloodstream, travel deep into our lungs, and cause respiratory and cardiovascular damage. Exposure to particulate matter is responsible for millions of premature deaths globally every year.

In response to the increasing body of evidence on the detrimental effects of PM2.5, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently updated its air quality guidelines , lowering its recommended annual PM2.5 exposure guideline by 50 percent, from 10 micrograms per meter cubed (μm 3 ) to 5 μm 3 . These updated guidelines signify an aggressive attempt to promote the regulation and reduction of anthropogenic emissions in order to improve global air quality.

A new study by researchers in the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering explores if the updated air quality guideline of 5 μm 3 is realistically attainable across different regions of the world, particularly if anthropogenic emissions are aggressively reduced. 

The first question the researchers wanted to investigate was to what degree moving to a no-fossil-fuel future would help different regions meet this new air quality guideline.

“The answer we found is that eliminating fossil-fuel emissions would improve air quality around the world, but while this would help some regions come into compliance with the WHO guidelines, for many other regions high contributions from natural sources would impede their ability to meet that target,” says senior author Colette Heald, the Germeshausen Professor in the MIT departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. 

The study by Heald, Professor Jesse Kroll, and graduate students Sidhant Pai and Therese Carter, published June 6 in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters , finds that over 90 percent of the global population is currently exposed to average annual concentrations that are higher than the recommended guideline. The authors go on to demonstrate that over 50 percent of the world’s population would still be exposed to PM2.5 concentrations that exceed the new air quality guidelines, even in the absence of all anthropogenic emissions.

This is due to the large natural sources of particulate matter — dust, sea salt, and organics from vegetation — that still exist in the atmosphere when anthropogenic emissions are removed from the air. 

“If you live in parts of India or northern Africa that are exposed to large amounts of fine dust, it can be challenging to reduce PM2.5 exposures below the new guideline,” says Sidhant Pai, co-lead author and graduate student. “This study challenges us to rethink the value of different emissions abatement controls across different regions and suggests the need for a new generation of air quality metrics that can enable targeted decision-making.”

The researchers conducted a series of model simulations to explore the viability of achieving the updated PM2.5 guidelines worldwide under different emissions reduction scenarios, using 2019 as a representative baseline year. 

Their model simulations used a suite of different anthropogenic sources that could be turned on and off to study the contribution of a particular source. For instance, the researchers conducted a simulation that turned off all human-based emissions in order to determine the amount of PM2.5 pollution that could be attributed to natural and fire sources. By analyzing the chemical composition of the PM2.5 aerosol in the atmosphere (e.g., dust, sulfate, and black carbon), the researchers were also able to get a more accurate understanding of the most important PM2.5 sources in a particular region. For example, elevated PM2.5 concentrations in the Amazon were shown to predominantly consist of carbon-containing aerosols from sources like deforestation fires. Conversely, nitrogen-containing aerosols were prominent in Northern Europe, with large contributions from vehicles and fertilizer usage. The two regions would thus require very different policies and methods to improve their air quality. 

“Analyzing particulate pollution across individual chemical species allows for mitigation and adaptation decisions that are specific to the region, as opposed to a one-size-fits-all approach, which can be challenging to execute without an understanding of the underlying importance of different sources,” says Pai. 

When the WHO air quality guidelines were last updated in 2005, they had a significant impact on environmental policies. Scientists could look at an area that was not in compliance and suggest high-level solutions to improve the region’s air quality. But as the guidelines have tightened, globally-applicable solutions to manage and improve air quality are no longer as evident. 

“Another benefit of speciating is that some of the particles have different toxicity properties that are correlated to health outcomes,” says Therese Carter, co-lead author and graduate student. “It’s an important area of research that this work can help motivate. Being able to separate out that piece of the puzzle can provide epidemiologists with more insights on the different toxicity levels and the impact of specific particles on human health.”

The authors view these new findings as an opportunity to expand and iterate on the current guidelines.  

“Routine and global measurements of the chemical composition of PM2.5 would give policymakers information on what interventions would most effectively improve air quality in any given location,” says Jesse Kroll, a professor in the MIT departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Chemical Engineering. “But it would also provide us with new insights into how different chemical species in PM2.5 affect human health."

“I hope that as we learn more about the health impacts of these different particles, our work and that of the broader atmospheric chemistry community can help inform strategies to reduce the pollutants that are most harmful to human health,” adds Heald.

Share this news article on:

Related links.

• Atmospheric Chemistry and Composition Modeling Group
• Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
• Department of Chemical Engineering

Related Topics

• Sustainability
• Public health
• Climate change
• Chemical engineering
• Earth and atmospheric sciences
• Atmospheric chemistry
• Environment
• Computer modeling
• Civil and environmental engineering

Related Articles

Study: Indoor air cleaners fall short on removing volatile organic compounds

New approach could change how we track extreme air pollution events

Tackling air pollution in India and the developing world

Previous item Next item

More MIT News

A biomedical engineer pivots from human movement to women’s health

Read full story →

MIT tops among single-campus universities in US patents granted

A new way to detect radiation involving cheap ceramics

A crossroads for computing at MIT

Growing our donated organ supply

New AI method captures uncertainty in medical images

• More news on MIT News homepage →

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, USA

• Map (opens in new window)
• Events (opens in new window)
• People (opens in new window)
• Careers (opens in new window)
• Accessibility
• Social Media Hub
• MIT on Facebook
• MIT on YouTube
• MIT on Instagram

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• My Account Login
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• Open access
• Published: 04 October 2021

A conversation on the impacts and mitigation of air pollution

Nature Communications volume  12 , Article number:  5823 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

3132 Accesses

1 Altmetric

Metrics details

Air pollution and the associated health impacts affect millions of people around the world. In this Q&A, Professor Haikun Wang, an expert on the health risks of air pollution and climate change at Nanjing University, shares with Nature Communications their thoughts on the impacts of air pollution and the policies needed to tackle emissions.

1. What aspect of air pollution concerns you the most?

My primary concern is the impacts, especially the health impacts of air pollution and their socioeconomic drivers, such as trade, population aging, income and etc. Air pollution has become a leading environmental risk factor affecting urban and rural populations around the world. The Global Burden of Diseases Study estimates that ambient (outdoor) air pollution of particulate matter and ozone is responsible for nearly 6.7 million premature deaths worldwide in 2019. And the majority of these deaths occurred in developing countries with large populations and serious air pollution such as India and China. The health impacts of air pollution are not only affected by the exposure level but are also closely related to the exposed population, social and economic factors, which therefore must be considered in order to formulate effective air pollution control policies to protect human health.

2. What are your thoughts on current policy enforcement, and how well or not this is being achieved?

Substantial health benefits have been achieved around the world through implementing air pollution control policies during the last several decades. For example, the USA Clean Air Act was implemented in the 1970s, and the resulting cleaner air in 2020 has been estimated to prevent ~230,000 deaths. The historical control policies on vehicle emissions in China from 1998 to 2015 have also led to substantial reductions in air pollution impacts - the number of deaths attributable to air pollution in 2015 would have been around 510,000 higher than without those controls. More recently, since the promulgation in 2013 of China’s toughest-ever Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan, the PM 2.5 concentration has substantially declined, by around 30% in 2017.

However, there are still major challenges ahead. Developed countries with cleaner air should continue to reduce pollution, because recent epidemiological studies have found that reducing PM 2.5 concentrations further from an already low level would bring much greater health benefits that might cover their cost of pollution control policies. For developing countries, they might bear the impact of pollution transfer from developed countries via outsourcing and international trade, but equally their pollution might also affect other regions through long-range transboundary transportation. The capacity of supporting scientific decision-making, supervision and management also needs to be strengthened to ensure the full implementation of air pollution control policies in developing countries. This highlights the requirement for successful collaboration between scientists, engineers, and policy makers from regional to global scales to develop cost-effective technologies and policies to address these challenges.

3. How effective is voluntary action vs government mandated policy in reducing air pollution?

Scholars and policy makers have debated the effectiveness of voluntary action and government mandated policies in mitigating environmental pollution for many years. I personally think that mandatory powers of government are currently more effective in reducing air pollution. Firms and citizens usually maximize their self-interest but lack the motivation to pay extra money to mitigate air pollution, because the costs of environmental pollution (e.g., negative health impacts of air pollution) are usually not fully evaluated or included in their cost (a.k.a. indirect cost). It could be problematic to expect too much from voluntary actions to reduce air pollution. Of course, mandated policies also have limitations. For example, they might have negative implications on the competitiveness of firms such as causing reduced profits margins. Mandated policies might also be easily influenced by the decisions of individual governments, such as President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. From this perspective, we need to study how to combine the voluntary action with mandated policy more effectively in the future, especially as the public awareness for environmental protection is generally increasing with social-economic development.

4. Socioeconomic factors such as income, education and wealth have been shown to play a key role in public health air pollution impacts. What needs to be done to ensure that policies developed are equitable and just?

Socioeconomic factors could affect air pollution and related health burdens, not only within a country, but also across various countries through trade. Recently, air pollutant emission levels have grown rapidly in some developing countries but stabilized or even decreased in many developed countries. This is partly because developing countries produce and export emission-intensive products to support the consumption in developed countries. Of course, such trade would increase economic efficiency and benefit both developed and developing countries. However, the environmental costs of developing countries are much higher than that of developed countries relative to their respective economic gains. Developing countries experience air pollution exposure inequality through global trade. Similar problems might also exist in domestic trade between developed and developing regions within a country like China.

Such environmental inequalities reflect the different economic development stages of trading partners. Developing countries or regions are often not able to afford technological innovations needed to mitigate pollution. Thus, establishing an effective collaborative framework between developed and developing countries to technologically and financially support pollution control and R&D efforts in developing countries would help to improve the overall quality of their exports while mitigating regional inequality. Additionally, a compensation scheme based on the principle “who benefits, who compensates” may be a practical solution to allocate the ecological burdens equally among countries or regions.

5. Technological advances to mitigate air pollution such as retrofitting coal-fired plants are touted as potential cost-effective solutions. What are the most promising recent advances to mitigate against pollutants?

As fossil fuels are still the major energy source supporting the global economic development, existing coal-fired power plants and fuel vehicles can not be replaced instantly. The traditional end-of-pipe pollution control technologies, or process control technologies, are still very important for air pollution control, especially in some developing countries such as China and India. In the short term, technological advances such as retrofitting coal-fired plants might be cost-effective solutions. However, as more aggressive pollution controls tend to cost more money, the marginal abatement cost usually go up rapidly with emission levels getting lower. This has already happened in some developed countries and also in China’s developed regions like Shanghai. From a technical point of view, clean and low-carbon energy, such as wind and solar energy, should be the ultimate solution to the energy needs and air pollution in the future. Especially in the context of addressing global climate change, application of the low-carbon energies would bring the synergistic effect of reducing CO 2 , CH 4 and other greenhouse gas emissions. Researches have illustrated that renewable energies are more cost-effective compared to traditional fossil fuels if we consider the cost of their impacts (e.g., health impacts).

6. Do you hold out more hope for technological solutions, or political action, as a means to reduce air pollution?

In my opinion, they are equally important. On the one hand, technological solutions are the foundation, which provides us with the basic tools for air pollution control. Good policies and management, on the other hand, can not only accelerate the application of advanced technologies but also make these tools work more efficiently. Developed countries usually have relatively higher social and economic management efficiency. They should focus more on the development of new technologies to achieve further reductions in air pollution, and provide technological support for developing countries. Policy measures should also be strengthened to mitigate direct and indirect pollution transfer accompanied by the outsourcing of emission-intensive industries from developed countries to developing ones. For developing countries, they need to strengthen their political determination to protect the environment and public health, and minimize air pollution while the economy is growing. At the same time, they should learn and adopt advanced technologies and management experiences from developed countries, and maximize the effect of their existing technological solutions.

7. Finally, how would you like collaboration between physical, health and policy scientists working on air pollution to improve?

Air pollution, by definition, includes the emission, transformation, impact, and mitigation of multiple air pollutants, which involves physical, health, and policy sciences. Therefore, we should, at first, understand that a robust collaboration between scientists from these fields is crucial to successfully address air pollution issues. For example, if one has a research issue/objective to evaluate the health effects of a specific air pollution policy, one might need help from other natural and/or social scientists. A comprehensive study on air pollution is usually impossible to be completed by one individual scientist or the scientific community only, and cooperation with the public, policy makers, and even private corporations are sometimes necessary.

Second, the effective cooperation between scientists from different fields (often with different ideologies, methods and tools) is challenging. Sufficient communication with colleagues of different knowledge backgrounds in atmospheric science, public health, and policy analysis is essential. It would help you to understand the tools and data each scientist can bring, and to connect these data and tools effectively across disciplines. Only with this, the technical roadmap and detailed approaches (e.g., including policy scenario analysis–emissions–atmospheric transport–health effects–cost/benefit) can be determined for a study on air pollution policy.

Third, we should also keep in mind that such research that integrates physical, medical, and social sciences on air pollution might never be perfect. But they are the effective (if not the only) solutions to comprehensive issues like air pollution, and the results would become more reliable with the improvement in the individual fields and the collaboration among physical, health and policy scientists.

Finally, data and results should be interpreted and shared by collaborators to keep transparency. Clear communication of research results and their uncertainty with the public and policy makers is also a must. I believe that, with robust scientific results and transparent policy-making process, we can ultimately design and implement more efficient air pollution policies.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

A conversation on the impacts and mitigation of air pollution. Nat Commun 12 , 5823 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25401-0

Download citation

Published : 04 October 2021

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25401-0

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Air Pollution

Our overview of indoor and outdoor air pollution.

By Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser

This article was first published in October 2017 and last revised in February 2024.

Air pollution is one of the world's largest health and environmental problems. It develops in two contexts: indoor (household) air pollution and outdoor air pollution.

In this topic page, we look at the aggregate picture of air pollution – both indoor and outdoor. We also have dedicated topic pages that look in more depth at these subjects:

Indoor Air Pollution

Look in detail at the data and research on the health impacts of Indoor Air Pollution, attributed deaths, and its causes across the world

Outdoor Air Pollution

Look in detail at the data and research on exposure to Outdoor Air Pollution, its health impacts, and attributed deaths across the world

Look in detail at the data and research on energy consumption, its impacts around the world today, and how this has changed over time

See all interactive charts on Air Pollution ↓

Other research and writing on air pollution on Our World in Data:

• Air pollution: does it get worse before it gets better?
• Data Review: How many people die from air pollution?
• Energy poverty and indoor air pollution: a problem as old as humanity that we can end within our lifetime
• How many people do not have access to clean fuels for cooking?
• What are the safest and cleanest sources of energy?
• What the history of London’s air pollution can tell us about the future of today’s growing megacities
• When will countries phase out coal power?

Air pollution is one of the world's leading risk factors for death

Air pollution is responsible for millions of deaths each year.

Air pollution – the combination of outdoor and indoor particulate matter and ozone – is a risk factor for many of the leading causes of death, including heart disease, stroke, lower respiratory infections, lung cancer, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), in its Global Burden of Disease study, provides estimates of the number of deaths attributed to the range of risk factors for disease. 1

In the visualization, we see the number of deaths per year attributed to each risk factor. This chart shows the global total but can be explored for any country or region using the "change country" toggle.

Air pollution is one of the leading risk factors for death. In low-income countries, it is often very near the top of the list (or is the leading risk factor).

Air pollution contributes to one in ten deaths globally

In recent years, air pollution has contributed to one in ten deaths globally. 2

In the map shown here, we see the share of deaths attributed to air pollution across the world.

Air pollution is one of the leading risk factors for disease burden

Air pollution is one of the leading risk factors for death. But its impacts go even further; it is also one of the main contributors to the global disease burden.

Global disease burden takes into account not only years of life lost to early death but also the number of years lived in poor health.

In the visualization, we see risk factors ranked in order of DALYs – disability-adjusted life years – the metric used to assess disease burden. Again, air pollution is near the top of the list, making it one of the leading risk factors for poor health across the world.

Air pollution not only takes years from people's lives but also has a large effect on the quality of life while they're still living.

Who is most affected by air pollution?

Death rates from air pollution are highest in low-to-middle-income countries.

Air pollution is a health and environmental issue across all countries of the world but with large differences in severity.

In the interactive map, we show death rates from air pollution across the world, measured as the number of deaths per 100,000 people in a given country or region.

The burden of air pollution tends to be greater across both low and middle-income countries for two reasons: indoor pollution rates tend to be high in low-income countries due to a reliance on solid fuels for cooking, and outdoor air pollution tends to increase as countries industrialize and shift from low to middle incomes.

A map of the number of deaths from air pollution by country can be found here .

How are death rates from air pollution changing?

Death rates from air pollution are falling – mainly due to improvements in indoor pollution.

In the visualization, we show global death rates from air pollution over time – shown as the total air pollution – in addition to the individual contributions from outdoor and indoor pollution.

Globally, we see that in recent decades, the death rates from total air pollution have declined: since 1990, death rates have nearly halved. But, as we see from the breakdown, this decline has been primarily driven by improvements in indoor air pollution.

Death rates from indoor air pollution have seen an impressive decline, while improvements in outdoor pollution have been much more modest.

You can explore this data for any country or region using the "change country" toggle on the interactive chart.

Interactive charts on air pollution

Murray, C. J., Aravkin, A. Y., Zheng, P., Abbafati, C., Abbas, K. M., Abbasi-Kangevari, M., ... & Borzouei, S. (2020). Global burden of 87 risk factors in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 .  The Lancet ,  396 (10258), 1223-1249.

Here, we use the term 'contributes,' meaning it was one of the attributed risk factors for a given disease or cause of death. There can be multiple risk factors for a given disease that can amplify one another. This means that in some cases, air pollution was not the only risk factor but one of several.

Cite this work

Our articles and data visualizations rely on work from many different people and organizations. When citing this topic page, please also cite the underlying data sources. This topic page can be cited as:

BibTeX citation

Reuse this work freely

All visualizations, data, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license . You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

The data produced by third parties and made available by Our World in Data is subject to the license terms from the original third-party authors. We will always indicate the original source of the data in our documentation, so you should always check the license of any such third-party data before use and redistribution.

All of our charts can be embedded in any site.

Our World in Data is free and accessible for everyone.

Help us do this work by making a donation.

Atmospheric Air Pollution and Its Environmental and Health Effects

Original Research 31 August 2022 Source Apportionment of Elemental Carbon in Different Seasons in Hebei, China Dongli Hou ,  9 more  and  Feng Zhang 1,117 views 2 citations

Loading... Original Research 29 August 2022 Deaths and disability-adjusted life years burden attributed to air pollution in China, 1990–2019: Results from the global burden of disease study 2019 Hui Gan ,  5 more  and  Baoqing Sun 2,869 views 2 citations

Mini Review 19 July 2022 The prospected air quality measurements for further unconventional natural gas developments in China based on the United States experience Tao Fang ,  3 more  and  Qianqian Sun 744 views 0 citations

Original Research 30 May 2022 An Integrated Approach to Characterize Temporal–Spatial Variations in PM2.5 Concentrations at the Ground Level and Its Implication on Health Impact Assessments Ming-Shing Ho ,  5 more  and  Perng-Jy Tsai 819 views 0 citations

Original Research 30 May 2022 Chemical Compositions in Winter PM2.5 in Changzhou of the Yangtze River Delta Region, China: Characteristics and Atmospheric Responses Along With the Different Pollution Levels Zhuzi Zhao ,  7 more  and  Zhaolian Ye 1,193 views 3 citations

Original Research 30 May 2022 Baseline of Surface and Column-Integrated Aerosol Loadings in the Pearl River Delta Region, China Xuehua Fan ,  5 more  and  Hongyan Luo 841 views 1 citations

Loading... Original Research 27 April 2022 The Effect of Banning Fireworks on Air Quality in a Heavily Polluted City in Northern China During Chinese Spring Festival Dexin Liu ,  2 more  and  Qingxia Ma 4,378 views 3 citations

Loading... Original Research 07 April 2022 Response of Summer Ozone to Precursor Emission Controls in the Yangtze River Delta Region Yu-Hao Mao ,  3 more  and  Nan Li 1,872 views 5 citations

Loading... Original Research 17 March 2022 Comparative Study of Source Inversion Under Multiple Atmospheric Pollutant Emission Scenarios Shushuai Mao ,  3 more  and  Feng Hu 1,846 views 3 citations

Loading... Original Research 04 March 2022 Spatiotemporal Distributions of PM2.5 Concentrations in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region From 2013 to 2020 Xiaohui Yang ,  3 more  and  Wei Wang 2,547 views 9 citations

Loading... Original Research 18 February 2022 Increasing but Variable Trend of Surface Ozone in the Yangtze River Delta Region of China Keqin Tang ,  4 more  and  Nan Li 3,046 views 7 citations

Loading... Original Research 09 February 2022 Effects of Different Aerosols on the Air Pollution and Their Relationship With Meteorological Parameters in North China Plain Hujia Zhao ,  11 more  and  Xiaoye Zhang 3,960 views 4 citations

Loading... Original Research 09 February 2022 Gated Recurrent Unit Coupled with Projection to Model Plane Imputation for the PM2.5 Prediction for Guangzhou City, China Muhammad Waqas Saif-ul-Allah ,  3 more  and  Faisal Ahmed 2,567 views 7 citations

Loading... Original Research 07 February 2022 The Burden of Neonatal Diseases Attributable to Ambient PM 2.5 in China From 1990 to 2019 Jia Yuan ,  5 more  and  Bei Han 1,770 views 6 citations

Earth Day Match: Donate to Defend Our Planet

Drilling on public lands, mass wildlife extinctions, worsening climate change—our planet is in crisis. Help us fight back this Earth Day and your gift will be matched $1 for $1.

Air Pollution: Everything You Need to Know

How smog, soot, greenhouse gases, and other top air pollutants are affecting the planet—and your health.

• Share this page block

What is air pollution?

What causes air pollution, effects of air pollution, air pollution in the united states, air pollution and environmental justice, controlling air pollution, how to help reduce air pollution, how to protect your health.

Air pollution  refers to the release of pollutants into the air—pollutants that are detrimental to human health and the planet as a whole. According to the  World Health Organization (WHO) , each year, indoor and outdoor air pollution is responsible for nearly seven million deaths around the globe. Ninety-nine percent of human beings currently breathe air that exceeds the WHO’s guideline limits for pollutants, with those living in low- and middle-income countries suffering the most. In the United States, the  Clean Air Act , established in 1970, authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to safeguard public health by regulating the emissions of these harmful air pollutants.

“Most air pollution comes from energy use and production,” says  John Walke , director of the Clean Air team at NRDC. Driving a car on gasoline, heating a home with oil, running a power plant on  fracked gas : In each case, a fossil fuel is burned and harmful chemicals and gases are released into the air.

“We’ve made progress over the last 50 years in improving air quality in the United States, thanks to the Clean Air Act. But climate change will make it harder in the future to meet pollution standards, which are designed to  protect health ,” says Walke.

Air pollution is now the world’s fourth-largest risk factor for early death. According to the 2020  State of Global Air  report —which summarizes the latest scientific understanding of air pollution around the world—4.5 million deaths were linked to outdoor air pollution exposures in 2019, and another 2.2 million deaths were caused by indoor air pollution. The world’s most populous countries, China and India, continue to bear the highest burdens of disease.

“Despite improvements in reducing global average mortality rates from air pollution, this report also serves as a sobering reminder that the climate crisis threatens to worsen air pollution problems significantly,” explains  Vijay Limaye , senior scientist in NRDC’s Science Office. Smog, for instance, is intensified by increased heat, forming when the weather is warmer and there’s more ultraviolet radiation. In addition, climate change increases the production of allergenic air pollutants, including mold (thanks to damp conditions caused by extreme weather and increased flooding) and pollen (due to a longer pollen season). “Climate change–fueled droughts and dry conditions are also setting the stage for dangerous wildfires,” adds Limaye. “ Wildfire smoke can linger for days and pollute the air with particulate matter hundreds of miles downwind.”

The effects of air pollution on the human body vary, depending on the type of pollutant, the length and level of exposure, and other factors, including a person’s individual health risks and the cumulative impacts of multiple pollutants or stressors.

Smog and soot

These are the two most prevalent types of air pollution. Smog (sometimes referred to as ground-level ozone) occurs when emissions from combusting fossil fuels react with sunlight. Soot—a type of  particulate matter —is made up of tiny particles of chemicals, soil, smoke, dust, or allergens that are carried in the air. The sources of smog and soot are similar. “Both come from cars and trucks, factories, power plants, incinerators, engines, generally anything that combusts fossil fuels such as coal, gasoline, or natural gas,” Walke says.

Smog can irritate the eyes and throat and also damage the lungs, especially those of children, senior citizens, and people who work or exercise outdoors. It’s even worse for people who have asthma or allergies; these extra pollutants can intensify their symptoms and trigger asthma attacks. The tiniest airborne particles in soot are especially dangerous because they can penetrate the lungs and bloodstream and worsen bronchitis, lead to heart attacks, and even hasten death. In  2020, a report from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health showed that COVID-19 mortality rates were higher in areas with more particulate matter pollution than in areas with even slightly less, showing a correlation between the virus’s deadliness and long-term exposure to air pollution. 

These findings also illuminate an important  environmental justice issue . Because highways and polluting facilities have historically been sited in or next to low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, the negative effects of this pollution have been  disproportionately experienced by the people who live in these communities.

