H2020Individual fellowship2015–2017

GLANCE · calculatinG heaLth impActs of atmospheric pollutioN in a Changing climatE

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2015-07-01 → 2017-06-30
EU contribution
€158,122
Participants
1
Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST

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Results in brief

calculatinG heaLth impActs of atmospheric pollutioN in a Changing climatE

Current annual global estimates of premature deaths from poor air quality are estimated in the range of 2.6-4.4 million, and 2050 projections are expected to double against 2010 levels. In Europe, annual economic burdens are estimated at around 750 bn €. Climate change will further exacerbate air pollution burdens; therefore, a better understanding of the economic impacts on human societies has become an area of intense investigation. European research efforts