Hazardous air pollutants

A number of air pollutants pose severe health risks and can sometimes be fatal, even in small amounts. Almost 200 of them are regulated by law; some of the most common are mercury,  lead , dioxins, and benzene. “These are also most often emitted during gas or coal combustion, incineration, or—in the case of benzene—found in gasoline,” Walke says. Benzene, classified as a carcinogen by the EPA, can cause eye, skin, and lung irritation in the short term and blood disorders in the long term. Dioxins, more typically found in food but also present in small amounts in the air, is another carcinogen that can affect the liver in the short term and harm the immune, nervous, and endocrine systems, as well as reproductive functions.  Mercury  attacks the central nervous system. In large amounts, lead can damage children’s brains and kidneys, and even minimal exposure can affect children’s IQ and ability to learn.

Another category of toxic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are by-products of traffic exhaust and wildfire smoke. In large amounts, they have been linked to eye and lung irritation, blood and liver issues, and even cancer.  In one study , the children of mothers exposed to PAHs during pregnancy showed slower brain-processing speeds and more pronounced symptoms of ADHD.

Greenhouse gases

While these climate pollutants don’t have the direct or immediate impacts on the human body associated with other air pollutants, like smog or hazardous chemicals, they are still harmful to our health. By trapping the earth’s heat in the atmosphere, greenhouse gases lead to warmer temperatures, which in turn lead to the hallmarks of climate change: rising sea levels, more extreme weather, heat-related deaths, and the increased transmission of infectious diseases. In 2021, carbon dioxide accounted for roughly 79 percent of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions, and methane made up more than 11 percent. “Carbon dioxide comes from combusting fossil fuels, and methane comes from natural and industrial sources, including large amounts that are released during oil and gas drilling,” Walke says. “We emit far larger amounts of carbon dioxide, but methane is significantly more potent, so it’s also very destructive.” 

Another class of greenhouse gases,  hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) , are thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide in their ability to trap heat. In October 2016, more than 140 countries signed the Kigali Agreement to reduce the use of these chemicals—which are found in air conditioners and refrigerators—and develop greener alternatives over time. (The United States officially signed onto the  Kigali Agreement in 2022.)

Pollen and mold

Mold and allergens from trees, weeds, and grass are also carried in the air, are exacerbated by climate change, and can be hazardous to health. Though they aren’t regulated, they can be considered a form of air pollution. “When homes, schools, or businesses get water damage, mold can grow and produce allergenic airborne pollutants,” says Kim Knowlton, professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University and a former NRDC scientist. “ Mold exposure can precipitate asthma attacks  or an allergic response, and some molds can even produce toxins that would be dangerous for anyone to inhale.”

Pollen allergies are worsening  because of climate change . “Lab and field studies are showing that pollen-producing plants—especially ragweed—grow larger and produce more pollen when you increase the amount of carbon dioxide that they grow in,” Knowlton says. “Climate change also extends the pollen production season, and some studies are beginning to suggest that ragweed pollen itself might be becoming a more potent allergen.” If so, more people will suffer runny noses, fevers, itchy eyes, and other symptoms. “And for people with allergies and asthma, pollen peaks can precipitate asthma attacks, which are far more serious and can be life-threatening.”

More than one in three U.S. residents—120 million people—live in counties with unhealthy levels of air pollution, according to the  2023  State of the Air  report by the American Lung Association (ALA). Since the annual report was first published, in 2000, its findings have shown how the Clean Air Act has been able to reduce harmful emissions from transportation, power plants, and manufacturing.

Recent findings, however, reflect how climate change–fueled wildfires and extreme heat are adding to the challenges of protecting public health. The latest report—which focuses on ozone, year-round particle pollution, and short-term particle pollution—also finds that people of color are 61 percent more likely than white people to live in a county with a failing grade in at least one of those categories, and three times more likely to live in a county that fails in all three.

In rankings for each of the three pollution categories covered by the ALA report, California cities occupy the top three slots (i.e., were highest in pollution), despite progress that the Golden State has made in reducing air pollution emissions in the past half century. At the other end of the spectrum, these cities consistently rank among the country’s best for air quality: Burlington, Vermont; Honolulu; and Wilmington, North Carolina. 

No one wants to live next door to an incinerator, oil refinery, port, toxic waste dump, or other polluting site. Yet millions of people around the world do, and this puts them at a much higher risk for respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, neurological damage, cancer, and death. In the United States, people of color are 1.5 times more likely than whites to live in areas with poor air quality, according to the ALA.

Historically, racist zoning policies and discriminatory lending practices known as  redlining  have combined to keep polluting industries and car-choked highways away from white neighborhoods and have turned communities of color—especially low-income and working-class communities of color—into sacrifice zones, where residents are forced to breathe dirty air and suffer the many health problems associated with it. In addition to the increased health risks that come from living in such places, the polluted air can economically harm residents in the form of missed workdays and higher medical costs.

Environmental racism isn't limited to cities and industrial areas. Outdoor laborers, including the estimated three million migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the United States, are among the most vulnerable to air pollution—and they’re also among the least equipped, politically, to pressure employers and lawmakers to affirm their right to breathe clean air.

Recently,  cumulative impact mapping , which uses data on environmental conditions and demographics, has been able to show how some communities are overburdened with layers of issues, like high levels of poverty, unemployment, and pollution. Tools like the  Environmental Justice Screening Method  and the EPA’s  EJScreen  provide evidence of what many environmental justice communities have been explaining for decades: that we need land use and public health reforms to ensure that vulnerable areas are not overburdened and that the people who need resources the most are receiving them.

In the United States, the  Clean Air Act  has been a crucial tool for reducing air pollution since its passage in 1970, although fossil fuel interests aided by industry-friendly lawmakers have frequently attempted to  weaken its many protections. Ensuring that this bedrock environmental law remains intact and properly enforced will always be key to maintaining and improving our air quality.

But the best, most effective way to control air pollution is to speed up our transition to cleaner fuels and industrial processes. By switching over to renewable energy sources (such as wind and solar power), maximizing fuel efficiency in our vehicles, and replacing more and more of our gasoline-powered cars and trucks with electric versions, we'll be limiting air pollution at its source while also curbing the global warming that heightens so many of its worst health impacts.

And what about the economic costs of controlling air pollution? According to a report on the Clean Air Act commissioned by NRDC, the annual  benefits of cleaner air  are up to 32 times greater than the cost of clean air regulations. Those benefits include up to 370,000 avoided premature deaths, 189,000 fewer hospital admissions for cardiac and respiratory illnesses, and net economic benefits of up to $3.8 trillion for the U.S. economy every year.

“The less gasoline we burn, the better we’re doing to reduce air pollution and the harmful effects of climate change,” Walke explains. “Make good choices about transportation. When you can, ride a bike, walk, or take public transportation. For driving, choose a car that gets better miles per gallon of gas or  buy an electric car .” You can also investigate your power provider options—you may be able to request that your electricity be supplied by wind or solar. Buying your food locally cuts down on the fossil fuels burned in trucking or flying food in from across the world. And most important: “Support leaders who push for clean air and water and responsible steps on climate change,” Walke says.

• “When you see in the news or hear on the weather report that pollution levels are high, it may be useful to limit the time when children go outside or you go for a jog,” Walke says. Generally, ozone levels tend to be lower in the morning.
• If you exercise outside, stay as far as you can from heavily trafficked roads. Then shower and wash your clothes to remove fine particles.
• The air may look clear, but that doesn’t mean it’s pollution free. Utilize tools like the EPA’s air pollution monitor,  AirNow , to get the latest conditions. If the air quality is bad, stay inside with the windows closed.
• If you live or work in an area that’s prone to wildfires,  stay away from the harmful smoke  as much as you’re able. Consider keeping a small stock of masks to wear when conditions are poor. The most ideal masks for smoke particles will be labelled “NIOSH” (which stands for National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) and have either “N95” or “P100” printed on it.
• If you’re using an air conditioner while outdoor pollution conditions are bad, use the recirculating setting to limit the amount of polluted air that gets inside. 

This story was originally published on November 1, 2016, and has been updated with new information and links.

This NRDC.org story is available for online republication by news media outlets or nonprofits under these conditions: The writer(s) must be credited with a byline; you must note prominently that the story was originally published by NRDC.org and link to the original; the story cannot be edited (beyond simple things such as grammar); you can’t resell the story in any form or grant republishing rights to other outlets; you can’t republish our material wholesale or automatically—you need to select stories individually; you can’t republish the photos or graphics on our site without specific permission; you should drop us a note to let us know when you’ve used one of our stories.

Related Stories

The Particulars of PM 2.5

What Are the Effects of Climate Change?

Fossil Fuel Air Pollution Kills One in Five People

When you sign up, you’ll become a member of NRDC’s Activist Network. We will keep you informed with the latest alerts and progress reports.

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. Please click here to see any active alerts .

Air Pollution: Current and Future Challenges

Despite dramatic progress cleaning the air since 1970, air pollution in the United States continues to harm people’s health and the environment. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA continues to work with state, local and tribal governments, other federal agencies, and stakeholders to reduce air pollution and the damage that it causes.

• Learn about more about air pollution, air pollution programs, and what you can do.

Outdoor air pollution challenges facing the United States today include:

• Meeting health-based standards for common air pollutants
• Limiting climate change
• Reducing risks from toxic air pollutants
• Protecting the stratospheric ozone layer against degradation

Indoor air pollution, which arises from a variety of causes, also can cause health problems. For more information on indoor air pollution, which is not regulated under the Clean Air Act, see EPA’s indoor air web site .

Air Pollution Challenges: Common Pollutants

Great progress has been made in achieving national air quality standards, which EPA originally established in 1971 and updates periodically based on the latest science. One sign of this progress is that visible air pollution is less frequent and widespread than it was in the 1970s.

However, air pollution can be harmful even when it is not visible. Newer scientific studies have shown that some pollutants can harm public health and welfare even at very low levels. EPA in recent years revised standards for five of the six common pollutants subject to national air quality standards. EPA made the standards more protective because new, peer-reviewed scientific studies showed that existing standards were not adequate to protect public health and the environment.

Status of common pollutant problems in brief

Today, pollution levels in many areas of the United States exceed national air quality standards for at least one of the six common pollutants:

• Although levels of particle pollution and ground-level ozone pollution are substantially lower than in the past, levels are unhealthy in numerous areas of the country. Both pollutants are the result of emissions from diverse sources, and travel long distances and across state lines. An extensive body of scientific evidence shows that long- and short-term exposures to fine particle pollution, also known as fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ), can cause premature death and harmful effects on the cardiovascular system, including increased hospital admissions and emergency department visits for heart attacks and strokes. Scientific evidence also links PM to harmful respiratory effects, including asthma attacks. Ozone can increase the frequency of asthma attacks, cause shortness of breath, aggravate lung diseases, and cause permanent damage to lungs through long-term exposure. Elevated ozone levels are linked to increases in hospitalizations, emergency room visits and premature death. Both pollutants cause environmental damage, and fine particles impair visibility. Fine particles can be emitted directly or formed from gaseous emissions including sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides. Ozone, a colorless gas, is created when emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds react.  
• For unhealthy peak levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide , EPA is working with states and others on ways to determine where and how often unhealthy peaks occur. Both pollutants cause multiple adverse respiratory effects including increased asthma symptoms, and are associated with increased emergency department visits and hospital admissions for respiratory illness. Both pollutants cause environmental damage, and are byproducts of fossil fuel combustion.  
• Airborne lead pollution, a nationwide health concern before EPA phased out lead in motor vehicle gasoline under Clean Air Act authority, now meets national air quality standards except in areas near certain large lead-emitting industrial facilities. Lead is associated with neurological effects in children, such as behavioral problems, learning deficits and lowered IQ, and high blood pressure and heart disease in adults.  
• The entire nation meets the carbon monoxide air quality standards, largely because of emissions standards for new motor vehicles under the Clean Air Act.

In Brief: How EPA is working with states and tribes to limit common air pollutants

• EPA's air research provides the critical science to develop and implement outdoor air regulations under the Clean Air Act and puts new tools and information in the hands of air quality managers and regulators to protect the air we breathe.  
• To reflect new scientific studies, EPA revised the national air quality standards for fine particles (2006, 2012), ground-level ozone (2008, 2015), sulfur dioxide (2010), nitrogen dioxide (2010), and lead (2008). After the scientific review, EPA decided to retain the existing standards for carbon monoxide.  EPA strengthened the air quality standards for ground-level ozone in October 2015 based on extensive scientific evidence about ozone’s effects.

EPA has designated areas meeting and not meeting the air quality standards for the 2006 and 2012 PM standards and the 2008 ozone standard, and has completed an initial round of area designations for the 2010 sulfur dioxide standard. The agency also issues rules or guidance for state implementation of the various ambient air quality standards – for example, in March 2015, proposing requirements for implementation of current and future fine particle standards. EPA is working with states to improve data to support implementation of the 2010 sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide standards.

For areas not meeting the national air quality standards, states are required to adopt state implementation plan revisions containing measures needed to meet the standards as expeditiously as practicable and within time periods specified in the Clean Air Act (except that plans are not required for areas with “marginal” ozone levels).

• EPA is helping states to meet standards for common pollutants by issuing federal emissions standards for new motor vehicles and non-road engines, national emissions standards for categories of new industrial equipment (e.g., power plants, industrial boilers, cement manufacturing, secondary lead smelting), and technical and policy guidance for state implementation plans. EPA and state rules already on the books are projected to help 99 percent of counties with monitors meet the revised fine particle standards by 2020. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for new and existing power plants issued in December 2011 are achieving reductions in fine particles and sulfur dioxide as a byproduct of controls required to cut toxic emissions.  
• Vehicles and their fuels continue to be an important contributor to air pollution. EPA in 2014 issued standards commonly known as Tier 3, which consider the vehicle and its fuel as an integrated system, setting new vehicle emissions standards and a new gasoline sulfur standard beginning in 2017. The vehicle emissions standards will reduce both tailpipe and evaporative emissions from passenger cars, light-duty trucks, medium-duty passenger vehicles, and some heavy-duty vehicles. The gasoline sulfur standard will enable more stringent vehicle emissions standards and will make emissions control systems more effective. These rules further cut the sulfur content of gasoline. Cleaner fuel makes possible the use of new vehicle emission control technologies and cuts harmful emissions in existing vehicles. The standards will reduce atmospheric levels of ozone, fine particles, nitrogen dioxide, and toxic pollution.

Learn more about common pollutants, health effects, standards and implementation:

• fine particles
• ground-level ozone
• sulfur dioxide
• nitrogen dioxide
• carbon monoxide

Air Pollution Challenges: Climate Change

EPA determined in 2009 that emissions of carbon dioxide and other long-lived greenhouse gases that build up in the atmosphere endanger the health and welfare of current and future generations by causing climate change and ocean acidification. Long-lived greenhouse gases , which trap heat in the atmosphere, include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases. These gases are produced by a numerous and diverse human activities.

In May 2010, the National Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences, published an assessment which concluded that “climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for - and in many cases is already affecting - a broad range of human and natural systems.” 1 The NRC stated that this conclusion is based on findings that are consistent with several other major assessments of the state of scientific knowledge on climate change. 2

Climate change impacts on public health and welfare

The risks to public health and the environment from climate change are substantial and far-reaching. Scientists warn that carbon pollution and resulting climate change are expected to lead to more intense hurricanes and storms, heavier and more frequent flooding, increased drought, and more severe wildfires - events that can cause deaths, injuries, and billions of dollars of damage to property and the nation’s infrastructure.

Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas pollution leads to more frequent and intense heat waves that increase mortality, especially among the poor and elderly. 3 Other climate change public health concerns raised in the scientific literature include anticipated increases in ground-level ozone pollution 4 , the potential for enhanced spread of some waterborne and pest-related diseases 5 , and evidence for increased production or dispersion of airborne allergens. 6

Other effects of greenhouse gas pollution noted in the scientific literature include ocean acidification, sea level rise and increased storm surge, harm to agriculture and forests, species extinctions and ecosystem damage. 7 Climate change impacts in certain regions of the world (potentially leading, for example, to food scarcity, conflicts or mass migration) may exacerbate problems that raise humanitarian, trade and national security issues for the United States. 8

The U.S. government's May 2014 National Climate Assessment concluded that climate change impacts are already manifesting themselves and imposing losses and costs. 9 The report documents increases in extreme weather and climate events in recent decades, with resulting damage and disruption to human well-being, infrastructure, ecosystems, and agriculture, and projects continued increases in impacts across a wide range of communities, sectors, and ecosystems.

Those most vulnerable to climate related health effects - such as children, the elderly, the poor, and future generations - face disproportionate risks. 10 Recent studies also find that certain communities, including low-income communities and some communities of color (more specifically, populations defined jointly by ethnic/racial characteristics and geographic location), are disproportionately affected by certain climate-change-related impacts - including heat waves, degraded air quality, and extreme weather events - which are associated with increased deaths, illnesses, and economic challenges. Studies also find that climate change poses particular threats to the health, well-being, and ways of life of indigenous peoples in the U.S.

The National Research Council (NRC) and other scientific bodies have emphasized that it is important to take initial steps to reduce greenhouse gases without delay because, once emitted, greenhouse gases persist in the atmosphere for long time periods. As the NRC explained in a recent report, “The sooner that serious efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions proceed, the lower the risks posed by climate change, and the less pressure there will be to make larger, more rapid, and potentially more expensive reductions later.” 11

In brief: What EPA is doing about climate change

Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is taking initial common sense steps to limit greenhouse gas pollution from large sources:

EPA and the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration between 2010 and 2012 issued the first national greenhouse gas emission standards and fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks for model years 2012-2025, and for medium- and heavy-duty trucks for 2014-2018.  Proposed truck standards for 2018 and beyond were announced in June 2015.  EPA is also responsible for developing and implementing regulations to ensure that transportation fuel sold in the United States contains a minimum volume of renewable fuel. Learn more about clean vehicles

EPA and states in 2011 began requiring preconstruction permits that limit greenhouse gas emissions from large new stationary sources - such as power plants, refineries, cement plants, and steel mills - when they are built or undergo major modification. Learn more about GHG permitting

• On August 3, 2015, President Obama and EPA announced the Clean Power Plan – a historic and important step in reducing carbon pollution from power plants that takes real action on climate change. Shaped by years of unprecedented outreach and public engagement, the final Clean Power Plan is fair, flexible and designed to strengthen the fast-growing trend toward cleaner and lower-polluting American energy. With strong but achievable standards for power plants, and customized goals for states to cut the carbon pollution that is driving climate change, the Clean Power Plan provides national consistency, accountability and a level playing field while reflecting each state’s energy mix. It also shows the world that the United States is committed to leading global efforts to address climate change. Learn more about the Clean Power Plan, the Carbon Pollution Standards, the Federal Plan, and model rule for states

The Clean Power Plan will reduce carbon pollution from existing power plants, the nation’s largest source, while maintaining energy reliability and affordability.  The Clean Air Act creates a partnership between EPA, states, tribes and U.S. territories – with EPA setting a goal, and states and tribes choosing how they will meet it.  This partnership is laid out in the Clean Power Plan.

Also on August 3, 2015, EPA issued final Carbon Pollution Standards for new, modified, and constructed power plants, and proposed a Federal Plan and model rules to assist states in implementing the Clean Power Plan.

On February 9, 2016, the Supreme Court stayed implementation of the Clean Power Plan pending judicial review. The Court’s decision was not on the merits of the rule. EPA firmly believes the Clean Power Plan will be upheld when the merits are considered because the rule rests on strong scientific and legal foundations.

On October 16, 2017, EPA  proposed to repeal the CPP and rescind the accompanying legal memorandum.

EPA is implementing its Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions released in March 2014. In January 2015 EPA announced a new goal to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 – 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025, and a set of actions by EPA and other agencies to put the U.S. on a path to achieve this ambitious goal. In August 2015, EPA proposed new common-sense measures to cut methane emissions, reduce smog-forming air pollution and provide certainty for industry through proposed rules for the oil and gas industry . The agency also proposed to further reduce emissions of methane-rich gas from municipal solid waste landfills . In March 2016 EPA launched the National Gas STAR Methane Challenge Program under which oil and gas companies can make, track and showcase ambitious commitments to reduce methane emissions.

EPA in July 2015 finalized a rule to prohibit certain uses of hydrofluorocarbons -- a class of potent greenhouse gases used in air conditioning, refrigeration and other equipment -- in favor of safer alternatives. The U.S. also has proposed amendments to the Montreal Protocol to achieve reductions in HFCs internationally.

Learn more about climate science, control efforts, and adaptation on EPA’s climate change web site

Air Pollution Challenges: Toxic Pollutants

While overall emissions of air toxics have declined significantly since 1990, substantial quantities of toxic pollutants continue to be released into the air. Elevated risks can occur in urban areas, near industrial facilities, and in areas with high transportation emissions.

Numerous toxic pollutants from diverse sources

Hazardous air pollutants, also called air toxics, include 187 pollutants listed in the Clean Air Act. EPA can add pollutants that are known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health effects, such as reproductive effects or birth defects, or to cause adverse environmental effects.

Examples of air toxics include benzene, which is found in gasoline; perchloroethylene, which is emitted from some dry cleaning facilities; and methylene chloride, which is used as a solvent and paint stripper by a number of industries. Other examples of air toxics include dioxin, asbestos, and metals such as cadmium, mercury, chromium, and lead compounds.

Most air toxics originate from manmade sources, including mobile sources such as motor vehicles, industrial facilities and small “area” sources. Numerous categories of stationary sources emit air toxics, including power plants, chemical manufacturing, aerospace manufacturing and steel mills. Some air toxics are released in large amounts from natural sources such as forest fires.

Health risks from air toxics

EPA’s most recent national assessment of inhalation risks from air toxics 12 estimated that the whole nation experiences lifetime cancer risks above ten in a million, and that almost 14 million people in more than 60 urban locations have lifetime cancer risks greater than 100 in a million. Since that 2005 assessment, EPA standards have required significant further reductions in toxic emissions.

Elevated risks are often found in the largest urban areas where there are multiple emission sources, communities near industrial facilities, and/or areas near large roadways or transportation facilities. Benzene and formaldehyde are two of the biggest cancer risk drivers, and acrolein tends to dominate non-cancer risks.

In brief: How EPA is working with states and communities to reduce toxic air pollution

EPA standards based on technology performance have been successful in achieving large reductions in national emissions of air toxics. As directed by Congress, EPA has completed emissions standards for all 174 major source categories, and 68 categories of small area sources representing 90 percent of emissions of 30 priority pollutants for urban areas. In addition, EPA has reduced the benzene content in gasoline, and has established stringent emission standards for on-road and nonroad diesel and gasoline engine emissions that significantly reduce emissions of mobile source air toxics. As required by the Act, EPA has completed residual risk assessments and technology reviews covering numerous regulated source categories to assess whether more protective air toxics standards are warranted. EPA has updated standards as appropriate. Additional residual risk assessments and technology reviews are currently underway.

EPA also encourages and supports area-wide air toxics strategies of state, tribal and local agencies through national, regional and community-based initiatives. Among these initiatives are the National Clean Diesel Campaign , which through partnerships and grants reduces diesel emissions for existing engines that EPA does not regulate; Clean School Bus USA , a national partnership to minimize pollution from school buses; the SmartWay Transport Partnership to promote efficient goods movement; wood smoke reduction initiatives; a collision repair campaign involving autobody shops; community-scale air toxics ambient monitoring grants ; and other programs including Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE). The CARE program helps communities develop broad-based local partnerships (that include business and local government) and conduct community-driven problem solving as they build capacity to understand and take effective actions on addressing environmental problems.

Learn more about air toxics, stationary sources of emissions, and control efforts Learn more about mobile source air toxics and control efforts

Air Pollution Challenges: Protecting the Stratospheric Ozone Layer

The  ozone (O 3 ) layer  in the stratosphere protects life on earth by filtering out harmful ultraviolet radiation (UV) from the sun. When chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-degrading chemicals  are emitted, they mix with the atmosphere and eventually rise to the stratosphere. There, the chlorine and the bromine they contain initiate chemical reactions that destroy ozone. This destruction has occurred at a more rapid rate than ozone can be created through natural processes, depleting the ozone layer.

The toll on public health and the environment

Higher levels of  ultraviolet radiation  reaching Earth's surface lead to health and environmental effects such as a greater incidence of skin cancer, cataracts, and impaired immune systems. Higher levels of ultraviolet radiation also reduce crop yields, diminish the productivity of the oceans, and possibly contribute to the decline of amphibious populations that is occurring around the world.

In brief: What’s being done to protect the ozone layer

Countries around the world are phasing out the production of chemicals that destroy ozone in the Earth's upper atmosphere under an international treaty known as the Montreal Protocol . Using a flexible and innovative regulatory approach, the United States already has phased out production of those substances having the greatest potential to deplete the ozone layer under Clean Air Act provisions enacted to implement the Montreal Protocol. These chemicals include CFCs, halons, methyl chloroform and carbon tetrachloride. The United States and other countries are currently phasing out production of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), chemicals being used globally in refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment and in making foams. Phasing out CFCs and HCFCs is also beneficial in protecting the earth's climate, as these substances are also very damaging greenhouse gases.

Also under the Clean Air Act, EPA implements regulatory programs to:

Ensure that refrigerants and halon fire extinguishing agents are recycled properly.

Ensure that alternatives to ozone-depleting substances (ODS) are evaluated for their impacts on human health and the environment.

Ban the release of ozone-depleting refrigerants during the service, maintenance, and disposal of air conditioners and other refrigeration equipment.

Require that manufacturers label products either containing or made with the most harmful ODS.

These vital measures are helping to protect human health and the global environment.

The work of protecting the ozone layer is not finished. EPA plans to complete the phase-out of ozone-depleting substances that continue to be produced, and continue efforts to minimize releases of chemicals in use. Since ozone-depleting substances persist in the air for long periods of time, the past use of these substances continues to affect the ozone layer today. In our work to expedite the recovery of the ozone layer, EPA plans to augment CAA implementation by:

Continuing to provide forecasts of the expected risk of overexposure to UV radiation from the sun through the UV Index, and to educate the public on how to protect themselves from over exposure to UV radiation.

Continuing to foster domestic and international partnerships to protect the ozone layer.

Encouraging the development of products, technologies, and initiatives that reap co-benefits in climate change and energy efficiency.

Learn more About EPA’s Ozone Layer Protection Programs

Some of the following links exit the site

1 National Research Council (2010), Advancing the Science of Climate Change , National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., p. 3.

2 National Research Council (2010), Advancing the Science of Climate Change , National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., p. 286.

3 USGCRP (2009).  Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States . Karl, T.R., J.M. Melillo, and T.C. Peterson (eds.). United States Global Change Research Program. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, USA.

4 CCSP (2008).  Analyses of the effects of global change on human health and welfare and human systems . A Report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research. Gamble, J.L. (ed.), K.L. Ebi, F.G. Sussman, T.J. Wilbanks, (Authors). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, USA.

5 Confalonieri, U., B. Menne, R. Akhtar, K.L. Ebi, M. Hauengue, R.S. Kovats, B. Revich and A. Woodward (2007). Human health. In:  Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability  .  Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change  Parry, M.L., O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson, (eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

7 An explanation of observed and projected climate change and its associated impacts on health, society, and the environment is included in the EPA’s Endangerment Finding and associated technical support document (TSD). See EPA, “ Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act ,” 74 FR 66496, Dec. 15, 2009. Both the Federal Register Notice and the Technical Support Document (TSD) for Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings are found in the public docket, Docket No. EPA-OAR-2009-0171.

8 EPA, Endangerment Finding , 74 FR 66535.

9 . U.S. Global Change Research Program, Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment , May 2014.

10 EPA, Endangerment Finding , 74 FR 66498.

11 National Research Council (2011) America’s Climate Choices: Report in Brief , Committee on America’s Climate Choices, Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, Division on Earth and Life Studies, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., p. 2.

12 EPA, 2005 National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (2011).

• Clean Air Act Overview Home
• Progress Cleaning the Air
• Air Pollution Challenges
• Requirements and History
• Role of Science and Technology
• Roles of State, Local, Tribal and Federal Governments
• Developing Programs Through Dialogue
• Flexibility with Accountability
• The Clean Air Act and the Economy

Air Pollution Research Paper Topics

This comprehensive guide to air pollution research paper topics is designed to assist students studying environmental science in selecting a suitable topic for their research paper. The guide provides a broad range of topics divided into ten categories, each containing ten unique research topics. Additionally, the guide offers expert advice on how to choose a topic from the multitude of air pollution research paper topics and how to write a compelling research paper on air pollution. The guide also introduces iResearchNet’s writing services, which offer students the opportunity to order a custom air pollution research paper on any topic. The services include a range of features designed to ensure the delivery of high-quality, custom-written papers.

100 Air Pollution Research Paper Topics

Air pollution is a critical environmental issue that affects every living being on the planet. It is a topic that requires in-depth understanding and research. To aid students in their quest for knowledge and to help them in their academic pursuits, we have compiled a comprehensive list of air pollution research paper topics. These topics are categorized into ten different sections, each containing ten unique topics.

Academic Writing, Editing, Proofreading, And Problem Solving Services

Get 10% off with 24start discount code.

Causes of Air Pollution

• The role of industrialization in air pollution.
• The impact of transportation on air pollution.
• The effect of agriculture on air pollution.
• The influence of waste disposal on air pollution.
• The role of deforestation in air pollution.
• The impact of urbanization on air pollution.
• The effect of household activities on air pollution.
• The influence of natural disasters on air pollution.
• The role of power generation in air pollution.
• The impact of mining activities on air pollution.

Effects of Air Pollution

• The impact of air pollution on human health.
• The effect of air pollution on the environment.
• The influence of air pollution on climate change.
• The role of air pollution in biodiversity loss.
• The impact of air pollution on agriculture.
• The effect of air pollution on water bodies.
• The influence of air pollution on the ozone layer.
• The role of air pollution in acid rain.
• The impact of air pollution on urban heat islands.
• The effect of air pollution on mental health.

Air Pollution and Climate Change

• The role of air pollution in global warming.
• The impact of air pollution on weather patterns.
• The influence of air pollution on greenhouse gas emissions.
• The role of air pollution in climate change mitigation.
• The impact of air pollution on climate change adaptation.
• The effect of air pollution on carbon sequestration.
• The influence of air pollution on climate change policies.
• The role of air pollution in climate change communication.
• The impact of air pollution on climate change denial.
• The effect of air pollution on climate change education.

Air Pollution Policies

• The effectiveness of the Clean Air Act in addressing air pollution.
• The impact of the Paris Agreement on air pollution.
• The role of national policies in mitigating air pollution.
• The influence of international cooperation on air pollution.
• The effectiveness of emission standards in addressing air pollution.
• The role of renewable energy policies in mitigating air pollution.
• The impact of transportation policies on air pollution.
• The influence of waste management policies on air pollution.
• The effectiveness of urban planning policies in addressing air pollution.
• The role of education policies in mitigating air pollution.

Air Pollution Solutions

• The role of renewable energy in mitigating air pollution.
• The impact of energy efficiency on air pollution.
• The influence of green building on air pollution.
• The effectiveness of public transportation in addressing air pollution.
• The role of waste management in mitigating air pollution.
• The impact of urban green spaces on air pollution.
• The influence of sustainable agriculture on air pollution.
• The effectiveness of carbon capture and storage in addressing air pollution.
• The role of education in mitigating air pollution.
• The impact of individual actions on air pollution.

Air Pollution and Society

• The social impacts of air pollution.
• The role of media in shaping perceptions of air pollution.
• The influence of air pollution on social inequality.
• The impact of air pollution on social movements.
• The role of community engagement in addressing air pollution.
• The influence of air pollution on public health policies.
• The impact of air pollution on economic development.
• The role of air pollution in urban planning.
• The influence of air pollution on migration patterns.
• The impact of air pollution on cultural practices.

Air Pollution and Health

• The impact of air pollution on respiratory diseases.
• The role of air pollution in cardiovascular diseases.
• The influence of air pollution on allergies.
• The impact of air pollution on mental health.
• The role of air pollution in premature deaths.
• The influence of air pollution on children’s health.
• The impact of air pollution on elderly health.
• The role of air pollution in health inequalities.
• The influence of air pollution on public health interventions.
• The impact of air pollution on health care costs.

Air Pollution and Technology

• The role of technology in monitoring air pollution.
• The impact of technology on reducing air pollution.
• The influence of technology on air pollution modeling.
• The role of technology in air pollution forecasting.
• The impact of technology on air pollution communication.
• The influence of technology on air pollution policies.
• The role of technology in air pollution education.
• The impact of technology on air pollution mitigation.
• The influence of technology on air pollution adaptation.
• The role of technology in air pollution research.

Air Pollution and Economy

• The economic impacts of air pollution.
• The role of air pollution in economic inequality.
• The influence of air pollution on economic development.
• The impact of air pollution on economic policies.
• The role of air pollution in economic planning.
• The influence of air pollution on economic growth.
• The impact of air pollution on economic sustainability.
• The role of air pollution in economic transitions.
• The influence of air pollution on economic resilience.
• The impact of air pollution on economic sectors.

Air Pollution and Ethics

• The ethical implications of air pollution.
• The role of ethics in air pollution policies.
• The influence of ethics on air pollution communication.
• The impact of ethics on air pollution mitigation.
• The role of ethics in air pollution adaptation.
• The influence of ethics on air pollution research.
• The impact of ethics on air pollution education.
• The role of ethics in air pollution decision-making.
• The influence of ethics on air pollution justice.
• The impact of ethics on air pollution futures.

This comprehensive list of topics is designed to inspire and guide students in their quest for knowledge about air pollution. Each topic is a doorway to a vast field of research and understanding. As you embark on your academic journey, remember that the goal is not just to write a research paper but to contribute to the global understanding of air pollution and its impacts. Your research could be the key to solving one of the most pressing environmental issues of our time.

Air Pollution Research Guide

Air pollution is a pressing global issue that poses significant threats to human health and the environment. As students studying environmental science, it is essential to delve into the complexities of air pollution and understand its causes, impacts, and potential solutions. Writing research papers on air pollution topics not only enhances our knowledge but also contributes to the collective effort in combating this environmental challenge. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore a wide range of air pollution research paper topics to inspire and assist you in your academic journey.

The field of environmental science has increasingly focused on air pollution due to its detrimental effects on air quality, climate change, and public health. As the world grapples with the consequences of human activities and industrialization, it becomes crucial to investigate the different dimensions of air pollution and develop innovative approaches to mitigate its impact. Research papers serve as a valuable tool for investigating and disseminating knowledge about air pollution, making them an integral part of environmental science education.

The primary aim of this page is to provide students like you with an extensive array of air pollution research paper topics. By exploring diverse and engaging topics, you can gain a deeper understanding of the various aspects related to air pollution, ranging from its sources and consequences to policy interventions and sustainable solutions. Whether you are just starting your research journey or seeking inspiration for a specific area of interest, this comprehensive list will serve as a valuable resource to guide your exploration and empower you to contribute meaningfully to the field.

Moreover, this page offers expert advice on how to choose the most suitable air pollution research paper topics. With the abundance of available topics, it is important to select a research question that aligns with your interests, academic goals, and the current needs of the field. Our expert tips will help you navigate through the vast landscape of air pollution research and enable you to select a topic that is both relevant and impactful.

In addition to topic selection, we will also provide guidance on how to write an effective air pollution research paper. Writing a research paper requires a systematic approach, from conducting a literature review and collecting data to analyzing findings and presenting a coherent argument. By following our step-by-step instructions and incorporating our writing tips, you can enhance the quality and rigor of your research paper, ensuring that your work makes a valuable contribution to the field of environmental science.

Furthermore, to support your academic journey, we introduce our writing services, offering you the opportunity to order a custom air pollution research paper tailored to your specific requirements. Our team of expert degree-holding writers specializes in environmental science and is equipped with the knowledge and skills to deliver top-quality research papers. With a commitment to in-depth research, customized solutions, and timely delivery, our writing services provide a convenient and reliable option for students seeking assistance in their academic endeavors.

Choosing an Air Topic for Research

Choosing the right air pollution research paper topic is a crucial step in the research process. It sets the foundation for your study and determines the direction of your research. With the vast scope of air pollution issues, it can be challenging to narrow down your focus and select a topic that is both relevant and compelling. In this section, we provide expert advice and 10 valuable tips to help you navigate the process of choosing air pollution research paper topics effectively.

• Identify your research interests : Start by reflecting on your personal interests within the field of air pollution. What aspects of air pollution intrigue you the most? Are you interested in studying the health effects, the impact on ecosystems, policy interventions, or technological solutions? Identifying your research interests will guide you towards topics that resonate with your passion and motivation.
• Consider current issues and debates : Stay informed about the latest developments and ongoing debates in the field of air pollution. Read scientific journals, news articles, and policy reports to understand the pressing issues and emerging trends. By choosing a topic that addresses current concerns, you contribute to the existing knowledge and engage in the relevant conversations.
• Conduct preliminary research : Before finalizing a topic, conduct preliminary research to familiarize yourself with the existing literature and identify research gaps. This will help you refine your research question and ensure that your topic contributes to the existing knowledge base. Look for recent studies, key theories, and seminal works that can provide a solid foundation for your research.
• Define the scope of your study : Determine the scope and boundaries of your research. Are you focusing on a specific geographic region, a particular pollutant, or a certain population group? Clarifying the scope of your study will help you narrow down your topic and ensure that it is manageable within the given time and resources.
• Consider interdisciplinary approaches : Air pollution is a complex issue that requires interdisciplinary perspectives. Consider integrating concepts and methods from various fields such as environmental science, public health, engineering, sociology, and policy studies. This interdisciplinary approach can lead to innovative research and contribute to a holistic understanding of air pollution.
• Engage with stakeholders : Air pollution affects various stakeholders, including communities, policymakers, industry professionals, and advocacy groups. Engaging with these stakeholders can provide valuable insights and enhance the relevance of your research. Consider topics that address the concerns and needs of different stakeholders, ensuring that your research has practical implications and can make a meaningful impact.
• Seek guidance from your professors and mentors : Consult with your professors and mentors who have expertise in the field of air pollution. They can provide valuable guidance, suggest potential research topics, and help you refine your research question. Utilize their knowledge and experience to ensure that your topic aligns with current research trends and academic standards.
• Consider the availability of data : Before finalizing your research topic, consider the availability of data and resources. Ensure that you have access to reliable and relevant data sources that will support your research objectives. Assess the feasibility of data collection and analysis, considering factors such as time constraints, cost, and ethical considerations.
• Aim for a balance between novelty and significance : While it is important to choose a topic that is unique and novel, also consider its significance within the broader field of air pollution research. Balance your desire to explore new avenues with the need for topics that contribute to the existing body of knowledge and have real-world implications.
• Think critically and creatively : Finally, approach the topic selection process with a critical and creative mindset. Think beyond the conventional boundaries and explore unconventional ideas. Consider innovative research methodologies, alternative perspectives, and emerging trends in air pollution research. By thinking critically and creatively, you can identify research topics that are both intellectually stimulating and have the potential for significant contributions.

By following these expert tips, you can navigate the process of choosing air pollution research paper topics with confidence and clarity. Remember that the topic you choose will shape the entire research process, so take the time to select a topic that aligns with your interests, expertise, and aspirations. Now, let’s move on to the next section, where we will provide you with valuable insights on how to write an impactful air pollution research paper.

How to Write an Air Pollution Research Paper

Writing an air pollution research paper requires careful planning, systematic research, and effective organization. In this section, we will guide you through the essential steps and provide you with 10 tips to help you write a well-structured and compelling research paper on air pollution.

• Understand the research question : Start by clearly understanding the research question or objective of your study. Define the specific aspect of air pollution that you intend to investigate and the key research aims. This will provide you with a focused direction and ensure that your paper addresses the core issues related to air pollution.
• Conduct a comprehensive literature review : Before diving into your research, conduct a thorough literature review to familiarize yourself with the existing body of knowledge on air pollution. Identify key theories, concepts, and empirical studies relevant to your topic. The literature review will help you identify research gaps and build a strong theoretical foundation for your study.
• Develop a clear research methodology : Determine the research methodology and data collection techniques that align with your research objectives. Will you conduct experiments, surveys, interviews, or analyze existing datasets? Clearly define your research design, sampling strategy, and data analysis methods to ensure the rigor and validity of your findings.
• Collect and analyze data : If your research involves primary data collection, carefully collect and organize your data using appropriate methods. If you are analyzing secondary data, ensure that the datasets are reliable and relevant to your research objectives. Apply appropriate statistical or qualitative analysis techniques to derive meaningful insights from your data.
• Structure your paper effectively : Organize your research paper using a clear and logical structure. Typically, a research paper includes an introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion. Ensure smooth transitions between sections and maintain a coherent flow of ideas throughout your paper.
• Write a compelling introduction : Begin your paper with an engaging introduction that provides context and background information on air pollution. Clearly state the research question, explain the significance of your study, and highlight the objectives and expected outcomes. Grab the reader’s attention and set the tone for the rest of the paper.
• Present your findings accurately : In the results section, present your findings in a clear and concise manner. Use appropriate tables, graphs, and figures to present data effectively. Provide relevant statistical measures and interpret the results objectively. Ensure that your findings directly address the research question and support your hypotheses or research objectives.
• Analyze and discuss your results : In the discussion section, analyze and interpret your findings in light of the existing literature. Compare your results with previous studies, identify similarities and differences, and explain any discrepancies. Discuss the implications of your findings and their significance for understanding air pollution and its effects.
• Address limitations and future research : Acknowledge the limitations of your study, such as sample size constraints, data limitations, or potential biases. Suggest avenues for future research to address these limitations and further advance knowledge in the field of air pollution. This demonstrates your critical thinking and opens up opportunities for future research contributions.
• Craft a strong conclusion : Conclude your research paper by summarizing the key findings, emphasizing their significance, and restating the research question and objectives. Discuss the implications of your study for theory, practice, and policy-making in the context of air pollution. Avoid introducing new information in the conclusion and leave the reader with a lasting impression of your research.

By following these tips, you can effectively structure and write an air pollution research paper that contributes to the existing knowledge, addresses key research questions, and provides valuable insights into this critical environmental issue. In the next section, we will introduce you to the writing services offered by iResearchNet, where you can order a custom research paper on any air pollution topic.

Custom Research Paper Writing Services

At iResearchNet, we understand the challenges faced by students in conducting research and writing a high-quality research paper on air pollution. That’s why we offer custom writing services tailored to meet your specific needs. Our team of expert writers, who hold advanced degrees in environmental science, are dedicated to delivering top-notch research papers that showcase your knowledge and understanding of air pollution. When you choose our writing services, you can expect the following:

• Expert degree-holding writers : Our team consists of skilled writers with expertise in environmental science and air pollution research. They have the knowledge and experience to tackle complex topics and deliver well-researched and insightful papers.
• Custom written works : We understand the importance of originality and uniqueness in academic writing. Our writers craft each research paper from scratch, ensuring that it is tailored to your specific requirements and adheres to the highest standards of quality.
• In-depth research : Our writers conduct thorough research using credible sources to gather the most relevant and up-to-date information on air pollution. They critically analyze the literature and integrate it seamlessly into your research paper to support your arguments and strengthen your findings.
• Custom formatting : We are well-versed in various formatting styles, including APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, and Harvard. Our writers will format your research paper according to the specified guidelines, ensuring consistency and professionalism throughout.
• Top quality : Quality is our utmost priority. We strive to deliver research papers that meet the highest academic standards. Our writers pay attention to detail, ensure accurate referencing, and use clear and concise language to convey your ideas effectively.
• Customized solutions : We understand that every research paper is unique. Our writers take a personalized approach, tailoring their writing to your specific research objectives, methodology, and findings. They adapt their writing style and tone to match your requirements and ensure a seamless integration of your ideas.
• Flexible pricing : We offer competitive and flexible pricing options to accommodate your budget. Our pricing is transparent, and there are no hidden fees or additional charges. You can select the pricing plan that suits your needs, whether it’s for a comprehensive research paper or a specific section.
• Short deadlines : We understand that time is of the essence when it comes to academic assignments. Our writers are capable of working under tight deadlines and can deliver your custom research paper within short timeframes, even as little as 3 hours.
• Timely delivery : We are committed to delivering your research paper on time. We understand the importance of meeting deadlines, and our writers work diligently to ensure that your paper is delivered within the agreed-upon timeframe.
• 24/7 support : Our dedicated support team is available 24/7 to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have. Whether you need updates on your order or have inquiries about our services, our friendly support staff is here to provide prompt and helpful assistance.
• Absolute Privacy : We prioritize the privacy and confidentiality of our clients. Your personal information and order details are kept secure and protected. We adhere to strict privacy policies to ensure that your information remains confidential.
• Easy order tracking : Our user-friendly platform allows you to easily track the progress of your order. You can stay updated on the status of your research paper, communicate with your writer, and receive notifications throughout the writing process.
• Money back guarantee : We are confident in the quality of our services and the expertise of our writers. If, for any reason, you are not satisfied with the final product, we offer a money-back guarantee. Your satisfaction is our priority, and we strive to ensure that you are fully content with the research paper you receive.

When you choose iResearchNet, you can be confident in receiving a well-written and thoroughly researched custom air pollution research paper that meets your academic requirements. We value your privacy and guarantee absolute confidentiality throughout the entire process. Our easy order tracking system allows you to stay updated on the progress of your paper, ensuring a seamless experience from start to finish. If, for any reason, you are not satisfied with the final product, we offer a money-back guarantee.

Order Your Custom Air Pollution Research Paper Today!

Are you ready to take the next step in your academic journey and submit a stellar research paper on air pollution? Look no further than iResearchNet. Our team of expert writers and comprehensive writing services are here to support you in your pursuit of academic excellence. With our custom air pollution research paper writing service, you can be confident in receiving a well-researched, high-quality paper tailored to your specific requirements. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to submit a top-notch air pollution research paper that impresses your professors and demonstrates your expertise in the field. Place your order with iResearchNet today and experience the benefits of our custom writing services.

ORDER HIGH QUALITY CUSTOM PAPER

ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Air pollution.

Air pollution consists of chemicals or particles in the air that can harm the health of humans, animals, and plants. It also damages buildings.

Biology, Ecology, Earth Science, Geography

Loading ...

Air pollution consists of chemicals or particles in the air that can harm the health of humans, animals, and plants. It also damages buildings. Pollutants in the air take many forms. They can be gases , solid particles, or liquid droplets. Sources of Air Pollution Pollution enters the Earth's atmosphere in many different ways. Most air pollution is created by people, taking the form of emissions from factories, cars, planes, or aerosol cans . Second-hand cigarette smoke is also considered air pollution. These man-made sources of pollution are called anthropogenic sources . Some types of air pollution, such as smoke from wildfires or ash from volcanoes , occur naturally. These are called natural sources . Air pollution is most common in large cities where emissions from many different sources are concentrated . Sometimes, mountains or tall buildings prevent air pollution from spreading out. This air pollution often appears as a cloud making the air murky. It is called smog . The word "smog" comes from combining the words "smoke" and " fog ." Large cities in poor and developing nations tend to have more air pollution than cities in developed nations. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) , some of the worlds most polluted cities are Karachi, Pakistan; New Delhi, India; Beijing, China; Lima, Peru; and Cairo, Egypt. However, many developed nations also have air pollution problems. Los Angeles, California, is nicknamed Smog City. Indoor Air Pollution Air pollution is usually thought of as smoke from large factories or exhaust from vehicles. But there are many types of indoor air pollution as well. Heating a house by burning substances such as kerosene , wood, and coal can contaminate the air inside the house. Ash and smoke make breathing difficult, and they can stick to walls, food, and clothing. Naturally-occurring radon gas, a cancer -causing material, can also build up in homes. Radon is released through the surface of the Earth. Inexpensive systems installed by professionals can reduce radon levels. Some construction materials, including insulation , are also dangerous to people's health. In addition, ventilation , or air movement, in homes and rooms can lead to the spread of toxic mold . A single colony of mold may exist in a damp, cool place in a house, such as between walls. The mold's spores enter the air and spread throughout the house. People can become sick from breathing in the spores. Effects On Humans People experience a wide range of health effects from being exposed to air pollution. Effects can be broken down into short-term effects and long-term effects . Short-term effects, which are temporary , include illnesses such as pneumonia or bronchitis . They also include discomfort such as irritation to the nose, throat, eyes, or skin. Air pollution can also cause headaches, dizziness, and nausea . Bad smells made by factories, garbage , or sewer systems are considered air pollution, too. These odors are less serious but still unpleasant . Long-term effects of air pollution can last for years or for an entire lifetime. They can even lead to a person's death. Long-term health effects from air pollution include heart disease , lung cancer, and respiratory diseases such as emphysema . Air pollution can also cause long-term damage to people's nerves , brain, kidneys , liver , and other organs. Some scientists suspect air pollutants cause birth defects . Nearly 2.5 million people die worldwide each year from the effects of outdoor or indoor air pollution. People react differently to different types of air pollution. Young children and older adults, whose immune systems tend to be weaker, are often more sensitive to pollution. Conditions such as asthma , heart disease, and lung disease can be made worse by exposure to air pollution. The length of exposure and amount and type of pollutants are also factors. Effects On The Environment Like people, animals, and plants, entire ecosystems can suffer effects from air pollution. Haze , like smog, is a visible type of air pollution that obscures shapes and colors. Hazy air pollution can even muffle sounds. Air pollution particles eventually fall back to Earth. Air pollution can directly contaminate the surface of bodies of water and soil . This can kill crops or reduce their yield . It can kill young trees and other plants. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide particles in the air, can create acid rain when they mix with water and oxygen in the atmosphere. These air pollutants come mostly from coal-fired power plants and motor vehicles . When acid rain falls to Earth, it damages plants by changing soil composition ; degrades water quality in rivers, lakes and streams; damages crops; and can cause buildings and monuments to decay . Like humans, animals can suffer health effects from exposure to air pollution. Birth defects, diseases, and lower reproductive rates have all been attributed to air pollution. Global Warming Global warming is an environmental phenomenon caused by natural and anthropogenic air pollution. It refers to rising air and ocean temperatures around the world. This temperature rise is at least partially caused by an increase in the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases trap heat energy in the Earths atmosphere. (Usually, more of Earths heat escapes into space.) Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that has had the biggest effect on global warming. Carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels (coal, gasoline , and natural gas ). Humans have come to rely on fossil fuels to power cars and planes, heat homes, and run factories. Doing these things pollutes the air with carbon dioxide. Other greenhouse gases emitted by natural and artificial sources also include methane , nitrous oxide , and fluorinated gases. Methane is a major emission from coal plants and agricultural processes. Nitrous oxide is a common emission from industrial factories, agriculture, and the burning of fossil fuels in cars. Fluorinated gases, such as hydrofluorocarbons , are emitted by industry. Fluorinated gases are often used instead of gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). CFCs have been outlawed in many places because they deplete the ozone layer . Worldwide, many countries have taken steps to reduce or limit greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming. The Kyoto Protocol , first adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, is an agreement between 183 countries that they will work to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. The United States has not signed that treaty . Regulation In addition to the international Kyoto Protocol, most developed nations have adopted laws to regulate emissions and reduce air pollution. In the United States, debate is under way about a system called cap and trade to limit emissions. This system would cap, or place a limit, on the amount of pollution a company is allowed. Companies that exceeded their cap would have to pay. Companies that polluted less than their cap could trade or sell their remaining pollution allowance to other companies. Cap and trade would essentially pay companies to limit pollution. In 2006 the World Health Organization issued new Air Quality Guidelines. The WHOs guidelines are tougher than most individual countries existing guidelines. The WHO guidelines aim to reduce air pollution-related deaths by 15 percent a year. Reduction Anybody can take steps to reduce air pollution. Millions of people every day make simple changes in their lives to do this. Taking public transportation instead of driving a car, or riding a bike instead of traveling in carbon dioxide-emitting vehicles are a couple of ways to reduce air pollution. Avoiding aerosol cans, recycling yard trimmings instead of burning them, and not smoking cigarettes are others.

Downwinders The United States conducted tests of nuclear weapons at the Nevada Test Site in southern Nevada in the 1950s. These tests sent invisible radioactive particles into the atmosphere. These air pollution particles traveled with wind currents, eventually falling to Earth, sometimes hundreds of miles away in states including Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and Washington. These areas were considered to be "downwind" from the Nevada Test Site. Decades later, people living in those downwind areascalled "downwinders"began developing cancer at above-normal rates. In 1990, the U.S. government passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. This law entitles some downwinders to payments of $50,000.

Greenhouse Gases There are five major greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere.

• water vapor
• carbon dioxide
• nitrous oxide

London Smog What has come to be known as the London Smog of 1952, or the Great Smog of 1952, was a four-day incident that sickened 100,000 people and caused as many as 12,000 deaths. Very cold weather in December 1952 led residents of London, England, to burn more coal to keep warm. Smoke and other pollutants became trapped by a thick fog that settled over the city. The polluted fog became so thick that people could only see a few meters in front of them.

Media Credits

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Illustrators

Educator reviewer, last updated.

March 6, 2024

User Permissions

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service .

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.

Related Resources

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Front Physiol

Physical Exercise in the Context of Air Pollution: An Emerging Research Topic

1 Division of Sports Science and Physical Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Jianxiu Liu

Yuquan chen.

2 Institute of Medical Information/Library, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

3 China Table Tennis College, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China

Physical exercise (PE) brings physiological benefits to human health; paradoxically, exposure to air pollution (AP) is harmful. Hence, the combined effects of AP and PE are interesting issues worth exploring. The objective of this study is to review literature involved in AP-PE fields to perform a knowledge-map analysis and explore the collaborations, current hotspots, physiological applications, and future perspectives. Herein, cluster, co-citation, and co-occurrence analysis were applied using CiteSpace and VOSviewer software. The results demonstrated that AP-PE domains have been springing up and in rapid growth since the 21st century. Subsequently, active countries and institutions were identified, and the productive institutions were mainly located in USA, China, UK, Spain, and Canada. Developed countries seemed to be the major promoters. Additionally, subject analysis found that environmental science, public health, and sports medicine were the core subjects, and multidimensional communications were forming. Thereafter, a holistic presentation of reference co-citation clusters was conducted to discover the research topics and trace the development focuses. Youth, elite athletes, and rural population were regarded as the noteworthy subjects. Commuter exposure and moderate aerobic exercise represented the common research context and exercise strategy, respectively. Simultaneously, the research hotspots and application fields were elaborated by keyword co-occurrence distribution. It was noted that physiological adaptations including respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolic, and mental health were the major themes; oxidative stress and inflammatory response were the mostly referred mechanisms. Finally, several challenges were proposed, which are beneficial to promote the development of the research field. Molecular mechanisms and specific pathways are still unknown and the equilibrium points and dose-effect relationships remain to be further explored. We are highly confident that this study provides a unique perspective to systematically and comprehensively review the pieces of AP-PE research and its related physiological mechanisms for future investigations.

Physical exercise in air pollution: an emerging topic.

Introduction

Air pollution (AP) occurs in sync with the progress of industrialization and urbanization. The global burden of disease assessment shows that AP has become the world's largest environmental health problem (Cohen et al., 2017 ) and is associated with mortality among different populations (Di et al., 2017a , b ; Burnett et al., 2018 ). Six pollutants are designated as criteria air pollutants: particles with aerodynamic diameters under 10 and 2.5 um, ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and lead (Suh et al., 2000 ). Among them, the specific particulate matter (PM) has attracted extensive attention due to its impact on several diseases, such as asthma, hypertension, diabetes, and depression (Polichetti et al., 2009 ; Kramer et al., 2010 ; Guarnieri and Balmes, 2014 ; Kim et al., 2016 ). Indeed, there is also evidence that AP has caused 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide and will become the seventh most lethal factor in the world in the next two decades (Foreman et al., 2018 ). As an emerging strategy to mitigate the detriment of AP to the body, exercise and physical activities play irreplaceable roles in promoting health, preventing chronic diseases, reducing disease complications, and delaying disease progressions (Haskell et al., 2007 ; Colberg et al., 2010 ; O'Donovan et al., 2010 ; Booth et al., 2012 ; Lavie et al., 2019 ). In this condition, a rarely known but increasingly crucial issue is the relationship between AP and its impact on exercise and physical activities. Given that physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyle itself can induce multiple chronic diseases, while outdoor exercise is regarded as a unique solution for sustaining physiological balance, improving a metabolic cycle, and enhancing immunity. These facts, in this sense, lead to a dilemma whether the positive effects of exercise could be suppressed by the ambient AP.

It is of great significance to examine the risk-benefit relationship between health benefits of physical exercise (PE) and the potential risks of the increased air pollution. First, for people living in the long-term polluted regions, they have no choice but to commute during the hustling traffic or maintain a certain intensity of physical activities no matter how serious the pollution is, so exploring the effects of exercise on health in the context of air pollution is meaningful to provide exercise suggestions (e.g., mode, duration, and intensity) and health guidelines for this targeted group. Second, with the springing up of global outdoor sports represented by major marathons, people participating in outdoor activities are also at higher risk of exposure to pollutants. Studying the safety threshold of exercise during AP exposure can not only guide city governments to organize various events, such as the Olympic Games, world, or nationwide sporting events, etc., but also help sports enthusiasts or professional athletes to prepare for these games. Finally, in view of the fact that AP itself can lead to an increase in the prevalence and mortality of chronic diseases, probing into the prevention and rehabilitation of related disease using exercise strategy during the intermittent period of AP can help to determine whether exercise can mitigate the health detriment caused by pollutant exposure.

Concerning the research on the AP, PE, and public health, a comprehensive analysis containing these three fields is lacking. In response to the increasing volume of articles on the relationship among these issues, this study aims to synthesize the accumulating knowledge in the field and provide a bird's eye view of the research using bibliometric and visualized approaches. Comparing to traditional content analysis of the literature, this strategy can provide an objective and holistic overview to discover the spatial and temporal distributions of study status, identify the major and highly-cited scholars, reveal emerging thematic frontiers, and ultimately, contribute to moving the research field forward. However, to the best of our knowledge, the systematic analysis based on the review of PE in the context of AP has not been made yet. To fill these research gaps, this study employs bibliometric mapping and the visualized method to address the following key issues: (i) to identify countries, institutions, categories, and journals that have played important roles in global AP-PE research; (ii) track current concerns and physiological fields by reviewing the nowadays' status and new efforts; and (iii) to summarize the frontiers that need to be more concerned in the AP-PE context.

Collectively, this paper's innovation lies in the following points. It is the first attempt at a knowledge-map review of AP-PE, which provides an innovative perspective to comprehensively examine the basic features of the literature and identify the hotspots. Simultaneously, building on the selection of the authoritative database, this manuscript systematically elucidates the latest international cooperation status, evolution trends, and the multi-level research on the AP-PE domain. Eventually, several priority directions of the AP-PE field are highlighted to advance the knowledge progress in this area.

In summary, this study is structured as follows: Section Methodology introduces the methodology. Subsequently, based on the knowledge map and bibliometric strategies, the characteristics of documents are presented in section Results and Discussion. In light of the reference co-citation analysis and keywords co-occurrence analysis, section Research Hotspots and Application Fields Analysis discusses the application fields and reviews the new efforts and research implications. Section Conclusion and Future Perspective concludes the study and suggests the future work.

Methodology

Data acquisition and search strategy.

Four indexes, the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-Expanded); the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI); and the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), were selected from the Core Collection of Web of Science as the data source. Several reasons justified the selection of the WoS database in this research. As noted, the WoSCC remains as the standard database for knowledge-map-based analysis (Meho and Yang, 2007 ), which has been applied in a number of bibliometric studies (Mao et al., 2018 ; Martinho, 2019 ; Yan et al., 2020 ; You et al., 2021a , b ). In addition, the WoSCC is a multidisciplinary database and includes literature on environmental science and public health emerging from distinctive research areas and disciplines published in more than 20,000 journals. Applying specialized databases such as PubMed may result in biases into the search strategy favoring medical domains. Still, it is important to note that, although other interdisciplinary databases like Scopus can provide similar coverage, it has complete citation information only from 1996 (Li et al., 2010 ), so the results from Scopus are still imperfect. Additionally, in terms of classification, WoS is also one step higher than Scopus in representing metadata lists. Actually, search results in WoS are not only classified by author, year, subject, and document types like Scopus but also by institutions and countries (Chadegani et al., 2013 ), which are more convenient for scholars to analyze the distribution of organizations. Thus, in view of the above factors, we chose the four indexes of WoSCC as the database for further analysis.

The following methods were conducted for search publications: [TS = (“exercise” OR “fitness” OR “sport” OR “physical exercise” OR “physical activity” OR “exercise training” OR “physical fitness” OR “aerobic exercise” OR “non-aerobic exercise” OR “interval exercise” OR “resistance exercise” OR “strength exercise” OR “breathing exercise” OR “muscle stretching exercise”] AND TS = ([“air pollution” OR “polluted air” OR “pollution air” OR “air quality” OR “indoor air pollution” OR “outdoor air pollution” OR “air pollution health” OR “air pollution cardiovascular” OR “air pollution lung” OR “air pollution asthma” OR “air pollution respiratory” OR “household air pollution” OR “ambient air pollution” OR “particulate matter” OR “ozone”)] AND [AK = (“exercise” OR “fitness” OR “sport” OR “physical exercise” OR “physical activity” OR “exercise training” OR “physical fitness” OR “aerobic exercise” OR “non-aerobic exercise” OR “interval exercise” OR “resistance exercise” OR “strength exercise” OR “breathing exercise” OR “muscle stretching exercise”] AND AK = [“air pollution” OR “polluted air” OR “pollution air” OR “air quality” OR “indoor air pollution” OR “outdoor air pollution” OR “air pollution health” OR “air pollution cardiovascular” OR “air pollution lung” OR “air pollution asthma” OR “air pollution respiratory” OR “household air pollution” OR “ambient air pollution” OR “particulate matter” OR “ozone”)], time span = 2001–2021. To avoid bias, all hits were retrieved as “full-record and cited-references” files from WoSCC on August 12, 2021 for further analysis. Referring to the previous pieces of research (Yan et al., 2020 ; You et al., 2021a , c ), we only selected “articles or reviews” for analysis, and the language was limited to “English”; other document types and non-English articles were excluded. The reason for setting the time range in the new century was that few publications related to AP-PE were produced before year 2001. Basic information for each document was gathered into text documents, such as countries, institutions, journal sources, authors, and references. A total of 213 papers were initially found; then, the document type and language were filtered, resulting in a final number of 181 publications. The research framework is summarized in Figure 1 .

The summary of the flowchart and study design.

Research Methods and Analysis Tools

The research methods used in this paper were the knowledge map and bibliometrics. The knowledge-map-based methods can be used to perform visualized analysis on a certain research field, and its execution mostly involves the applications of data mining, scientific measurement, information analysis, and drawing. By mapping literature distribution and overall efforts, the knowledge map has been used widely to get more refined information related to the research itself (Rodriguez and Moreiro, 1996 ; Chen et al., 2005 ). Bibliometric overview is another widely recognized approach to evaluate topics from a library and an information science perspective (Oelrich et al., 2007 ; Bornmann and Leydesdorff, 2014 ), which can help discover knowledge flows and patterns in the structure of a field, demonstrate its scientific roots, reveal emerging thematic areas (Skute et al., 2017 ), and ultimately present an in-depth analysis of the knowledge domain. Combining these two strategies can provide audience with visual graphics to clearly understand the study status, frontiers, and hotspots, thereby suggesting perspectives to guide future directions.

Two java-based visualization tools, CiteSpace and VOSviewer, were used to characterize and reveal the results from bibliometric analysis. CiteSpace was developed by Professor Chen Chaomei of Drexel University, and it is mainly used to build the knowledge map (Chaomei, 2006 ); the software has been iterated to version 5.8.R1. In this study, the CiteSpace software was applied to visualize the network of countries and institutions, collaboration network among authors and cited authors, relationship of categories and journals (a dual-map overlay) involved in this field, and the timeline view map of references with co-citations. Noticeably, a co-citation is defined as two publications share a citation from the same third study (Small, 1973 ; Merig et al., 2019 ). VOSviewer (version 1.6.16) was applied to generate the co-occurrence of related keywords in special issues.

Additionally, a knowledge map typically features a set of points and lines to elucidate collaborations among publications (Chaomei, 2006 ). Different nodes are used to represent indexes like a country or region, author, institution, journal, reference, or keyword. The size of the nodes speaks on behalf of the betweenness centrality of publications, and nodes with larger size indicate higher occurrence or citation frequency (Chen et al., 2014 ). The betweenness centrality index in this study can be regarded as a bridge extending from earlier to more recent viewpoints, which further reflects the extent to which paths in the network go through a certain node. The values of centrality are usually standardized to the unit interval [0, 1]. Simultaneously, lines represent connections among the nodes, with stronger connections indicated by wider lines. The knowledge map represents the keywords and references with citation bursts. Occurrence bursts describe the strength of a certain theme frequency, whereas citation bursts are used to express the frequency of the reference (Chaomei, 2006 ). The burst of nodes was calculated with a given network through Kleinberg's algorithm (Jon, 2003 ). Through burst index and this kind of maps, scholars can better understand emerging trends and grasp the research hotspots.

Results and Discussion

Annual outputs analysis.

A total of 181 candidate publications were finally retrieved from database WoSCC. Based on the statistical analysis, the details of annual publications since the new century are presented in Figure 2 . The dynamic change in the number of publications can be used as an indicator to reveal the potential research trends. The outputs tendency can be briefly divided into the following three stages: 2001–2010, 2010–2016, 2016-present. Although the hazards of air pollutants to health have been widely reported, no further study participated in exploring the exercise activities in polluted air. In 2001, Carlisle and Sharp ( 2001 ) paid attention to exercise in the outdoor ambient air pollution, which aroused more interest in this field. While the annual outputs never exceeded five before 2010, which indicated that there are still few scholars paying attention to PE under the background of AP and the research on this domain remained stagnant in this stage. In 2010, with the enhancement of people's active health awareness, Johan de Hartog et al. ( 2010 ) proposed the question whether the health benefits of cycling outweighed the risks exposed in pollutants, and this called for more follow-up pieces of research about this issue. Subsequently, Tainio et al. ( 2016 ) in 2016 found that benefits of physical activity and active travel outweighed the harm caused by air pollution in most cases, which further strengthened people's confidence in maintaining physical activity even in a polluted environment. The number of publications on this field increased from 5 in 2010 to 16 in 2016 and has kept an overall growth trend up to now. We next drew the above results into a fitting curve and used the curve fitting method to obtain the change trend formula of the number of international AP-PE literature, as shown in formula y = −4E-06 x 3 + 0.0843 x 2 −0.5183 x + 1.7978. Among them, y represents the number of papers, and x represents the year. It can be estimated that the publication amount related to this topic will continue to increase in the following years.

The output of publications and growth trends of pieces of air pollution-physical exercise (AP-PE) research.

Regional and Institutional Analysis

Scholars from more than 40 regions and 280 institutions contributed to publications on the domain of AP-PE research. The details of the top 10 countries and institutions are shown in Table 1 . The cooperation network among different countries is illustrated in Figure 3A , which describes the research status of AP-PE in multiple areas. Each point in the figure represented a country, and the size of the point reflected the number of documents in that country. The international academic collaborations were generated by CiteSpace software with 41 nodes and 228 links, which means that the total documents collected were published in 41 countries or regions, and 228 connections were built among these countries. We can observe that the mainstream cooperation relationship was divided into three groups, and the United States, the United Kingdom, and China occupied the dominant position, which conducted the majority of pieces of AP-PE research. The United States took the lead and had the highest amount of literature, 61, also the highest centrality (0.35). China and the United Kingdom were the second productive countries with 30 and 28 publications, respectively, followed by Spain (22 publications) and Canada (20 publications). The top five countries' contributions were all above 20 publications, which implied that they contributed chiefly in research achievements.

Ranking of top 10 countries and institutions of pieces of air pollution-physical exercise (AP-PE) research.

The map of countries (A) , institutions (B) , and world distribution (C) of publications in the AP-PE field.

When it comes to institutional participation, Figure 3B reflects the collaborations among institutions with 281 nodes and 613 links. According to the definition of links and nodes, these organizations had close ties with each other and have a considerable academic impact. Ctr Res Environm Epidemiol CREAL engaged in the most studies with 19 documents, followed by Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red, UPF, Univ British Columbia, with 14, 8, 8 literature, respectively. In terms of centrality, these top 10 institutions were also in a leading position. In addition, we can detect that over half of the institutions were universities, which indicated that colleges and universities played important parts in the innovation of this field. However, from the perspective of clustering, some non-university institutions seemed to have weak connections with others, while universities tended to maintain a large number of cooperative relationships.

Furthermore, the distribution of countries and regions is presented in Figure 3C . From this figure, we can find that countries and institutions in North America, western Europe, Australia, and East Asia led the way in the AP-PE domain. Consistently, most of the top 10 institutions referred in Table 1 belonged to Western nations, which also helped explain that Western nations occupied the first echelon position in the AP-PE field. It seemed that developed regions might input richer resources into environmental and health-related topics and pay more attention to physical activities in air pollution. However, as the largest developing country, China also conducted significant contributions in this research field. China faces severe challenges in controlling air pollution and preventing its potential hazards. In view of the vast territory of China, it is difficult to change the fact that some areas have suffered from industrial pollution for a long time in the short term. Hence, it is more meaningful to study the relationship between air pollution, physical activities, and their impacts to body health in these regions. In brief, western countries and institutions seemed to be the major promoters; participants from different regions all made contributions to the AP-PE field; and different organizations should strengthen cooperation to win higher achievements.

Subject and Periodical Analysis

Subjects involved in publishing pieces of AP-PE research are displayed in Figure 4A . Referring to the description of centrality, the discipline “Ecology,” “Public, Environmental, and Occupational Health,” and “Environmental Sciences” are surrounded by the purple rings, which indicated that they played important roles in AP-PE studies. The merged network was consisting of 71 nodes and 145 links, which illustrated that 71 sub-disciplines were involved in pieces of AP-PE research and 145 cross-paths, and collaborative networks have been established within the disciplines. Compared to previous AP literature (Sweileh et al., 2018 ; Dhital and Rupakheti, 2019 ), the disciplinary cooperation networks in the fields of AP-PE were more complex and comprehensive. It was clear that all subjects made contributions to the scientific research. Environmental science and public health seemed to be core subjects, while sports science, medicine, and toxicology worked together to enrich the horizons of the disciplines and broaden the depth of research. Importantly, as the variety of disciplines tended to be diversified, it can be seen that the AP-PE field has developed rapidly in the past decades.

The map of disciplines (A) , cited-journals (B) , and a dual-map overlay (C) of publications in the AP-PE field.

Building on the analysis of subjects, we next discussed about the cited journal in the AP-PE domain. The term citing journal is defined as the journal that publishes AP-PE papers, and the cited journal is defined as the journal where the references cited in AP-PE papers are published. Figure 4B describes a panorama of cited journals. In this figure, 471 nodes and 2,939 links were built simultaneously. Among the nearly 500 journals, there were Sci Total Environ, Environ Int, Environ Res et al. in environmental science; Med Sci Sport Exer, Brit J Sport Med, Sports Med et al. in sports science; the medical field represented by Lancet, New Engl J Med, and Circulation. Several comprehensive journals, such as Plos One, were also among the abundant research scopes. Given that cited journals provided a theoretical basis for the citing journals, these diverse trajectories illustrated that the disciplinary center of the journals shifted from a single subject to multidisciplinary clusters.

Figure 4C presents a dual-map overlay of the research themes between citing journals and cited journals in the AP-PE field. This approach uses two graphs at the same time, with the citing journals on the left and the cited journals on the right. From this figure, we can find two major citation paths. The yellow paths showcased that research published in “molecular, biology, immunology” journals preferred to quote journals mostly in the domains of “environmental, toxicology, and nutrition.” The paths colored with green demonstrated that studies published in “medicine, medical, clinical,” and “neurology, sports, and ophthalmology” journals tended to cite journals primarily in the domains of “health, nursing, and medicine.” It is to be noticed that AP-PE fields are actually a comprehensive interdisciplinary as well as an emerging realm worthy to be explored. For promoting the development of physical activities in air-polluted environments, there is an urgent need for more multidimensional communications.

Analysis of Co-cited References

Co-cited references refer to the citations of two scientific documents by one article (Chaomei, 2006 ). The more occurrences of co-cited documents, the closer the relationship between the two scientific documents. As time evolves, a huge structure of citation relationships has been formed among published scientific documents. In this study, we used the CiteSpace software to concretely express the relevant citation relationship network structure in the AP-PE field through the scientific knowledge map. By analyzing the clusters composed of co-cited references, we can have access to trace the roots of the scientific development and on this basis, to explore the themes and trends of AP-PE fields.

There are three options that can be applied to create label clusters: Log-Likelihood Ratio (LLR), Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), and Mutual Information (MI). We used the Log-Likelihood Ratio algorithm since this strategy can cover the “uniqueness and coverage” of all labels created. The research topics were divided into several clusters, which were labeled by “#,” and then their time development trajectory was described, as shown in Figure 5 . The darker the clusters' color, the later the literature appeared. Here, we concluded several noteworthy topics into three classifications: “research context,” “effects and modes,” and “popular subject.” The modularity value (Q value) and weighted mean silhouette value (S value) were used to evaluate the rationality of clustering, and it is generally accepted that a Q > 0.5 cluster and S > 0.7 means that the cluster is convincing. In our clustering, the Q equaled to 0.885 and S equaled to 0.893, which further verified the rationality of the strategy.

The research topics and clusters of the co-cited references in the AP-PE field.

Research context is mainly composed of four sub-clusters: commuter exposure, urban environmental health, public transportation, and health impact assessment. In recent years, “active transportation” (AT) has gradually become a popular new model, represented by walking and cycling for transportation. Motivations for the AT mode not only included traffic pollution mitigation, urban climate improvement, but also provided substantial health benefits. Unfortunately, the discussions on the benefit-risk and benefit-cost ratios of active transportation have never stopped so far. The current consensus is that AT under a lesser extent AP may be beneficial (de Nazelle et al., 2011 ), and, in this situation, AT can help people get rid of car dependence and increase activity levels (Lindsay et al., 2011 ). It is well-known that there is a dose-response relationship among pollution exposure, physical activity, and health. The greater the amount of physical activity and the lower the pollution concentration, the more likely it is to reduce the risk of morbidity and death. Therefore, there seems to be emerging interest in health impact assessment (HIA) as a strategy to evaluate health consequences. Despite the impact of potential publication bias, Mueller et al. ( 2015 ) applied the HIA method to systematically evaluate the AT mode and found that the benefits of increased PA surpassed detrimental influence of traffic incidents and air pollution exposure. In addition, Woodcock et al. ( 2009 ) estimated the relationship between AT and greenhouse gas emission reductions and suggested that mode shifts toward AT were beneficial to public health issues. Rather than traditional assessment, de Nazelle et al. ( 2011 ) first proposed a conceptual framework to further evaluate the pertinence and quantify relevant impacts. However, in view of the complexity of the active travel mode, there are still several factors, which cannot be fully quantified. Meanwhile, although modeling tools can be used to predict the relationship between vehicle emissions reduced by physical activity and AP, there are few real-world examples and lack of evidence from different regions.

In relation to research effects and modes, it can be divided into exercise immunology, short-term exposure, and moderate aerobic exercise. Immunity enhancement is one of the significant benefits that physical exercise brings to the body. A growing number of studies have proved that exercise induces considerable physiological changes in the immune system (Hoffman-Goetz and Pedersen, 1994 ; Nieman, 1997 ; Gleeson and Pyne, 2000 ; Pedersen and Hoffman-Goetz, 2000 ). Cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and TNF-α) (Normando et al., 2013 ; Bos et al., 2014 ; Lu et al., 2015a ; Trnjar et al., 2017 ), inflammation-relate proteins (CRP, FeNO, CC16, CD62P, CD63, and CD40) (Rundell et al., 2007 ; Cutrufello et al., 2011 ; Normando et al., 2013 ; Trnjar et al., 2017 ), and stress hormones (including epinephrine, norepinephrine, growth hormone, b-endorphins, insulin, and cortisol) (Volek et al., 1997 ; Molina-Sotomayor et al., 2020 ) are most common indexes to estimate the variety of immune function influenced by exercise. As for the duration of the study, in view of the potential ethical approval difficulties of long-term air pollution exposure, most of the existing studies focus on the impacts of exercise and physical activities in short-term exposure to the body. Current evidence tends to show that short-term exercise on non-regular basis trainers induces a short-term inflammatory response (Kasapis and Thompson, 2005 ), but if with the long-term regular exercise, habits can lead to an anti-inflammatory effects, including reductions in C- reaction protein (CRP) levels (Dufaux et al., 1986 ). An exercise mode is another variable factor, also a quantifiable and reproducible strategy that can be modified experimentally, while the most classic and common paradigm used in current research is moderate aerobic exercise (MAE), which is also known as moderate intensity aerobic exercise (MIAE). At present, there are a number of studies that have adopted the contrast mode between high and low exercise intensities or adopted emerging exercise modes such as interval training or sprint training or the mix of both like high-intensity interval training (HIIT) (Giles et al., 2012 , 2014 ; Marmett et al., 2021 ), but the overall impact of changes in the exercise mode on air pollution exposure is relatively small. Since the new exercise mode seems to be difficult for beginners or amateurs, pieces of research on the effects of different exercise patterns remain to be excavated.

When it comes to a popular subject, it is important to highlight youth, elite athletes, sports facilities, and rural population. Youth groups are in the growth period, and their respiratory system is not yet mature; hence, they are more susceptible to atmospheric particulates than adults (Gauderman et al., 2004 ; Chen et al., 2015 ; Ghozikali et al., 2018 ). Evidence showed that changes in respiratory tract inflammation, FeNO, etc. can be observed in school children on just 1 day of short-term exposure to air pollutants (Idavain et al., 2019 ). Recently, several studies have discussed the relationship between adolescent physical activities and air pollution. Results proved that outdoor activity time duration was associated with air pollution, and the longer the outdoor activity time might lead to lower lung function (Yu et al., 2017 ; Lovinsky-Desir et al., 2021 ). Except for young people, elite athletes are also the targeted groups. Different from the general population, athletes have to perform year-round training, and the climate of the training or competition sites is not selectable. It is inevitable that athletes may encounter different air pollution conditions. Early studies have been conducted on the status of particulate matter inhaled by athletes during the Athens Olympic Games and Beijing Olympic Games (Florida-James et al., 2004 ; Lippi et al., 2008 ; Fitch, 2016 ). Not surprisingly, several results pointed to the fact that several problematic pollutants, including oxides of nitrogen (NO x ), PM 10 , PM 2.5 , and ozone, have a potentially deleterious impact on top-class athletes' health and athletic performance (Florida-James et al., 2004 ; Donnelly et al., 2016 ; Reche et al., 2020 ). Moreover, swimmers, skaters, skiers, or other groups practicing at specific sports venues are at greater risk of exposure to air pollution. Breathing airborne Teflon particles from fluorinated waxes in the confines of the indoor ski-slope may be risks to skiers (Rundell and Sue-Chu, 2013 ). Likewise, serious swimmers are exposed to high concentrations of trichloramines at the pool-surface level, and this kind of exposure may be continuous (Bougault and Boulet, 2012 ). However, it is still challenging to disentangle confounding air pollutants' effects on athletic performance under different sports circumstances. As for rural individuals, when AP is viewed in the context of low income, confounding factors can detrimentally affect their health, including physical inactivity, none medical insurance, poor nutrition, and other health risks. In relatively underdeveloped rural areas, the use of inefficient fuels and lack of sufficient ventilation led to worse air quality than other regions. Studies showed that communities with high proportions use of household solid fuel and the polluted emissions from inefficient stoves may cause ambient AP and place regions at risk for adverse health outcomes (Ward and Lange, 2010 ; Lim et al., 2012 ; Johnston et al., 2013 ). In a nutshell, youth groups, elite athletes, enthusiasts of special indoor sports activities, and rural population are emerging research subjects in AP-PE fields and deserve special attention.

Analysis of Co-occurrence Keywords

A map of keywords can present major research interests and hot topics of one certain field. CiteSpace software was applied to conduct the keywords co-occurrence map ( Figure 6 ) in this study. The merged network in this figure consisted of 420 nodes and 2,045 links. Among the more than 400 keywords, the highest frequency belonged to the “air pollution,” “physical activity,” “exercise,” which appeared 126, 90, and 61 times, respectively. This indicated that these three terms were the core subject words in the domain. It was easy to identify that the keywords “public health,” “inflammation,” and “particulate matter” have also received extensive attention.

The distribution of the co-occurrence network of keywords in the AP-PE field.

To better understand the research hotspots, the keywords of AP-PE field were divided into four clusters: “respiratory health,” “cardiovascular health,” “metabolic health,” and “mental health” for further analysis. The network distribution of keywords and its related mechanisms and factors are presented in Figure 7 . Cluster “respiratory health” studied the impact of exercise on the respiratory system under air pollution conditions and the related risks it may cause, mainly about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and lung cancer. Cluster “cardiovascular health” focused on the related research of circulatory system as heart and blood vessels, which were represented by “cardiovascular diseases,” “myocardial infarction,” “arrhythmia,” and other risk factors. Cluster “metabolic health” introduced reports on the interaction factors of air pollution and exercise on glucose, endocrine, and insulin metabolism, which was mostly related to metabolic problems, such as type 2 diabetes (T2D), obesity, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension. The “mental health” cluster was an emerging topic that emphasized the AP-PE factors on brain and nervous systems. In this topic, “depression,” “anxiety,” and “brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)” were highly referred keywords. Based on the above analysis results, the research hotspots in the AP-PE field are discussed in depth in section Research Hotspots and Application Fields Analysis.

(A) Network connections among keywords in respiratory health-related research in the AP-PE field; (B) the mechanistic process for air pollutants leading to asthma (B) was adapted from reference Gowers et al. ( 2012 ); (C) network connections among keywords in cardiovascular health-related research in the AP-PE field; (D) mechanisms and relationships between exercise and air pollutants to the cardiovascular system; (E) network connections among keywords in metabolic health-related research in the AP-PE field; (F) major factors affecting metabolic health; (G) network connections among keywords in mental health-related research in the AP-PE field; (H) pathways and factors of air pollutants and exercise on mental health.

Research Hotspots and Application Fields Analysis

Respiratory health.

Obviously, the organ directly affected by inhalation of polluted air is the respiratory system. In view of this fact, we understood that the research focusing on respiratory system is the basis of the whole AP-PE domain. Figure 7A is a keyword co-occurrence presentation drawn by keywords of respiratory health-related literature from the total 181 references included.

As AP is often accompanied by slower air velocity and higher concentrations of a particulate matter, people may unconsciously inhale more the deposited particulate matter and other harmful substances when they exercise in an air-polluted environment. In addition, the humidity in the AP environment is relatively high, which hinders the alveolar gas exchange to a certain extent, resulting in insufficient oxygen supply. The airway and the respiratory system, as the body's first barrier, are exposed to higher risks and always the first to be attacked. Studies showed that 9% of inhaled fine PM was deposited in the lung with 6%, reaching the alveolar region (Venkataraman and Kao, 1999 ). More specifically, one report further proved that a moderate-intensity exercise (minute ventilation of 38 L/min) in air pollutants can result in a 4.5-fold increment of the fractional deposition of a particulate matter (Daigle et al., 2003 ). In this section, research topics about airway inflammations, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, and other symptoms (Berend, 2016 ; Bowatte et al., 2017 ; Schultz et al., 2017 ) associated with AP-PE fields are discussed in detail.

Airway inflammation is a sign of the body's response to AP exposure (e.g., ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and PM <2.5 μm in diameter) in the early stages (Seltzer et al., 1986 ; Aris et al., 1993 ; Solomon et al., 2000 ; Frampton et al., 2002 ). Similarly, airway hyper-responsiveness is another body's defensive response to AP stimuli and damage (Seltzer et al., 1986 ; Poynter et al., 2006 ). Pollutants are inhaled through the mouth and nose, and enter the lungs along each branch of the main bronchus. During this process, air pollutants may deposit in various parts of the respiratory system, such as nasal mucosa, respiratory tract, and alveoli, and stimulate macrophages and epithelial cells to induce inflammation.

Moreover, exposure to AP has been considered as one of the main causes of asthma. Researchers found that there was a correlation between the level of atmospheric particulate matter and the hospitalization of asthmatic patients (Malig et al., 2013 ; Tian et al., 2017 ). The current mainstream held the point urbanization seemed to be the most common contributor to asthma due to the rapid growth of roadway traffic and outdoor AP (Brunekreef et al., 2009 ; Robinson et al., 2011 ; Perez et al., 2013 ). Gowers et al. ( 2012 ) concluded a mechanism framework of the process that AP leads to asthma, which maintained oxidative stress, inflammation, airway remodeling, and immunological genes. As shown in Figure 7B , at first stage, air pollutants cause oxidative stress, and then it could further activate the expression of inflammatory factors and awaken the immunological responses; subsequently, genes related to airway development and repair, including remodeling, regulate the process of asthma and rehabilitation, and, in this way, a wider range of pathways and biological mechanisms is involved in the interactions.

Long-term physical activities in air-polluted environment could further lead to chronic COPD and even lung cancer. COPD is a chronic airway inflammatory disease and has been a major public health problem worldwide (Lopez-Campos et al., 2016 ). With the increasing incidence rate and mortality of COPD, there is growing evidence that proved that AP might increase the incidence rate of COPD (Hansel et al., 2016 ; Xia et al., 2016 ). As for the lung cancer, it is one of the most common malignant tumor, which has become the leading cause of death in great number of regions. Particulate matter (PM) contains a variety of carcinogenic or cancer-promoting components, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, cadmium, and mercury. One epidemiological research also supported the associations between PM and cancer, indicating that the mortality of lung cancer increased by 8% for every 10 pg/m −3 increase in PM concentration (Pope et al., 2002 ).

In short, due to the fact that exercise in AP can induce airway and lung inflammation, and even cause asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer, the injury to respiratory system in AP context cannot be underestimated. Hence, in this condition, the benefits of exercise to respiratory system may be offset.

Cardiovascular Health

Cardiovascular health is closely related to quality of life. In 2015, the global disease burden estimated that all forms of pollution combined were responsible for 21% of all deaths from cardiovascular disease (Landrigan et al., 2018 ). Figure 7C represents the highly referred keywords of pieces of AP-PE research on the special issue of cardiovascular health. From this figure, we can obtain that the keyword with cardio as the root appears frequently indicates that cardiovascular-related research is another interest in the AP-PE field.

A meta-analysis involved in 34 studies found that most air pollutants were significantly associated with a near-term increase in myocardial infarction risk (Mustafic et al., 2012 ). Another meta-analysis, which contained 59 studies, further demonstrated that every 10 μg/m 3 increase in PM 10 or PM 2.5 can lead to an upward risk of cardiovascular disease by 0.36 and 0.63%, respectively (Lu et al., 2015b ). Considering that repeated and uninterrupted exposure to air pollutants is regarded as one important risk factor in atherosclerosis, several regions faced greater cardiovascular health risks due to long-term exposure in air pollution (Wang et al., 2016 ). When it comes to the biological effects, the mechanisms of cardiovascular system injury caused by air pollutants have been partially studied, including oxidative stress, inflammatory response, vascular endothelial injury, gene epigenetic changes, and autonomic nerve dysfunction (Meng et al., 2016 ; Pope et al., 2016 ; Hamanaka and Mutlu, 2018 ; Rao et al., 2018 ). However, exercise training has been used as a supplementary therapy to treat cardiovascular diseases (Lavie et al., 2009 ; Fagard, 2011 ). It is self-evident that regular exercise and physical activities are safe, feasible, acceptable approaches to effectively improve cardiopulmonary function and reduce the risk of cardiovascular mortality (Nocon et al., 2008 ; Lee et al., 2014 ). The main mechanism of exercise improving the structure and function of cardiovascular system lies in remodeling of cardiac structure (cardiac physiological hypertrophy); improving the vascular structure (making the diameter of arterial vessels larger and the vessel wall thinner); increasing the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in skeletal muscle and myocardium; and promoting vascular endothelial function, etc. (Green et al., 2008 ; Golbidi and Laher, 2011 ; Thijssen et al., 2012 ). A summary of the effects of exercise and air pollutants on the cardiovascular system is shown in Figure 7D .

The difficulty is that whether the benefits of exercise to cardiovascular system can be offset. Unfortunately, although there were still several doubts, the accessible evidence tended to point to this fact. An early research on traffic pollutants pointed out that exercise while commuting has an influence on inhaled PM, which was significantly associated with acute declines in heart rate variability, especially in pedestrians and cyclists (Nyhan et al., 2014 ). From the same perspective of traffic air pollution, another study further proved that whether exercising or not, every additional 1 μg/m 3 of particle matter (2.5–10 μm) can reduce forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC). Moreover, one recent study in young and healthy males has also found that exposure to ambient air pollution during short-term submaximal exercise is associated with a decrease in airflow (FEV1/FVC) and goes one step further to state that the decrease is more apparent when the exercise takes place under particularly high exposure conditions (Kocot and Zejda, 2021 ). Recently, scholars using an animal model have further explored the effects of exercise in the air pollution context; their results showed that, despite a reduction in proinflammatory markers and an increase in markers of the anti-inflammatory pathway have been detected, these benefits were not enough to prevent the damage of particles to cardiovascular events (Olivo et al., 2021 ). Last but not least, for people with cardiovascular disease or lack of physical activity, reducing exercise may lead to a greater risk of aggravating related diseases (Kim et al., 2021 ; Raza et al., 2021 ). Therefore, it may also be beneficial to maintain a certain amount of exercise under low-concentration air pollution.

In brief, a large increase in physical activities in a high-pollution environment may adversely affect cardiovascular health, whereas exercise in the context of low-to-moderate levels of air pollutants seemed to be beneficial as well.

Metabolic Health

Metabolism and the endocrine system jointly regulate human physiological activities and play an important role in human body. As shown in Figure 7E , we can discover that diabetes, obesity, and insulin metabolism are research hotspots in the metabolic-related topics in the AP-PE field. Overweight, obesity, and diabetes (especially T2D) are also leading risk factors and global public health burdens (Collaborators et al., 2017 ; Saeedi et al., 2019 ; Ampofo and Boateng, 2020 ). It should be noted that metabolism is a long-cycle process and can be affected by many factors. Here, we summarized the major factors that affect metabolic health, including physical activity, environment, diet habits, and other aspects (as shown in Figure 7F ), including age, gender, body mass index (BMI), smoking/drinking status, season/weather, and socioeconomic conditions, etc. Based on these facts, there are few studies specifically targeting at physical activity or air pollution, and more are the comprehensive effects of complex factors on metabolism.

A global survey in 2016 showed that PM 2.5 led to 3.2 million new diabetes cases worldwide (accounting for 14% of the total number of new added reports) (Bowe et al., 2018 ). The relationship between air pollution and metabolic diseases has been widely studied, and pieces of evidence from many countries and regions in China, the United States, and Italy confirmed that air pollutants can lead to increased risk of diabetes and obesity (Dales et al., 2012 ; Solimini et al., 2015 ; Yang et al., 2018 ; Cao et al., 2021 ). The mechanism between air pollution and the blood glucose level has been studied in physiological mechanism. It is suggested that a series of pathways may be involved in the pathogenesis and development of diabetes and its related disease through disturbance of glucose metabolism, increase of the blood insulin level, elevation of insulin resistance index, induction of oxidative stress, and inflammation (Sun et al., 2005 ; Anderson et al., 2012 ; Fleisch et al., 2014 ). Physical exercise has been proved to improve insulin sensitivity and systematic metabolism via multiple adaptations. These adaptations are underpinned by inter-tissue communications (including skeletal muscle, liver, fat, and other major target organs of insulin action), which can ultimately prevent metabolic derangement (Hawley and Lessard, 2008 ; Saotome et al., 2019 ; Grunewald et al., 2020 ; Thyfault and Bergouignan, 2020 ; Iaccarino et al., 2021 ). On the other hand, another mechanism that exercise promotes metabolic health is that skeletal muscle can secrete a variety of bioactive cytokines (also known as myokines) during or after the training process. These myokines can act on various tissues and organs of the whole body through endocrine or paracrine ways. Taking irisin as an example, it can promote the browning of white fat so as to promote heat production and energy consumption (Bostrom et al., 2012 ). In addition, exercise-induced mediators can adjust the cross-talk between many tissues (including liver, heart, pancreas, gut microbiota, and brain), and these adaptions are beneficial to prevent excessive inflammation and oxidative stress (McGee and Hargreaves, 2020 ).

At present, most studies on physical activity and metabolic health in the AP context are longitudinal studies. We assume that the possible reason is that, unlike the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, the process of human metabolism is usually an evolutionary process rather than immediate changes and results that can be observed. One longitudinal cohort study in adults showed that a high level of physical activities and low PM 2.5 exposures were associated with a lower risk of hypertension and recommended regular PE can prevent hypertension for people residing in relatively polluted regions (Guo et al., 2020 ). On this basis, a recent study has been surprised to find that certain levels of physical activities can counteract the telomere length (TL) relative shortening caused by long-term exposure to NO 2 and PMs in impaired fasting glucose (IFG) participants as well as patients with T2D mellitus (T2DM) (Li et al., 2021a ). Another study focused on elder groups also suggested that engaging in 5 or more times of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA)/week was associated with decreased risk of diabetes within groups with both high and low/moderate levels of exposure to air pollutants, such as PM 10 or PM 2.5 , and concluded that MVPA may be inversely associated with the risk of diabetes with particulate matter exposure (Kim et al., 2020 ). In addition to longitudinal intervention, there are still a few studies on the impact of short-term exercise in air pollution on the metabolic system. A novel research (Wang et al., 2021 ) conducted in college students suggested that intermittent exercise in acute ozone exposure may trigger autonomic nervous system (ANS) imbalance and activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and sympatho-adrenomedullary (SAM) axes, and the metabolomics assay detected that associated pathways were in relation to steroid hormone metabolism, acute inflammatory response, oxidative stress, as well as energy metabolisms.

To sum up, compared with AP-PE's research on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, the effects and mechanisms of metabolism are more complex, and the reasons for these changes need to be further revealed. In view of the fact that metabolism is a long-term and cyclic process, and it is difficult to observe substantial changes in short-term research, studies on this topic should pay more attention to the influence of possible confounding factors on the results.

Mental Health

Central nervous system (CNS) is the high-level center that regulates human activities, and mental health has attracted more attention than ever in the new century. Surprisingly, the microscopic particles sifting from freeways and power plants not only harm the heart and lungs but also attack the brain (Underwood, 2017 ). Figure 7G demonstrates the hot topics of pieces of AP-PE research on the mental health. From this figure, we can acquire that co-occurrence words represented by cognition, anxiety, and depression are frequently referred themes.

Figure 7H presents the pathways and factors of air pollutants and exercise on mental health. Evidence from epidemiological perspective has shown that air pollution exposure is associated with CNS-related diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD) (Calderon-Garciduenas et al., 2004 ; Younan et al., 2020 ; Chen et al., 2021 ; Rhew et al., 2021 ), Parkinson's disease (Chen et al., 2017 ; Jo et al., 2021 ; Yu et al., 2021 ), stroke (Tsai et al., 2003 ; Kettunen et al., 2007 ; Lu et al., 2021 ), and depression (Zijlema et al., 2016 ; Li et al., 2021b ; Shih et al., 2021 ). How do these air pollutants affect the brain system? Early studies found that there are two main ways for the transport of air pollutants into the central nervous system (Oberdorster et al., 2004 ; Lampron et al., 2013 ): one way is that air pollutants precipitate in the respiratory tract and transport to the blood circulation system, and then penetrate the blood-brain barrier (BBB) into the brain; another approach is to pollutants deposit on the nasal and enters the CNS through the olfactory bulb of the brain. Despite the above two pathways, recent studies have also detected that air pollutants might affect the intestinal microbiome and interfere with the brain-gut axis pathway, resulting in neuro inflammation (Mutlu et al., 2011 , 2018 ; Shou et al., 2019 ). Furthermore, pollutants entering the brain can cause nerve damage, and its main mechanisms include oxidative stress (Calderon-Garciduenas et al., 2015 ; Verma et al., 2015 ) and inflammatory response (Ku et al., 2017 ). In addition, studies have shown that particulate matters can lead to neurotoxicity by mediating epigenetic regulation (Gondalia et al., 2019 ). However, previous studies have shown that exercise is not only beneficial to improve the brain function of healthy people but also has a protective and preventive effect on the patients with neurological diseases such as AD and depression (Heyn et al., 2004 ; Lautenschlager et al., 2008 ; Wegner et al., 2014 ; Kvam et al., 2016 ). The major effects of exercise on mental health can be divided into three aspects: remodeling of neural structure (Voss et al., 2013 ; Bonavita and Tedeschi, 2017 ), generation of neurotrophins (Dishman et al., 2006 ; Liang et al., 2021 ), and improvement of synaptic plasticity (Dishman et al., 2006 ; Petzinger et al., 2013 ; Liang et al., 2021 ). It should be noted that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is one of the key factors in improving cognition and mental health mediated by exercise. Studies have shown that impaired cognitive function and psychiatric disorders are closely related to the decline of the BDNF level (Connor et al., 1997 ; Shimizu et al., 2003 ; Angelucci et al., 2005 ; Cramer and Riley, 2008 ), and exercise can significantly upregulate the expression of BDNF and glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) (Aguiar et al., 2014 ; Soke et al., 2021 ). Besides, there are also studies that show that exercise can promote the enhancement of mitochondrial adaptability, and then improve the brain oxidative stress environment (Navarro et al., 2004 ; Gomez-Pinilla, 2008 ; Gusdon et al., 2017 ; Gan et al., 2018 ) so as to prevent or rehabilitate related neuropsychiatric diseases.

So far, there is shortage of in-depth studies on the interactive effects of AP and exercise on brain function. We preliminarily suppose that the reasons for this are not only the complexity of basic exploration in brain science itself but also the fact that changes in brain structure and function usually take time to accumulate. One short-term study explored the effects of exercise in different environments, while the results indicated that one 15-min bout of walking or jogging with or without air pollutants did not appear to affect participants' emotions (Han, 2020 ). There are also studies using aerobic and resistance training under the air pollutants conditions on cognition status (Molina-Sotomayor et al., 2019 , 2020 ), and their findings tended to show that exercise may be serve as a protective factor against the effects that pollution has on cognition. However, most of these studies use evaluation methods such as blood parameters or mental scales, and there is little research on the mechanism of cognitive function changes. On the basis of these facts, several studies tried to answer the questions with the application of animal models, and it seemed that ultrafine particles exposure might mitigate the benefits of the exercise-induced upregulation of BDNF gene expression in the rats' hippocampus (Bos et al., 2012a , b ). Additionally, changes in gene or mRNA levels are not necessarily consistent with protein levels (Soya et al., 2007 ), so these findings need to be confirmed on further dimensions.

In a nutshell, brain research and mental health have been emerging topics, also the crucial and difficult issues, in recent AP-PE studies. The balance between neurotoxicity caused by air pollutants and neurotrophic mechanism induced by exercise is not clear. What is certain is that BDNF is a mediator connecting air pollution and exercise-induced changes in brain function. Taken BDNF and its related neurotrophic factor as a bridge, further research can explore more molecular events and specific pathways under the AP-PE context.

Conclusion and Future Perspective

For the first time, the research distribution, major topics, and relevant hotspots of the AP-PE field have been described by the knowledge-map strategy. Despite previous articles that have been conducted on the cohort design, associated mechanisms, interaction factors, etc., the understanding of total exercise and physical activities in an air-polluted environment is still limited. One reason is that exercise, as an emerging active living style, has mushroomed in recent years, and environmental health has attracted increasing attention since the new century. Another may be the development history of AP-PE interdisciplinary is relatively short, although the analysis of annual outputs and subjects suggests that it is currently in the prosperity era of the research field.

In this study, a total of 181 studies in the AP-PE field were retrieved from the WoSCC. The trend of annual publications displayed notable growth overall, especially from 2016 to present. Most of the related pieces of research were published in the journals with a focus on environment, medicine, and sports. The research contexts were mainly involved in commuter exposure, urban environmental health, public transportation, health impact assessment; the effects and modes are mostly connected with exercise immunology, short-term exposure, and moderate aerobic exercise, and the noteworthy subjects included youth, elite athletes, sports facilities, and rural population. In addition, on the basis of the AP and exercise's effects on different aspects of the body, we further discussed the four application fields in depth. Respiratory system, as the first barrier of the body to defense against air pollutants, has been widely studied, and it seems that the benefits of exercise to respiratory system may be offset under AP conditions. There are debates on the AP-PE condition to the cardiovascular health, and the AP level is an important factor mediating the beneficial effects of physical exercise. Metabolic pieces of research in AP-PE fields are closely related to public health issues, including diabetes, obesity, hypertension, etc. Since metabolism is a mixed result regulated by multiple axes, the metabolic studies need to be further explored with confounding factors included. Brain science, as the focus and emerging field of pieces of AP-PE research, is springing up nowadays. BDNF seems to be a link between exercise benefits and brain impairments caused by air pollution, while more mechanisms at the molecular and pathway levels remain to be discovered in the upcoming years.

Future Perspectives

According to the knowledge map and visualized results in our study, we consider that future research should pay more attention to the following concerns:

Overall, the AP-PE studies are still in the development stage and remained to be further standardized and systematized. In current studies, the differences in the research paradigm, sample size, exposure method, model selection, and outcome detection may lead to inconsistent research conclusions and difficult to integrate. To provide a greater scope for improvement, it is urgent to establish a scientific standard and conclude biomarkers and major indicators to guide future scholars through the directions to more explicitly explore the field. In this study, we summarized that the current mainstream research strategies are mostly related to the five aspects: (1) longitudinal studies on physical exercise exposed to long-term air pollution, typically represented by traffic pollution context. This type mainly focuses on the mitigation of benefits induced by exercise under air pollution. (2) Short-term intervention under one acute exercise experience under air pollution condition. This mode is mostly used to evaluate the exercise performance of elite athletes in special situations, such as Olympic Games and other sporting occasions. (3) Long-term empirical research that contains pre-exercise training in a non-exposed environment, and then comparing the trained groups' and non-trained groups' health status in air pollution. This study design is generally applicable in regions with intermittent air pollution and aims to observe whether the protective effects of exercise (including the improvement of immunity) can reduce the damage to the body caused by air pollution. (4) Different from the subjects selected in the first three modes, the fourth type of research tends to select patients living in air-polluted areas with basic chronic diseases as the control group, and explore if exercise can rehabilitate or improve air pollution-related diseases to some extent. (5) Pieces of research combined with two or more of the above four modes.

Although numerous AP-PE studies have detected the oxidative stress and inflammatory response on health system, few have focused on underlying mechanisms. When the focus is the composition of air pollutants, varied sources of pollutants in different regions and seasons are complex; thus, the components inducing toxicological effects are not well-understood. The molecular mechanism research on the components of major pollutants (such as PM) will help researchers to explain the impact of specific pollutants on body health, and, as well, has important guidelines for AP control. Additionally, previous reports mainly focus on the partial effect of one organ, and the research on the integration mechanism of AP, exercise, and health is still missing. Actually, the effects of pollutants and exercise on the body are systematic. For example, the stress reaction is related to the HPA axis induced by brain, and intestinal brain carries out negative feedback regulation of intestinal flora via the brain-gut axis, etc. Therefore, with the establishment and maturity of hybrid research strategy and multi omics technology, the research based on phenotype-function and upstream-downstream effectors will provide a new horizon for scholars to understand the profound mechanism under the AP-PE context.

Furthermore, one of the main challenges for pieces of AP-PE research regarding the dose relationship is to explore the dose effect of exercise under air pollution. There are two equilibrium points in the yield curve of AP-PE activities. One is the intensity and the mode of the exercise; another is the level and the component of air pollutants. Although there are some ongoing studies on the dose response between exercise and AP, the evidence level is not sufficient to support the explanation of the associated phenomenon. Up to now, the consensus on exercise is that low-to-medium intensity has a positive effect on reducing metabolism risks and improving the aerobic capacity, while high-intensity exercise has a better effect on the enhancement of cardiopulmonary fitness. Hence, it needs to be further clarified which exercise mode and intensity will bring better health effects under the AP context. Based on the acquired knowledge, it seems that doing one-bout aerobic exercise (a power bicycle) during an air quality index (AQI) ranking of “yellow” will not diminish exercise performance in healthy adults, nor has a negative effect on pulmonary function or biological health markers (Wagner and Clark, 2018 ). There is also evidence that the beneficial effects during exercise will be mitigated in PM 2.5 > 100 μg/m 3 (Tainio et al., 2016 ; Pasqua et al., 2018 ), which indicates that it should not be encouraged to exercise if PM 2.5 is greater than or equal to this value. Simultaneously, when the existing research cannot provide accurate physical activity guidelines under light or mild air pollution conditions, our recommendation for the exercise strategy is “listening to the body,” since the intensity of activity that allows the body to adapt to air pollutants might be safe in these cases.

Totally speaking, even with increased amount of AP-PE publications in recent years, further research is still required to (i) establish the framework and standard to clarify the key issues and answer the major concerns; (ii) strengthen the interdisciplinary collaborations, and explore the systematic impact of molecular mechanisms and specific pathways on the whole life cycle and multi-organ crosstalk; (iii) find out the equilibrium points as well as the aspects of dose-effect relationships between exercise and the AP level.

Strength and Limitations

The greatest strength of our study lies in the extensive analysis of global publications on PE and AP conditions from an interdisciplinary perspective and novel strategy. The combination of the knowledge map and visualized analysis can quantitatively reflect research status and practical applications simultaneously, and demonstrate the distribution of collaborations among countries, regions, disciplines, etc. Our study applies the structured information, including clusters of co-cited references and keywords, while the use of unstructured knowledge and qualitative approaches is limited. Subsequently, we only use the four indexes of Web of Science Core Collection for analysis while the document included in one database may not be comprehensive. However, the realistic dilemma is that the existing knowledge map software does not support the extraction and meta-analysis of multi-database records. In addition, since the research included in this paper is not comprehensive enough on specific components of air pollutants, the relationship between multiple pollutants and physical activities remains to be further discovered. Based on our work, future scholars can use artificial intelligence combined with multiple-database analysis to further explore a research development path and promising aspects in the field of physical exercise or activity under the air pollution conditions.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization was contributed by YY, WL, and XM. Methodology was contributed by YY, DW, and YC. Validation was contributed by YY, DW, and JL. Formal analysis was contributed by YY, JL, and YC. Writing—original draft preparation was contributed by YY. Writing—review and editing were contributed by YY and DW. Supervision was contributed by WL and XM. Project administration was contributed by WL and XM. Funding acquisition was contributed by XM. All the authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This work was supported by National Social Science Fund of China under Grant No. 16BTY065 and Leading Talents of Independent Research Program of Tsinghua University under Grant No. 2016THZWLJ12.

Author Disclaimer

The views and ideas expressed herein are solely the authors' and do not represent the ideas of the funding agencies in any form.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Qian Di from Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, for instructions in the research domain.

• Aguiar A. S., Stragier E., da Luz Scheffer D., Remor A. P., Oliveira P. A., Prediger R. D., et al.. (2014). Effects of exercise on mitochondrial function, neuroplasticity and anxio-depressive behavior of mice . Neuroscience 271 , 56–63. 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.04.027 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ampofo A. G., Boateng E. B. (2020). Beyond 2020: Modelling obesity and diabetes prevalence . Diabetes Res. Clin. Pract. 167 :108362. 10.1016/j.diabres.2020.108362 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Anderson J. O., Thundiyil J. G., Stolbach A. (2012). Clearing the air: a review of the effects of particulate matter air pollution on human health . J. Med. Toxicol. 8 , 166–175. 10.1007/s13181-011-0203-1 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Angelucci F., Brene S., Mathe A. A. (2005). BDNF in schizophrenia, depression and corresponding animal models . Mol. Psychiatry 10 , 345–352. 10.1038/sj.mp.4001637 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Aris R. M., Christian D., Hearne P. Q., Kerr K., Finkbeiner W. E., Balmes J. R. (1993). Ozone-induced airway inflammation in human subjects as determined by airway lavage and biopsy . Am. Rev. Respir. Dis. 148 , 1363–1372. 10.1164/ajrccm/148.5.1363 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Berend N. (2016). Contribution of air pollution to COPD and small airway dysfunction . Respirology 21 , 237–244. 10.1111/resp.12644 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bonavita S., Tedeschi G. (2017). Neural structure, connectivity, and cognition changes associated to physical exercise . Phys. Activity Aging Brain . 2017 , 121–131. 10.1016/B978-0-12-805094-1.00012-5 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Booth F. W., Roberts C. K., Laye M. J. (2012). Lack of exercise is a major cause of chronic diseases . Compr. Physiol. 2 , 1143–1211. 10.1002/cphy.c110025 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bornmann L., Leydesdorff L. (2014). Scientometrics in a changing research landscape: bibliometrics has become an integral part of research quality evaluation and has been changing the practice of research . EMBO Rep. 15 , 1228–1232. 10.15252/embr.201439608 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bos I., De Boever P., Emmerechts J., Buekers J., Vanoirbeek J., Meeusen R., et al.. (2012b). Changed gene expression in brains of mice exposed to traffic in a highway tunnel . Inhal. Toxicol. 24 , 676–686. 10.3109/08958378.2012.714004 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bos I., De Boever P., Int Panis L., Meeusen R. (2014). Physical activity, air pollution and the brain . Sports Med. 44 , 1505–1518. 10.1007/s40279-014-0222-6 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bos I., De Boever P., Int Panis L., Sarre S., Meeusen R. (2012a). Negative effects of ultrafine particle exposure during forced exercise on the expression of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in the hippocampus of rats . Neuroscience 223 , 131–139. 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.07.057 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bostrom P., Wu J., Jedrychowski M. P., Korde A., Ye L., Lo J. C., et al.. (2012). A PGC1-alpha-dependent myokine that drives brown-fat-like development of white fat and thermogenesis . Nature 481 , 463–468. 10.1038/nature10777 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bougault V., Boulet L. P. (2012). Airway dysfunction in swimmers . Br. J. Sports Med. 46 , 402–406. 10.1136/bjsports-2011-090821 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bowatte G., Lodge C. J., Knibbs L. D., Lowe A. J., Erbas B., Dennekamp M., et al.. (2017). Traffic-related air pollution exposure is associated with allergic sensitization, asthma, and poor lung function in middle age . J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 139 , 122–129.e1. 10.1016/j.jaci.2016.05.008 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bowe B., Xie Y., Li T., Yan Y., Xian H., Al-Aly Z. (2018). The 2016 global and national burden of diabetes mellitus attributable to PM2.5 air pollution . Lancet Planet Health 2 , e301–e312. 10.1016/S2542-5196(18)30140-2 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Brunekreef B., Stewart A. W., Anderson H. R., Lai C. K., Strachan D. P., Pearce N., et al.. (2009). Self-reported truck traffic on the street of residence and symptoms of asthma and allergic disease: a global relationship in ISAAC phase 3 . Environ. Health Perspect. 117 , 1791–1798. 10.1289/ehp.0800467 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Burnett R., Chen H., Szyszkowicz M., Fann N., Hubbell B., Pope C. A., et al.. (2018). Global estimates of mortality associated with long-term exposure to outdoor fine particulate matter . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 115 , 9592–9597. 10.1073/pnas.1803222115 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Calderon-Garciduenas L., Calderon-Garciduenas A., Torres-Jardon R., Avila-Ramirez J., Kulesza R. J., Angiulli A. D. (2015). Air pollution and your brain: what do you need to know right now . Prim. Health Care Res. Dev. 16 , 329–345. 10.1017/S146342361400036X [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Calderon-Garciduenas L., Reed W., Maronpot R. R., Henriquez-Roldan C., Delgado-Chavez R., Calderon-Garciduenas A., et al.. (2004). Brain inflammation and Alzheimer's-like pathology in individuals exposed to severe air pollution . Toxicol. Pathol. 32 , 650–658. 10.1080/01926230490520232 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cao S., Guo Q., Xue T., Wang B., Wang L., Duan X., et al.. (2021). Long-term exposure to ambient PM2.5 increase obesity risk in Chinese adults: A cross-sectional study based on a nationwide survey in China . Sci. Total Environ. 778 :145812. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145812 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Carlisle A. J., Sharp N. C. (2001). Exercise and outdoor ambient air pollution . Br. J. Sports Med. 35 , 214–222. 10.1136/bjsm.35.4.214 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chadegani A. A., Salehi H., Yunus M. M., Farhadi H., Fooladi M., Farhadi M., et al.. (2013). A comparison between two main academic literature collections: web of science and scopus databases . Asian Soc. Sci. 9 , 18–26. 10.5539/ass.v9n5p18 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chaomei C. (2006). CiteSpace II: Detecting and visualizing emerging trends and transient patterns in scientific literature . J. Am. Soc. Inform. Sci. Technol. 57 , 359–377. 10.1002/asi.20317 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chen C., Dubin R., Kim M. C. (2014). Emerging trends and new developments in regenerative medicine: a scientometric update (2000 - 2014) . Expert Opin. Biol. Ther. 14 , 1295–1317. 10.1517/14712598.2014.920813 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chen C. H., Chan C. C., Chen B. Y., Cheng T. J., Leon Guo Y. (2015). Effects of particulate air pollution and ozone on lung function in non-asthmatic children . Environ. Res. 137 , 40–48. 10.1016/j.envres.2014.11.021 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chen G., Tan J., Yan L., Li N., Wang L., Li N., et al.. (2021). Long-term exposures to ambient PM1 and NO2 pollution in relation to mild cognitive impairment of male veterans in China . Environ. Res. Lett. 16 :abde5c. 10.1088/1748-9326/abde5c [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chen H., Kwong J. C., Copes R., Tu K., Villeneuve P. J., van Donkelaar A., et al.. (2017). Living near major roads and the incidence of dementia, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis: a population-based cohort study . Lancet 389 , 718–726. 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)32399-6 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chen S. R., Chiu W. T., Ho Y. S. (2005). Asthma in children: mapping the literature by bibliometric analysis . Rev. Fr. Allergol. Immunol. Clin. 45 , 442–446. 10.1016/j.allerg.2005.08.002 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cohen A. J., Brauer M., Burnett R., Anderson H. R., Frostad J., Estep K., et al.. (2017). Estimates and 25-year trends of the global burden of disease attributable to ambient air pollution: an analysis of data from the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2015 . Lancet 389 , 1907–1918. 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30505-6 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Colberg S. R., Albright A. L., Blissmer B. J., Braun B., Chasan-Taber L., Fernhall B., et al.. (2010). Exercise and type 2 diabetes: American College of Sports Medicine and the American Diabetes Association: joint position statement. Exercise and type 2 diabetes . Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 42 , 2282–2303. 10.2337/dc10-9990 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Collaborators G. B. D. O., Afshin A., Forouzanfar M. H., Reitsma M. B., Sur P., Estep K., et al.. (2017). Health effects of overweight and obesity in 195 countries over 25 years . N. Engl. J. Med. 377 , 13–27. 10.1056/NEJMoa1614362 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Connor B., Young D., Yan Q., Faull R. L., Synek B., Dragunow M. (1997). Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is reduced in Alzheimer's disease . Brain Res. Mol. Brain Res. 49 , 71–81. 10.1016/S0169-328X(97)00125-3 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cramer S. C., Riley J. D. (2008). Neuroplasticity and brain repair after stroke . Curr. Opin. Neurol. 21 , 76–82. 10.1097/WCO.0b013e3282f36cb6 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cutrufello P. T., Rundell K. W., Smoliga J. M., Stylianides G. A. (2011). Inhaled whole exhaust and its effect on exercise performance and vascular function . Inhal. Toxicol. 23 , 658–667. 10.3109/08958378.2011.604106 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Daigle C. C., Chalupa D. C., Gibb F. R., Morrow P. E., Oberdorster G., Utell M. J., et al.. (2003). Ultrafine particle deposition in humans during rest and exercise . Inhal. Toxicol. 15 , 539–552. 10.1080/08958370304468 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Dales R. E., Cakmak S., Vidal C. B., Rubio M. A. (2012). Air pollution and hospitalization for acute complications of diabetes in Chile . Environ. Int. 46 , 1–5. 10.1016/j.envint.2012.05.002 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• de Nazelle A., Nieuwenhuijsen M. J., Anto J. M., Brauer M., Briggs D., Braun-Fahrlander C., et al.. (2011). Improving health through policies that promote active travel: a review of evidence to support integrated health impact assessment . Environ. Int. 37 , 766–777. 10.1016/j.envint.2011.02.003 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Dhital S., Rupakheti D. (2019). Bibliometric analysis of global research on air pollution and human health: 1998-2017 . Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int. 26 , 13103–13114. 10.1007/s11356-019-04482-x [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Di Q., Dai L., Wang Y., Zanobetti A., Choirat C., Schwartz J. D., et al.. (2017a). Association of short-term exposure to air pollution with mortality in older adults . JAMA 318 , 2446–2456. 10.1001/jama.2017.17923 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Di Q., Wang Y., Zanobetti A., Wang Y., Koutrakis P., Choirat C., et al.. (2017b). Air pollution and mortality in the medicare population . N. Engl. J. Med. 376 , 2513–2522. 10.1056/NEJMoa1702747 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Dishman R. K., Berthoud H. R., Booth F. W., Cotman C. W., Edgerton V. R., Fleshner M. R., et al.. (2006). Neurobiology of exercise . Obesity 14 , 345–356. 10.1038/oby.2006.46 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Donnelly A. A., MacIntyre T. E., O'Sullivan N., Warrington G., Harrison A. J., Igou E. R., et al.. (2016). Environmental influences on elite sport athletes well being: from gold, silver, and bronze to blue green and gold . Front. Psychol. 7 , 1167. 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01167 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Dufaux B., Order U., Muller R., Hollmann W. (1986). Delayed effects of prolonged exercise on serum lipoproteins . Metab. Clin. Exp. 35 , 105–109. 10.1016/0026-0495(86)90108-3 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Fagard R. H. (2011). Exercise therapy in hypertensive cardiovascular disease . Prog. Cardiovasc. Dis. 53 , 404–411. 10.1016/j.pcad.2011.03.006 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Fitch K. (2016). Air pollution, athletic health and performance at the Olympic Games . J. Sports Med. Phys. Fitness 56 , 922–932. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Fleisch A. F., Gold D. R., Rifas-Shiman S. L., Koutrakis P., Schwartz J. D., Kloog I., et al.. (2014). Air pollution exposure and abnormal glucose tolerance during pregnancy: the project Viva cohort . Environ. Health Perspect. 122 , 378–383. 10.1289/ehp.1307065 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Florida-James G., Donaldson K., Stone V. (2004). Athens 2004: the pollution climate and athletic performance . J. Sports Sci. 22 , 967–980. 10.1080/02640410400000272 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Foreman K. J., Marquez N., Dolgert A., Fukutaki K., Fullman N., McGaughey M., et al.. (2018). Forecasting life expectancy, years of life lost, and all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 250 causes of death: reference and alternative scenarios for 2016-40 for 195 countries and territories . Lancet 392 , 2052–2090. 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31694-5 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Frampton M. W., Boscia J., Roberts N. J., Azadniv M., Torres A., Cox C., et al.. (2002). Nitrogen dioxide exposure: effects on airway and blood cells . Am. J. Physiol. Lung Cell. Mol. Physiol. 282 , L155–L165. 10.1152/ajplung.2002.282.1.L155 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gan Z., Fu T., Kelly D. P., Vega R. B. (2018). Skeletal muscle mitochondrial remodeling in exercise and diseases . Cell Res. 28 , 969–980. 10.1038/s41422-018-0078-7 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gauderman W. J., Avol E., Gilliland F., Vora H., Thomas D., Berhane K., et al.. (2004). The effect of air pollution on lung development from 10 to 18 years of age . N. Engl. J. Med. 351 , 1057–1067. 10.1056/NEJMoa040610 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ghozikali M. G., Ansarin K., Naddafi K., Nodehi R. N., Yaghmaeian K., Hassanvand M. S., et al.. (2018). Short-term effects of particle size fractions on lung function of late adolescents . Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int. 25 , 21822–21832. 10.1007/s11356-018-2264-z [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Giles L. V., Brandenburg J. P., Carlsten C., Koehle M. S. (2014). Physiological responses to diesel exhaust exposure are modified by cycling intensity . Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 46 , 1999–2006. 10.1249/MSS.0000000000000309 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Giles L. V., Carlsten C., Koehle M. S. (2012). The effect of pre-exercise diesel exhaust exposure on cycling performance and cardio-respiratory variables . Inhal. Toxicol. 24 , 783–789. 10.3109/08958378.2012.717649 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gleeson M., Pyne D. B. (2000). Special feature for the Olympics: effects of exercise on the immune system: exercise effects on mucosal immunity . Immunol. Cell Biol. 78 , 536–544. 10.1111/j.1440-1711.2000.t01-8-.x [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Golbidi S., Laher I. (2011). Molecular mechanisms in exercise-induced cardioprotection . Cardiol. Res. Pract. 2011 :972807. 10.4061/2011/972807 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gomez-Pinilla F. (2008). Brain foods: the effects of nutrients on brain function . Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 9 , 568–578. 10.1038/nrn2421 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gondalia R., Baldassari A., Holliday K. M., Justice A. E., Mendez-Giraldez R., Stewart J. D., et al.. (2019). Methylome-wide association study provides evidence of particulate matter air pollution-associated DNA methylation . Environ. Int. 132 :104723. 10.1016/j.envint.2019.03.071 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gowers A. M., Cullinan P., Ayres J. G., Anderson H. R., Strachan D. P., Holgate S. T., et al.. (2012). Does outdoor air pollution induce new cases of asthma? Biological plausibility and evidence; a review . Respirology 17 , 887–898. 10.1111/j.1440-1843.2012.02195.x [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Green D. J., O'Driscoll G., Joyner M. J., Cable N. T. (2008). Exercise and cardiovascular risk reduction: time to update the rationale for exercise? J. Appl. Physiol. 105 , 766–768. 10.1152/japplphysiol.01028.2007 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Grunewald Z. I., Ramirez-Perez F. I., Woodford M. L., Morales-Quinones M., Mejia S., Manrique-Acevedo C., et al.. (2020). TRAF3IP2 (TRAF3 interacting protein 2) mediates obesity-associated vascular insulin resistance and dysfunction in male mice . Hypertension 76 , 1319–1329. 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.120.15262 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Guarnieri M., Balmes J. R. (2014). Outdoor air pollution and asthma . Lancet 383 , 1581–1592. 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60617-6 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Guo C., Zeng Y., Chang L. Y., Yu Z., Bo Y., Lin C., et al.. (2020). Independent and opposing associations of habitual exercise and chronic PM2.5 exposures on hypertension incidence . Circulation 142 , 645–656. 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.045915 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gusdon A. M., Callio J., Distefano G., O'Doherty R. M., Goodpaster B. H., Coen P. M., et al.. (2017). Exercise increases mitochondrial complex I activity and DRP1 expression in the brains of aged mice . Exp. Gerontol. 90 , 1–13. 10.1016/j.exger.2017.01.013 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hamanaka R. B., Mutlu G. M. (2018). Particulate matter air pollution: effects on the cardiovascular system . Front. Endocrinol. 9 , 680. 10.3389/fendo.2018.00680 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Han K.-T. (2020). The effect of environmental factors and physical activity on emotions and attention while walking and jogging . J. Leisure Res. 2020 :1–23. 10.1080/00222216.2020.1788474 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hansel N. N., McCormack M. C., Kim V. (2016). The effects of air pollution and temperature on COPD . COPD 13 , 372–379. 10.3109/15412555.2015.1089846 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Haskell W. L., Lee I. M., Pate R. R., Powell K. E., Blair S. N., Franklin B. A., et al.. (2007). Physical activity and public health: updated recommendation for adults from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association . Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 39 , 1423–1434. 10.1249/mss.0b013e3180616b27 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hawley J. A., Lessard S. J. (2008). Exercise training-induced improvements in insulin action . Acta Physiol. 192 , 127–135. 10.1111/j.1748-1716.2007.01783.x [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Heyn P., Abreu B. C., Ottenbacher K. J. (2004). The effects of exercise training on elderly persons with cognitive impairment and dementia: a meta-analysis . Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 85 , 1694–1704. 10.1016/j.apmr.2004.03.019 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hoffman-Goetz L., Pedersen B. K. (1994). Exercise and the immune system: a model of the stress response? Immunol. Today 15 , 382–387. 10.1016/0167-5699(94)90177-5 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Iaccarino G., Franco D., Sorriento D., Strisciuglio T., Barbato E., Morisco C. (2021). Modulation of insulin sensitivity by exercise training: implications for cardiovascular prevention . J. Cardiovasc. Transl. Res. 14 , 256–270. 10.1007/s12265-020-10057-w [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Idavain J., Julge K., Rebane T., Lang A., Orru H. (2019). Respiratory symptoms, asthma and levels of fractional exhaled nitric oxide in schoolchildren in the industrial areas of Estonia . Sci. Total Environ. 650 , 65–72. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.391 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Jo S., Kim Y. J., Park K. W., Hwang Y. S., Lee S. H., Kim B. J., et al.. (2021). Association of NO2 and other air pollution exposures with the risk of parkinson disease . JAMA Neurol. 78 , 800–808. 10.1001/jamaneurol.2021.1335 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Johan de Hartog J., Boogaard H., Nijland H., Hoek G. (2010). Do the health benefits of cycling outweigh the risks? Environ. Health Perspect. 118 , 1109–1116. 10.1289/ehp.0901747 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Johnston F. H., Hanigan I. C., Henderson S. B., Morgan G. G. (2013). Evaluation of interventions to reduce air pollution from biomass smoke on mortality in Launceston, Australia: retrospective analysis of daily mortality, 1994-2007 . BMJ 346 :e8446. 10.1136/bmj.e8446 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Jon K. (2003). Bursty and hierarchical structure in streams . Data Mining Knowledge Disc. 7 :373. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kasapis C., Thompson P. D. (2005). The effects of physical activity on serum C-reactive protein and inflammatory markers: a systematic review . J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 45 , 1563–1569. 10.1016/j.jacc.2004.12.077 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kettunen J., Lanki T., Tiittanen P., Aalto P. P., Koskentalo T., Kulmala M., et al.. (2007). Associations of fine and ultrafine particulate air pollution with stroke mortality in an area of low air pollution levels . Stroke 38 , 918–922. 10.1161/01.STR.0000257999.49706.3b [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kim K. N., Lim Y. H., Bae H. J., Kim M., Jung K., Hong Y. C. (2016). Long-term fine particulate matter exposure and major depressive disorder in a community-based urban cohort . Environ. Health Perspect. 124 , 1547–1553. 10.1289/EHP192 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kim S. R., Choi D., Choi S., Kim K., Lee G., Son J. S., et al.. (2020). Association of combined effects of physical activity and air pollution with diabetes in older adults . Environ. Int. 145 :106161. 10.1016/j.envint.2020.106161 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kim S. R., Choi S., Kim K., Chang J., Kim S. M., Cho Y., et al.. (2021). Association of the combined effects of air pollution and changes in physical activity with cardiovascular disease in young adults . Eur. Heart J. 42 , 2487–2497. 10.1093/eurheartj/ehab139 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kocot K., Zejda J. E. (2021). Acute cardiorespiratory response to ambient air pollution exposure during short-term physical exercise in young males . Environ. Res. 195 :110746. 10.1016/j.envres.2021.110746 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kramer U., Herder C., Sugiri D., Strassburger K., Schikowski T., Ranft U., et al.. (2010). Traffic-related air pollution and incident type 2 diabetes: results from the SALIA cohort study . Environ. Health Perspect. 118 , 1273–1279. 10.1289/ehp.0901689 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ku T., Chen M., Li B., Yun Y., Li G., Sang N. (2017). Synergistic effects of particulate matter (PM2.5) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) on neurodegeneration via the microRNA-mediated regulation of tau phosphorylation . Toxicol. Res. 6 , 7–16. 10.1039/C6TX00314A [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kvam S., Kleppe C. L., Nordhus I. H., Hovland A. (2016). Exercise as a treatment for depression: A meta-analysis . J. Affect. Disord. 202 , 67–86. 10.1016/j.jad.2016.03.063 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lampron A., Elali A., Rivest S. (2013). Innate immunity in the CNS: redefining the relationship between the CNS and its environment . Neuron 78 , 214–232. 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.04.005 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Landrigan P. J., Fuller R., Acosta N. J. R., Adeyi O., Arnold R., Basu N. N., et al.. (2018). The lancet commission on pollution and health . Lancet 391 , 462–512. 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32345-0 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lautenschlager N. T., Cox K. L., Flicker L., Foster J. K., van Bockxmeer F. M., Xiao J., et al.. (2008). Effect of physical activity on cognitive function in older adults at risk for Alzheimer disease: a randomized trial . JAMA 300 , 1027–1037. 10.1001/jama.300.9.1027 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lavie C. J., Ozemek C., Carbone S., Katzmarzyk P. T., Blair S. N. (2019). Sedentary behavior, exercise, and cardiovascular health . Circ. Res. 124 , 799–815. 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.118.312669 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lavie C. J., Thomas R. J., Squires R. W., Allison T. G., Milani R. V. (2009). Exercise training and cardiac rehabilitation in primary and secondary prevention of coronary heart disease . Mayo Clin. Proc. 84 , 373–383. 10.1016/S0025-6196(11)60548-X [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lee D. C., Pate R. R., Lavie C. J., Sui X., Church T. S., Blair S. N. (2014). Leisure-time running reduces all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risk . J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 64 , 472–481. 10.1016/j.jacc.2014.04.058 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Li C., Zhou Y., Ding L. (2021b). Effects of long-term household air pollution exposure from solid fuel use on depression: Evidence from national longitudinal surveys from 2011 to 2018 . Environ. Pollut. 283 :117350. 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117350 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Li J., Burnham J. F., Lemley T., Britton R. M. (2010). Citation analysis: comparison of web of science (R), scopus (TM), scifinder (R), and google scholar . J. Electr. Res. Med. Libraries 7 , 196–217. 10.1080/15424065.2010.505518 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Li R., Li S., Pan M., Chen H., Liu X., Chen G., et al.. (2021a). Physical activity attenuated the association of air pollutants with telomere length in rural Chinese adults . Sci. Total Environ. 759 :143491. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143491 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Liang J., Wang H., Zeng Y., Qu Y., Liu Q., Zhao F., et al.. (2021). Physical exercise promotes brain remodeling by regulating epigenetics, neuroplasticity and neurotrophins . Rev. Neurosci. 32 , 615–629. 10.1515/revneuro-2020-0099 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lim S. S., Vos T., Flaxman A. D., Danaei G., Shibuya K., Adair-Rohani H., et al.. (2012). A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 . Lancet 380 , 2224–2260. 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61766-8 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lindsay G., Macmillan A., Woodward A. (2011). Moving urban trips from cars to bicycles: impact on health and emissions . Aust. N. Z. J. Public Health 35 , 54–60. 10.1111/j.1753-6405.2010.00621.x [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lippi G., Guidi G. C., Maffulli N. (2008). Air pollution and sports performance in Beijing . Int. J. Sports Med. 29 , 696–698. 10.1055/s-2008-1038684 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lopez-Campos J. L., Tan W., Soriano J. B. (2016). Global burden of COPD . Respirology 21 , 14–23. 10.1111/resp.12660 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lovinsky-Desir S., Jung K. H., Montilla M., Quinn J., Cahill J., Sheehan D., et al.. (2021). Locations of adolescent physical activity in an urban environment and their associations with air pollution and lung function . Ann. Am. Thorac. Soc. 18 , 84–92. 10.1513/AnnalsATS.201910-792OC [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lu F., Xu D., Cheng Y., Dong S., Guo C., Jiang X., et al.. (2015b). Systematic review and meta-analysis of the adverse health effects of ambient PM2.5 and PM10 pollution in the Chinese population . Environ. Res. 136 , 196–204. 10.1016/j.envres.2014.06.029 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lu H., Tan Z., Liu Z., Wang L., Wang Y., Suo C., et al.. (2021). Spatiotemporal trends in stroke burden and mortality attributable to household air pollution from solid fuels in 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019 . Sci. Total Environ. 775 :145839. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145839 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lu J., Liang L., Feng Y., Li R., Liu Y. (2015a). Air pollution exposure and physical activity in china: current knowledge, public health implications, and future research needs . Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 12 , 14887–14897. 10.3390/ijerph121114887 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Malig B. J., Green S., Basu R., Broadwin R. (2013). Coarse particles and respiratory emergency department visits in California . Am. J. Epidemiol. 178 , 58–69. 10.1093/aje/kws451 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mao G., Huang N., Chen L., Wang H. (2018). Research on biomass energy and environment from the past to the future: A bibliometric analysis . Sci. Total Environ. 635 , 1081–1090. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.173 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Marmett B., Pires Dorneles G., Boek Carvalho R., Peres A., Roosevelt Torres Romao P., Barcos Nunes R., et al.. (2021). Air pollution concentration and period of the day modulates inhalation of PM2.5 during moderate- and high-intensity interval exercise . Environ. Res. 194 :110528. 10.1016/j.envres.2020.110528 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Martinho V. (2019). Best management practices from agricultural economics: Mitigating air, soil and water pollution . Sci. Total Environ. 688 , 346–360. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.199 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• McGee S. L., Hargreaves M. (2020). Exercise adaptations: molecular mechanisms and potential targets for therapeutic benefit . Nat. Rev. Endocrinol. 16 , 495–505. 10.1038/s41574-020-0377-1 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Meho L. I., Yang K. (2007). Impact of data sources on citation counts and rankings of LIS faculty: Web of science versus scopus and google scholar . J. Am. Soc. Inform. Sci. Technol. 58 , 2105–2125. 10.1002/asi.20677 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Meng X., Zhang Y., Yang K. Q., Yang Y. K., Zhou X. L. (2016). Potential harmful effects of PM2.5 on occurrence and progression of acute coronary syndrome: epidemiology, mechanisms, and prevention measures . Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 13 :748 10.3390/ijerph13080748 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Merigó J. M, Mulet-Forteza C., Valencia C., Lew A. A. (2019). Twenty years of Tourism Geographies: a bibliometric overview . Tourism Geographies 21 , 881–910. 10.1080/14616688.2019.1666913 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Molina-Sotomayor E., Castillo-Quezada H., Martinez-Salazar C., Gonzalez-Orb M., Espinoza-Salinas A., Gonzalez-Jurado J. A. (2020). Effects of progressive resistance training on cognition and IGF-1 levels in elder women who live in areas with high air pollution . Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 17 :6203. 10.3390/ijerph17176203 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Molina-Sotomayor E., Gonzalez Orb M., Pradas de la Fuente F., Carozzi Figueroa G., Sanchez-Oliver A. J., Gonzalez-Jurado J. A. (2019). Effects of cardiorespiratory exercise on cognition in older women exposed to air pollution . Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 16 :20245. 10.3390/ijerph16020245 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mueller N., Rojas-Rueda D., Cole-Hunter T., de Nazelle A., Dons E., Gerike R., et al.. (2015). Health impact assessment of active transportation: A systematic review . Prev. Med. 76 , 103–114. 10.1016/j.ypmed.2015.04.010 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mustafic H., Jabre P., Caussin C., Murad M. H., Escolano S., Tafflet M., et al.. (2012). Main air pollutants and myocardial infarction: a systematic review and meta-analysis . JAMA 307 , 713–721. 10.1001/jama.2012.126 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mutlu E. A., Comba I. Y., Cho T., Engen P. A., Yazici C., Soberanes S., et al.. (2018). Inhalational exposure to particulate matter air pollution alters the composition of the gut microbiome . Environ. Pollut. 240 , 817–830. 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.04.130 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mutlu E. A., Engen P. A., Soberanes S., Urich D., Forsyth C. B., Nigdelioglu R., et al.. (2011). Particulate matter air pollution causes oxidant-mediated increase in gut permeability in mice . Part. Fibre Toxicol. 8 :19. 10.1186/1743-8977-8-19 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Navarro A., Gomez C., Lopez-Cepero J. M., Boveris A. (2004). Beneficial effects of moderate exercise on mice aging: survival, behavior, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial electron transfer . Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol. 286 , R505–R511. 10.1152/ajpregu.00208.2003 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Nieman D. C. (1997). Exercise immunology: practical applications . Int. J. Sports Med. 18 , S91–100. 10.1055/s-2007-972705 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Nocon M., Hiemann T., Muller-Riemenschneider F., Thalau F., Roll S., Willich S. N. (2008). Association of physical activity with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis . Eur. J. Cardiovasc. Prev. Rehabil. 15 , 239–246. 10.1097/HJR.0b013e3282f55e09 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Normando V. M., Mazzoli-Rocha F., Moreira D. K., Barcellos B. C., Picanco-Diniz D. W., Zin W. A. (2013). Regular exercise training attenuates pulmonary inflammatory responses to inhaled alumina refinery dust in mice . Respir. Physiol. Neurobiol. 186 , 53–60. 10.1016/j.resp.2012.12.010 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Nyhan M., McNabola A., Misstear B. (2014). Comparison of particulate matter dose and acute heart rate variability response in cyclists, pedestrians, bus and train passengers . Sci. Total Environ. 468–469 , 821–831. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.08.096 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Oberdorster G., Sharp Z., Atudorei V., Elder A., Gelein R., Kreyling W., et al.. (2004). Translocation of inhaled ultrafine particles to the brain . Inhal. Toxicol. 16 , 437–445. 10.1080/08958370490439597 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• O'Donovan G., Blazevich A. J., Boreham C., Cooper A. R., Crank H., Ekelund U., et al.. (2010). The ABC of physical activity for health: a consensus statement from the british association of sport and exercise sciences . J. Sports Sci. 28 , 573–591. 10.1080/02640411003671212 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Oelrich B., Peters R., Jung K. (2007). A bibliometric evaluation of publications in urological journals among european union countries between 2000-2005 . Eur. Urol. 52 , 1238–1248. 10.1016/j.eururo.2007.06.050 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Olivo C. R., Castro T. B. P., Riane A., Regonha T., Rivero D., Vieira R. P., et al.. (2021). The effects of exercise training on the lungs and cardiovascular function of animals exposed to diesel exhaust particles and gases . Environ. Res. 203 :111768. 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111768 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pasqua L. A., Damasceno M. V., Cruz R., Matsuda M., Garcia Martins M., Lima-Silva A. E., et al.. (2018). Exercising in air pollution: the cleanest versus dirtiest cities challenge . Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 15 :1502. 10.3390/ijerph15071502 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pedersen B. K., Hoffman-Goetz L. (2000). Exercise and the immune system: regulation, integration, and adaptation . Physiol. Rev. 80 , 1055–1081. 10.1152/physrev.2000.80.3.1055 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Perez L., Declercq C., Iniguez C., Aguilera I., Badaloni C., Ballester F., et al.. (2013). Chronic burden of near-roadway traffic pollution in 10 European cities (APHEKOM network) . Eur. Respir. J. 42 , 594–605. 10.1183/09031936.00031112 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Petzinger G. M., Fisher B. E., McEwen S., Beeler J. A., Walsh J. P., Jakowec M. W. (2013). Exercise-enhanced neuroplasticity targeting motor and cognitive circuitry in Parkinson's disease . Lancet Neurol. 12 , 716–726. 10.1016/S1474-4422(13)70123-6 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Polichetti G., Cocco S., Spinali A., Trimarco V., Nunziata A. (2009). Effects of particulate matter (PM(10), PM(2.5) and PM(1)) on the cardiovascular system . Toxicology 261 , 1–8. 10.1016/j.tox.2009.04.035 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pope C. A., Bhatnagar A., McCracken J. P., Abplanalp W., Conklin D. J., O'Toole T. (2016). Exposure to fine particulate air pollution is associated with endothelial injury and systemic inflammation . Circ. Res. 119 , 1204–1214. 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.116.309279 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pope C. A., Burnett R. T., Thun M. J., Calle E. E., Krewski D., Ito K., et al.. (2002). Lung cancer, cardiopulmonary mortality, and long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution . JAMA 287 , 1132–1141. 10.1001/jama.287.9.1132 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Poynter M. E., Persinger R. L., Irvin C. G., Butnor K. J., van Hirtum H., Blay W., et al.. (2006). Nitrogen dioxide enhances allergic airway inflammation and hyperresponsiveness in the mouse . Am. J. Physiol. Lung Cell. Mol. Physiol. 290 , L144–L152. 10.1152/ajplung.00131.2005 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Rao X., Zhong J., Brook R. D., Rajagopalan S. (2018). Effect of particulate matter air pollution on cardiovascular oxidative stress pathways . Antioxid. Redox Signal. 28 , 797–818. 10.1089/ars.2017.7394 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Raza W., Krachler B., Forsberg B., Sommar J. N. (2021). Does physical activity modify the association between air pollution and recurrence of cardiovascular disease? Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 18 :2631. 10.3390/ijerph18052631 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Reche C., Viana M., van Drooge B. L., Fernandez F. J., Escribano M., Castano-Vinyals G., et al.. (2020). Athletes' exposure to air pollution during World Athletics Relays: A pilot study . Sci. Total Environ. 717 :137161. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137161 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Rhew S. H., Kravchenko J., Lyerly H. K. (2021). Exposure to low-dose ambient fine particulate matter PM2.5 and Alzheimer's disease, non-Alzheimer's dementia, and Parkinson's disease in North Carolina . PLoS ONE 16 , e0253253. 10.1371/journal.pone.0253253 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Robinson C. L., Baumann L. M., Romero K., Combe J. M., Gomez A., Gilman R. H., et al.. (2011). Effect of urbanisation on asthma, allergy and airways inflammation in a developing country setting . Thorax 66 , 1051–1057. 10.1136/thx.2011.158956 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Rodriguez K., Moreiro J. A. (1996). The growth and development of research in the field of ecology . Scientometrics 35 , 59-70. 10.1007/BF02018233 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Rundell K. W., Hoffman J. R., Caviston R., Bulbulian R., Hollenbach A. M. (2007). Inhalation of ultrafine and fine particulate matter disrupts systemic vascular function . Inhal. Toxicol. 19 , 133–140. 10.1080/08958370601051727 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Rundell K. W., Sue-Chu M. (2013). Air quality and exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in elite athletes . Immunol. Allergy Clin. North Am. 33 , 409–421. 10.1016/j.iac.2013.02.009 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Saeedi P., Petersohn I., Salpea P., Malanda B., Karuranga S., Unwin N., et al.. (2019). Global and regional diabetes prevalence estimates for 2019 and projections for 2030 and 2045: Results from the International Diabetes Federation Diabetes Atlas, 9(th) edition . Diabetes Res. Clin. Pract. 157 :107843. 10.1016/j.diabres.2019.107843 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Saotome M., Ikoma T., Hasan P., Maekawa Y. (2019). Cardiac insulin resistance in heart failure: the role of mitochondrial dynamics . Int. J. Mol. Sci. 20 :3552. 10.3390/ijms20143552 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Schultz E. S., Litonjua A. A., Melen E. (2017). Effects of long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution on lung function in children . Curr. Allergy Asthma Rep. 17 :41. 10.1007/s11882-017-0709-y [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Seltzer J., Bigby B. G., Stulbarg M., Holtzman M. J., Nadel J. A., Ueki I. F., et al.. (1986). O3-induced change in bronchial reactivity to methacholine and airway inflammation in humans . J. Appl. Physiol. 60 , 1321–1326. 10.1152/jappl.1986.60.4.1321 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Shih P., Wu C.-D., Chiang T., Chen P.-C., Su T.-C., Cheng T.-J., et al.. (2021). The association between postpartum depression and air pollution during pregnancy and postpartum period: a national population study in Taiwan . Environ. Res. Lett. 16 :ac1224. 10.1088/1748-9326/ac1224 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Shimizu E., Hashimoto K., Okamura N., Koike K., Komatsu N., Kumakiri C., et al.. (2003). Alterations of serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in depressed patients with or without antidepressants . Biol. Psychiatry 54 , 70–75. 10.1016/S0006-3223(03)00181-1 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Shou Y., Huang Y., Zhu X., Liu C., Hu Y., Wang H. (2019). A review of the possible associations between ambient PM2.5 exposures and the development of Alzheimer's disease . Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf. 174 , 344–352. 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2019.02.086 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Skute I., Zalewska-Kurek K., Hatak I., de Weerd-Nederhof P. (2017). Mapping the field: a bibliometric analysis of the literature on university–industry collaborations . J. Technol. Transf. 44 , 916–947. 10.1007/s10961-017-9637-1 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Small H. (1973). Co-citation in the scientific literature: a new measure of the relationship between two documents . J. Am. Soc. Inform. Sci. 24 , 265–269. 10.1002/asi.4630240406 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Soke F., Kocer B., Fidan I., Keskinoglu P., Guclu-Gunduz A. (2021). Effects of task-oriented training combined with aerobic training on serum BDNF, GDNF, IGF-1, VEGF, TNF-alpha, and IL-1beta levels in people with Parkinson's disease: A randomized controlled study . Exp. Gerontol. 150 :111384. 10.1016/j.exger.2021.111384 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Solimini A. G., D'Addario M., Villari P. (2015). Ecological correlation between diabetes hospitalizations and fine particulate matter in Italian provinces . BMC Public Health 15 :708. 10.1186/s12889-015-2018-5 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Solomon C., Christian D. L., Chen L. L., Welch B. S., Kleinman M. T., Dunham E., et al.. (2000). Effect of serial-day exposure to nitrogen dioxide on airway and blood leukocytes and lymphocyte subsets . Eur. Respir. J. 15 , 922–928. 10.1034/j.1399-3003.2000.15e19.x [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Soya H., Nakamura T., Deocaris C. C., Kimpara A., Iimura M., Fujikawa T., et al.. (2007). BDNF induction with mild exercise in the rat hippocampus . Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 358 , 961–967. 10.1016/j.bbrc.2007.04.173 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Suh H. H., Bahadori T., Vallarino J., Spengler J. D. (2000). Criteria air pollutants and toxic air pollutants . Environ. Health Persp. 108 , 625–633. 10.1289/ehp.00108s4625 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Sun Q., Wang A., Jin X., Natanzon A., Duquaine D., Brook R. D., et al.. (2005). Long-term air pollution exposure and acceleration of atherosclerosis and vascular inflammation in an animal model . JAMA 294 , 3003–3010. 10.1001/jama.294.23.3003 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Sweileh W. M., Al-Jabi S. W., Zyoud S. H., Sawalha A. F. (2018). Outdoor air pollution and respiratory health: a bibliometric analysis of publications in peer-reviewed journals (1900 - 2017) . Multidiscip. Respir. Med. 13 :15. 10.1186/s40248-018-0128-5 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Tainio M., de Nazelle A. J., Gotschi T., Kahlmeier S., Rojas-Rueda D., Nieuwenhuijsen M. J., et al.. (2016). Can air pollution negate the health benefits of cycling and walking? Prev. Med. 87 , 233–236. 10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.02.002 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Thijssen D. H., Cable N. T., Green D. J. (2012). Impact of exercise training on arterial wall thickness in humans . Clin. Sci. 122 , 311–322. 10.1042/CS20110469 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Thyfault J. P., Bergouignan A. (2020). Exercise and metabolic health: beyond skeletal muscle . Diabetologia 63 , 1464–1474. 10.1007/s00125-020-05177-6 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Tian Y., Xiang X., Juan J., Sun K., Song J., Cao Y., et al.. (2017). Fine particulate air pollution and hospital visits for asthma in Beijing, China . Environ. Pollut. 230 , 227–233. 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.06.029 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Trnjar K., Pintaric S., Mornar Jelavic M., Nesek V., Ostojic J., Plestina S., et al.. (2017). Correlation between occurrence and deterioration of respiratory diseases and air pollution within the legally permissible limits . Acta Clin. Croat. 56 , 210–217. 10.20471/acc.2017.56.02.03 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Tsai S. S., Goggins W. B., Chiu H. F., Yang C. Y. (2003). Evidence for an association between air pollution and daily stroke admissions in Kaohsiung, Taiwan . Stroke 34 , 2612–2616. 10.1161/01.STR.0000095564.33543.64 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Underwood E. (2017). The polluted brain . Science . 355 , 342–345. 10.1126/science.355.6323.342 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Venkataraman C., Kao A. S. (1999). Comparison of particle lung doses from the fine and coarse fractions of urban PM-10 aerosols . Inhal. Toxicol. 11 , 151–169. 10.1080/089583799197221 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Verma V., Fang T., Xu L., Peltier R. E., Russell A. G., Ng N. L., et al.. (2015). Organic aerosols associated with the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by water-soluble PM2.5 . Environ. Sci. Technol. 49 , 4646–4656. 10.1021/es505577w [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Volek J. S., Kraemer W. J., Bush J. A., Incledon T., Boetes M. (1997). Testosterone and cortisol in relationship to dietary nutrients and resistance exercise . J. Appl. Physiol. 82 , 49–54. 10.1152/jappl.1997.82.1.49 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Voss M. W., Heo S., Prakash R. S., Erickson K. I., Alves H., Chaddock L., et al.. (2013). The influence of aerobic fitness on cerebral white matter integrity and cognitive function in older adults: results of a one-year exercise intervention . Hum. Brain Mapp. 34 , 2972–2985. 10.1002/hbm.22119 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wagner D. R., Clark N. W. (2018). Effects of ambient particulate matter on aerobic exercise performance . J. Exerc. Sci. Fit. 16 , 12–15. 10.1016/j.jesf.2018.01.002 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wang C., Lin J., Niu Y., Wang W., Wen J., Lv L., et al.. (2021). Impact of ozone exposure on heart rate variability and stress hormones: A randomized-crossover study . J. Hazard. Mater. 421 :126750. 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126750 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wang F., Jia X., Wang X., Zhao Y., Hao W. (2016). Particulate matter and atherosclerosis: a bibliometric analysis of original research articles published in 1973-2014 . BMC Public Health 16 :348. 10.1186/s12889-016-3015-z [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ward T., Lange T. (2010). The impact of wood smoke on ambient PM2.5 in northern Rocky Mountain valley communities . Environ. Pollut. 158 , 723–729. 10.1016/j.envpol.2009.10.016 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wegner M., Helmich I., Machado S., Nardi A. E., Arias-Carrion O., Budde H. (2014). Effects of exercise on anxiety and depression disorders: review of meta- analyses and neurobiological mechanisms . CNS Neurol. Disord. Drug Targets 13 , 1002–1014. 10.2174/1871527313666140612102841 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Woodcock J., Edwards P., Tonne C., Armstrong B. G., Ashiru O., Banister D., et al.. (2009). Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: urban land transport . Lancet 374 , 1930–1943. 10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61714-1 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Xia T., Zhu Y., Mu L., Zhang Z. F., Liu S. (2016). Pulmonary diseases induced by ambient ultrafine and engineered nanoparticles in twenty-first century . Natl. Sci. Rev. 3 , 416–429. 10.1093/nsr/nww064 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Yan W., Zheng K., Weng L., Chen C., Kiartivich S., Jiang X., et al.. (2020). Bibliometric evaluation of 2000-2019 publications on functional near-infrared spectroscopy . Neuroimage 220 :117121. 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117121 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Yang B. Y., Qian Z. M., Li S., Chen G., Bloom M. S., Elliott M., et al.. (2018). Ambient air pollution in relation to diabetes and glucose-homoeostasis markers in China: a cross-sectional study with findings from the 33 Communities Chinese Health Study . Lancet Planet Health 2 , e64–e73. 10.1016/S2542-5196(18)30001-9 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• You Y., Li W., Liu J., Li X., Fu Y., Ma X. (2021a). Bibliometric review to explore emerging high-intensity interval training in health promotion: a new century picture . Front Public Health 9 , 697633. 10.3389/fpubh.2021.697633 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• You Y., Min L., Tang M., Chen Y., Ma X. (2021b). Bibliometric evaluation of global Tai Chi research from 1980-2020 . Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 18 :6150. 10.3390/ijerph18116150 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• You Y. W., Wang D. Z., Wang Y. N., Li Z. P., Ma X. D. (2021c). A bird's-eye view of exercise intervention in treating depression among teenagers in the last 20 years: a bibliometric study and visualization analysis . Front. Psychiatry 12 , e661108. 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.661108 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Younan D., Wang X., Casanova R., Barnard R., Gaussoin S. A., Saldana S., et al.. (2020). PM2.5 associated with gray matter atrophy reflecting increased Alzheimers risk in older women . Neurology 96 , e1190–e1201. 10.1212/WNL.0000000000011149 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Yu H., Yu M., Gordon S. P., Zhang R. (2017). The association between ambient fine particulate air pollution and physical activity: a cohort study of university students living in Beijing . Int. J. Behav. Nutr. Phys. Act. 14 :136. 10.1186/s12966-017-0592-x [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Yu Z., Wei F., Zhang X., Wu M., Lin H., Shui L., et al.. (2021). Air pollution, surrounding green, road proximity and Parkinson's disease: A prospective cohort study . Environ. Res. 197 :111170. 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111170 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Zijlema W. L., Wolf K., Emeny R., Ladwig K. H., Peters A., Kongsgard H., et al.. (2016). The association of air pollution and depressed mood in 70,928 individuals from four European cohorts . Int. J. Hyg. Environ. Health 219 , 212–219. 10.1016/j.ijheh.2015.11.006 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

116 Air Pollution Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on air pollution, ✍️ air pollution essay topics for college, 🎓 most interesting air pollution research titles, 💡 simple air pollution essay ideas, ❓ research question about air pollution.

• Effects of Air Pollution on Health
• Air Pollution: Effects
• Air Pollution Solutions: How to Improve Air Quality
• Community’s Role in Fighting Air Pollution
• Air Pollution: Conducting a Quantitative Study
• Electric Vehicles: Addressing Air Pollution
• Air Pollution in New York City
• Environmental Wellness and Problem of Air Pollution Air pollution is one of the main factors affecting the environment. It can be considered as any change in its properties that has a deleterious effect.
• Air Pollution in the UAE and Its Management The following project focuses on investigating the problem of air pollution in the UAE and how it can be managed.
• Beijing Looks for Answers to Air Pollution Beijing has undertaken various projects aimed at improving the city’s infrastructure, reducing pollution from coal-fired power plants, and reducing vehicle emissions.
• Environmental Issues: Air Pollution One of the central environmental problems in today’s world is air pollution. With the development of cities, people expand the reach of their technology.
• Air Pollution in South Carolina In South Carolina, one of the most urgent environmental problems is air pollution with ozone and particles, which is hazardous to human health due to deadly diseases likelihood.
• The Impact of COVID-19 on Air Pollution Mobility changes in all types of indoor and outdoor settings have a substantial long-term influence on CO emissions at the national and regional levels.
• The Aerodyne Research Firm: Air Pollution Studies Aerodyne Research is a limited liability company that researches air and air pollution levels, one of the world’s most pressing environmental issues today.
• Electric Vehicles: The Roles in Air Pollution The main purpose of electric vehicles is to eliminate the direct contribution to air pollution through emissions.
• Air Pollution Crisis and Climate Change in China Air pollution is a serious problem in many countries, including China. The main source of air pollutants is fumes from burning fuels in industries or vehicles.
• Methodological Flaws in Studies of Air Pollution and COVID-19 Death Rates The research reviews the considerations related to studying the correlation between ambient air pollution and its effects on the symptoms of COVID-19.
• Air Pollution in the United States Environmental problems affect climatic conditions negatively. In this case, we will discuss air pollution. Air pollution introduces harmful substances into the air.
• Air Pollution Crisis in China and Its Impact on Economy In large industrialized countries such as China, the emission of carbon dioxide has a negative impact on climate conditions, which is hitting the national economy.
• The Effects of Air Pollution The paper addresses air pollution, its causes, significant pollutants, adverse effects of indoor pollutants and air pollution, and air pollution control.
• Outdoor Air Pollution and Uncontrolled Asthma in the San Joaquin Valley, California The study’s purpose was to examine the relationship between air pollution and cases of uncontrolled asthma in the San Joaquin Valley.
• Air Pollution and Its Consequences The paper states that air pollution has been an increasingly major problem affecting the economy, people’s health, and the environment.
• Role of Small Gas-Powered Engines in Air Pollution The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of small gas-powered engines in air pollution and the associated controversy.
• The Correlation Between Air Pollution and Health The sampled study analyzes and explains how air pollution affect life expectancy and other measures of health.
• Air Pollution Resulting From Small Gas Powered Engines The paper seeks to discuss the effects of small gas-powered engines on air pollution and suggest possible solutions to reduce the levels of air pollution.
• How Air Pollution Impacts Health Air pollution causes a wide range of serious health abnormalities in one’s body. It severely affects the respiratory system, leading to a number of complications.
• The Impact of Air Pollution on Human Health and Well-Being Air pollution causes a wide range of health abnormalities in one’s body. A number of pollutants can cause lung cancer and even some non-lung cancer forms.
• Air Pollution as a Health Risk Factor: Policy Proposal Air pollution is one of the most critical health risk factors. Prolonged exposure to polluted air can result in cancer and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
• Providing Solutions for Air Pollution The reasons for air pollution regulations, explaining the concept of averaging time in the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), explaining emission offsets.
• The Alleviation Plans to Air Pollution Throughout the World Air Quality Mitigation Plan is a proposed project which aims at reducing the emissions that affect the air quality by at least fifteen percent.
• Air Pollution: Effects and Regulations This essay analyzes the air pollution effects and regulations based on a simple observation of a smoke coming from a large smokestack.
• Evaluating the Efficacy of Government Spending on Air Pollution Control: A Case Study From Beijing While living in a city often means better conditions and access to goods and services, rapid urban development has been associated with adverse health outcomes due to air pollution.
• Beijing’s Air Pollution Crisis Resolution Beijing’s struggle with poor air quality is far from over. Nevertheless, the government demonstrated its commitment to reducing particulate matter in the atmosphere.
• Clean Air Act: Overall Air Pollution Reducing The problem of environmental pollution and, in particular, the air became especially urgent after the emergence of large industrial enterprises operating on harmful fuel.
• Air Pollution Threats: Parent Education The purpose of this pamphlet is to educate parents on the dangers of air pollution and suggest preventive strategies to keep their children safe.
• Air Pollution Health Risks Information Campaign This paper is dedicated to developing and planning an information campaign about Air Pollution Health Risks in a suburban community with a population of 20,000.
• International Trade and Air Pollution: The Economic Costs of Air Emissions From Waterborne Commerce Vessels in the United States
• Acid Rain Formula and Air Pollution Problem
• Chronic Respiratory Problems: The Link With Air Pollution and Considerations in Medical Care
• Air Pollution and Its Effects on Cancer Risks
• Toxins That Contribute to Air Pollution and Their Effect on Humans
• Adaptive Policy Mechanisms for Transboundary Air Pollution Regulation: Reasons and Recommendations
• Interaction Between Local Air Pollution and Global Warming Policy and Its Policy Implications
• Main Problems for Planet Earth: Air Pollution and Water Pollution
• Addressing Air Pollution Threats With Air Purifiers
• Economic Instruments for Controlling Air Pollution
• Air Pollution and Climate Change in Tanzania
• Demand for Indoor Air Pollution Abatement Interventions
• Protecting China’s Children: Valuing the Health Impacts of Reduced Air Pollution in Chinese Cities
• How Cities Around the World Combat Air Pollution?
• Managing Air Pollution With Urban Transportation
• Controlling Urban Air Pollution Caused by Households: Uncertainty, Prices, and Income
• Measuring Health Benefits From Air Pollution Reduction in Kathmandu Valley
• Air Pollution and ‘Dirty’ Industries: How and Why Does the Composition of Manufacturing Output Change With Economic Development
• Intra-Country Health Inequalities and Air Pollution in Developing Countries
• Air Pollution and Its Effect on Our Health
• Using Clean Coal Technologies to Reduce Air Pollution
• Environment and Happiness: Valuation of Air Pollution in Ten European Countries
• Compliance and Enforcement: Air Pollution Regulation in the U.S. Steel Industry
• State Responsibility for Transboundary Air Pollution in International Law
• Air Pollution: Anthropogenic and Natural Sources, and Conditions in Thailand
• Integrated Air Pollution Management in China: Developing Particulate Matter Control
• Air Pollution and Acute Respiratory Illness: Evidence From Taiwan and Los Angeles
• China’s Air Pollution and Its Effect on COPD Patients
• Air Pollution and Breathing That Kills You
• Educational and Technological Solutions to Air Pollution
• Politics and the True Effects of Air Pollution
• Air Pollution and Energy Loss Due to Construction Activities
• Does Inequality Matter Air Pollution and Health Relationship?
• Air Pollution and Respiratory Ailments Among Children in Urban India: Exploring Causality
• Lung Cancer and CVD Mortality Associated With Ambient Air Pollution
• Environmental Quality and Development: Is There a Kuznets Curve for Air Pollution Emissions?
• Clearing the Air: The Health and Economic Damages of Air Pollution in China
• Reducing Air Pollution Through the Use of Oxygenated Gasoline
• Air Pollution and How It Affects Plants and Animals
• Forest Fires, Air Pollution, and Mortality in Southeast Asia
• Air Pollution and Mortality: Estimating Regional and National Dose-Response Relationships
• Handle With Care: The Local Air Pollution Costs of Coal Storage
• Air Pollution and Infant Health: Lessons From New Jersey
• The Correlation Between Air Pollution and Human Health
• Cost-Effective Control Strategies for Energy-Related Transboundary Air Pollution in Western Europe
• Air Pollution, Children’s Health, and Socio-Economic Status: The Effect of Outdoor Air Quality on Asthma
• The Effects and Costs of Air Pollution on Health Status in Great Britain
• Indoor Air Pollution: Home Is Where the Hazard Is
• Air Pollution and Some of the Diseases and Problems It Causes
• Creating Markets for Air Pollution Control in Europe and the USA
• What Are the Major Sources of Outdoor Air Pollution?
• How Does Air Pollution Lead to Ocean Acidification?
• How Does Air Pollution Affect Biodiversity?
• How Does Urban Sprawl Contribute to Air Pollution?
• Which Gas in the Air Pollution Can Affect Blood Stream Causing to Death?
• How Does Air Pollution Affect Marine Life?
• What Ecosystem Services Are Disrupted by Air Pollution?
• How Does Air Pollution Affect the Lithosphere?
• What Is the Current U.S. Air Pollution Policy?
• What Are the Ways to Reduce Air Pollution and Slow Climate Change?
• How Does Wind Erosion Cause Air Pollution?
• How Does Air Pollution Compromise Human Health?
• What Are Chemicals Typically Found in Air Pollution?
• How Does Air Pollution Affect the Hydrosphere?
• What Are the Natural Sources of Air Pollution?
• How Does Air Pollution Affect Climate Change?
• How Extraction and Combustion of Fossil Fuel Affect Air Pollution?
• How Can Air Pollution and Animal Agriculture Link Together?
• How Do Scientists Studying Air Pollution Affect the Politics and Society?
• What Are the Global Effects of Air Pollution?
• How Does Atmospheric Circulation Affect Air Pollution?
• What Is China Doing About Air Pollution?
• How Does Air Pollution Affect the Carbon Cycle?
• How Could Chemists Be Involved in Addressing Concerns About Air Pollution?
• Do Nuclear Power Plants Cause Air Pollution?
• Are the Most Common Air Pollutants Caused by Chemical Processes?
• How Do Smokers Contribute to Air Pollution?
• What Is the Cost-Effective Means of Controlling Air Pollution?
• What Cardiovascular Diseases Are Caused by Air Pollution?
• Is Air Pollution Mainly a Local Problem or Can It Travel Long Distances?

Cite this post

• Chicago (N-B)
• Chicago (A-D)

StudyCorgi. (2022, October 26). 116 Air Pollution Essay Topics. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/air-pollution-essay-topics/

"116 Air Pollution Essay Topics." StudyCorgi , 26 Oct. 2022, studycorgi.com/ideas/air-pollution-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . (2022) '116 Air Pollution Essay Topics'. 26 October.

1. StudyCorgi . "116 Air Pollution Essay Topics." October 26, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/air-pollution-essay-topics/.

Bibliography

StudyCorgi . "116 Air Pollution Essay Topics." October 26, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/air-pollution-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2022. "116 Air Pollution Essay Topics." October 26, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/air-pollution-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Air Pollution were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on December 26, 2023 .

• Alzheimer's disease & dementia
• Arthritis & Rheumatism
• Attention deficit disorders
• Autism spectrum disorders
• Biomedical technology
• Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
• Endocrinology & Metabolism
• Gastroenterology
• Gerontology & Geriatrics
• Health informatics
• Inflammatory disorders
• Medical economics
• Medical research
• Medications
• Neuroscience
• Obstetrics & gynaecology
• Oncology & Cancer
• Ophthalmology
• Overweight & Obesity
• Parkinson's & Movement disorders
• Psychology & Psychiatry
• Radiology & Imaging
• Sleep disorders
• Sports medicine & Kinesiology
• Vaccination
• Breast cancer
• Cardiovascular disease
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Colon cancer
• Coronary artery disease
• Heart attack
• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• Kidney disease
• Lung cancer
• Multiple sclerosis
• Myocardial infarction
• Ovarian cancer
• Post traumatic stress disorder
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Schizophrenia
• Skin cancer
• Type 2 diabetes
• Full List »

share this!

April 11, 2024

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

fact-checked

peer-reviewed publication

trusted source

Study shows air pollution is associated with increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease

by Rob Spahr, Emory University

A new Emory University study has found that adults exposed to high levels of air pollution were at an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

In a study of 1,113 participants between the ages of 45 and 75 from the Emory Healthy Brain Study, all of whom were from the Atlanta metropolitan area , the researchers found positive biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease—specifically amyloid plaques —in the cerebrospinal fluid of participants who were exposed to ambient and traffic-related air pollution at their homes.

This study, which was published in Environmental Health Perspectives , was the largest of its kind and adds to the growing body of evidence—including other recent studies from Emory University—that suggests air pollution directly contributes to degeneration in the brain .

What the experts say

"Together, our recent studies represent both ends of the spectrum. In our previous study we showed associations between residential exposure to air pollution and Alzheimer's-related changes in the brain in an autopsy cohort and now, we found similar results in a study of living adults who were on average 15 years younger and cognitively healthy.

"This is important because it shows that residential air pollution can negatively affect our brain even decades before we actually develop Alzheimer's disease. This points to a sensitive time period for both exposure and opportunity, because that is time when prevention strategies and interventions are most effective," says Anke Huels, Ph.D., the study's lead author and an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health.

"We know that air pollution is generally bad for human health, including brain health. By showing a relationship to levels of the amyloid protein in the cerebrospinal fluid , this study suggests that air pollution might increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The flip side of that is that by cleaning up our environment, we might also help reduce the burden of Alzheimer's disease," says James Lah, MD/Ph.D., principal investigator of the Emory Healthy Brain Study and an associate professor in the Department of Neurology at Emory's School of Medicine.

Ways to reduce air pollution exposure

• Limit time and avoid physical activity outside on days when your local air quality index reports air quality is poor.
• If you must be outside on poor air quality days, consider wearing a mask, such as an N95 mask.
• Do other things known to help reduce Alzheimer's risk, including these tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
• Practice eating a healthy diet.
• Engage in regular physical activity.
• Prevent/manage high blood pressure and blood sugar.
• Quit smoking and avoid excessive alcohol consumption.
• Get plenty of sleep.

Explore further

Feedback to editors

Two key brain systems are central to psychosis, study finds

6 hours ago

COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness: Results from Norway demonstrate the reproducibility of federated analytics

9 hours ago

Elucidating the link between Guillain–Barré syndrome and Takotsubo cardiomyopathy

10 hours ago

Artificial intelligence can help people feel heard, study finds

11 hours ago

A new diagnostic model offers hope for Alzheimer's

New study validates prediction rules for pediatric intra-abdominal and traumatic brain injuries

12 hours ago

Chemicals stored in home garages linked to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis risk

In the drive to deprescribe, heartburn drug study teaches key lessons

Researchers identify new genetic risk factors for persistent HPV infections

New AI method captures uncertainty in medical images

Related stories.

Traffic-related air pollution linked to more signs of Alzheimer's in brain

Feb 21, 2024

Tiny magnetic particles in air pollution linked to development of Alzheimer's

Mar 1, 2024

Differences in cerebrospinal fluid of Alzheimer's patients suggests possibility of variants

Jan 13, 2024

Does air pollution increase women's risk of dementia?

Nov 18, 2020

Study finds connection between air pollution exposure and puberty onset of girls in the US

Oct 18, 2023

Study shows traffic-related air pollution in Irvine weakens brain function

May 11, 2023

Recommended for you

High rate of death soon after release from jail is avoidable: Researchers call for coordinated whole government response

16 hours ago

Analysis finds mixed diets balance nutrition and reduce carbon footprints

Apr 10, 2024

Newly found genetic variant defends against Alzheimer's disease

Brain vesicles found to contain selectively packaged, full-length mRNA

Apr 9, 2024

Let us know if there is a problem with our content

Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form . For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines ).

Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request

Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors.

Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.

E-mail the story

Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Medical Xpress in any form.

Newsletter sign up

Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties.

More information Privacy policy

Donate and enjoy an ad-free experience

We keep our content available to everyone. Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account.

E-mail newsletter

Researchers uncover disturbing trend in mental health correlating to air pollution: 'This result points to the important role of public policy'

New research underscores how air quality is crucial to our mental health.

Suicide rates among older adults are elevated in areas of China where there are high levels of air pollution, with older women being the most susceptible group, according to U.S. and Chinese researchers.

"We often think about suicide and mental health as a problem to be understood and solved at an individual level," said Tamma Carleton, co-lead author of the findings published in Nature Sustainability and assistant professor at UC Santa Barbara, according to Phys.org. "This result points to the important role of public policy, of environmental policy, in mitigating mental health and suicide crises outside of individual-level intervention."

The link between air pollution being a significant environmental risk and a central component of human-manufactured climate change is well established. Black carbon, part of the fine particle makeup of air pollution, is behind carbon dioxide as a substantial driver of global warming because it absorbs sunlight.

What's less understood is the link between air pollution and mental health. This study adds to the mounting evidence.

The discovery parallels technological advancements around the globe that are turning air pollution into air solutions. 

Watch now: Alex Honnold test drives his new Rivian

A startup in Iceland has found a way to store carbon dioxide underground by mixing it with water and piping it into rock. Researchers in the U.S. developed a system to convert carbon dioxide into propane, which would make Hank Hill very happy.

Legislation recently passed to help communities combat air pollution as well. At the federal level, President Joe Biden announced $53 million of funding for over 130 air pollution monitoring systems for communities nationwide late in 2022. That same year, New York announced a statewide air quality and greenhouse gas monitoring system specifically aimed at "areas overburdened by environmental pollution."

There are many ways to make small differences that add up in our own lives, too. 

If you own a car and want to make an impact immediately that doesn't require switching to an EV , learning how to use your vehicle more efficiently will lessen planet-warming air pollution and save you money. Excessive braking, speeding, and rapid acceleration on the highway can reduce your gas mileage by as much as 30%.

Researchers uncover disturbing trend in mental health correlating to air pollution: 'This result points to the important role of public policy' first appeared on The Cool Down .

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Your environment. your health., climate change and human health literature portal impact of air pollution on low birth weight in spain: an approach to a national level study, climate change and human health literature portal.

• Publisher https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2019.01.030
• PubMed https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30660920

BACKGROUND: According to the WHO, low birth weight (<2500 gr) is a primary maternal health indicator as the cause of multiple morbi-mortality in the short and long-term. It is known that air pollution from road traffic (PM10, NO2) and O3 have an important impact on low birth weight (LBW), but there are few studies of this topic in Spain. The objective of this study is to determine the possible exposure windows in the gestational period in which there is greater susceptibility to urban air pollution and to quantify the relative risks (RR) and population attributable risks (PAR) of low birth weight associated with pollutant concentrations in Spain. METHODS: We calculated the weekly average births with low birth weight (ICD-10: P07.0-P07.1) for each Spanish province for the period 2001-2009, using the average weekly concentrations of PM10, NO2 and O3, measured in the capital cities of the provinces. The estimation of RR and PAR were carried out using generalized linear models with link Poisson, controlling for the trend, seasonality and auto-regressive character of the series and for the influence of temperature during periods of heat waves and/or cold. Finally, a meta-analysis was used to estimate the global RR and PAR based on the RR obtained for each of the provinces. RESULTS: The RR for the whole of Spain is 1.104 (CI95%: 1.072, 1.138) for the association between LBW and PM10, and 1.091 (CI95%: 1.059, 1.124) for the association between NO2 and LBW. Our results suggest that 5% of low birth weight births in the case of PM10 and 8% in the case of NO2 could have been avoided with a reduction of 10mug/m(3) in the concentrations of these pollutants. CONCLUSIONS: The impact of the results obtained- with 6105 cases attributable to PM10 and up to 9385 cases attributable to NO2 in a period of 9 study years- suggest the need to design structural and awareness public health measures to reduce air pollution in Spain.

Resource Description

weather or climate related pathway by which climate change affects health

resource focuses on specific type of geography

resource focuses on specific location

specification of health effect or disease related to climate change exposure

format or standard characteristic of resource

related topics that intersect with those captured in other filters

Image credit: Shutterstock

Risk factors for faster aging in the brain revealed in new study

Researchers from the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford have used data from UK Biobank participants to reveal that diabetes, traffic-related air pollution and alcohol intake are the most harmful out of 15 modifiable risk factors for dementia.

The researchers had previously identified a ‘weak spot’ in the brain, which is a specific network of higher-order regions that not only develop later during adolescence, but also show earlier degeneration in old age. They showed that this brain network is also particularly vulnerable to schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease.

In this new study, published in Nature Communications , they investigated the genetic and modifiable influences on these fragile brain regions by looking at the brain scans of 40,000 UK Biobank participants aged over 45.

The researchers examined 161 risk factors for dementia, and ranked their impact on this vulnerable brain network, over and above the natural effects of age. They classified these so-called ‘modifiable’ risk factors − as they can potentially be changed throughout life to reduce the risk of dementia − into 15 broad categories: blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, weight, alcohol consumption, smoking, depressive mood, inflammation, pollution, hearing, sleep, socialisation, diet, physical activity, and education.

Professor Gwenaëlle Douaud , who led this study, said: ‘We know that a constellation of brain regions degenerates earlier in aging, and in this new study we have shown that these specific parts of the brain are most vulnerable to diabetes, traffic-related air pollution − increasingly a major player in dementia − and alcohol, of all the common risk factors for dementia.’

‘We have found that several variations in the genome influence this brain network, and they are implicated in cardiovascular deaths, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, as well as with the two antigens of a little-known blood group, the elusive XG antigen system, which was an entirely new and unexpected finding.’

Image caption: To the left of the figure, the red-yellow colour denotes the regions that degenerate earlier than the rest of the brain, and are vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease. These brain areas are higher-order regions that process and combine information coming from our different senses. To the right of the figure, each dot represents the brain data from one UK Biobank participant. The overall curve shows that, in these particularly fragile regions of the brain, there is accelerated degeneration with age. Credit: G. Douaud and J. Manuello.

Professor Lloyd Elliott, a co-author from Simon Fraser University in Canada, concurs: ‘In fact, two of our seven genetic findings are located in this particular region containing the genes of the XG blood group, and that region is highly atypical because it is shared by both X and Y sex chromosomes. This is really quite intriguing as we do not know much about these parts of the genome; our work shows there is benefit in exploring further this genetic terra incognita.’

Importantly, as Professor Anderson Winkler, a co-author from the National Institutes of Health and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in the US, points out: ‘What makes this study special is that we examined the unique contribution of each modifiable risk factor by looking at all of them together to assess the resulting degeneration of this particular brain ‘weak spot’. It is with this kind of comprehensive, holistic approach − and once we had taken into account the effects of age and sex − that three emerged as the most harmful: diabetes, air pollution, and alcohol.’

This research sheds light on some of the most critical risk factors for dementia, and provides novel information that can contribute to prevention and future strategies for targeted intervention.

The paper ‘ The effects of genetic and modifiable risk factors on brain regions vulnerable to ageing and disease ’ is published in Nature Communications .

This research was funded by the UK Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust . The study was led by Professor Gwenaëlle Douaud , from the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), an Associate Professor at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences  (NDCN) and Research Fellow at Green Templeton College ,

DISCOVER MORE

• Support Oxford's research
• Partner with Oxford on research
• Study at Oxford
• Research jobs at Oxford

You can view all news or browse by category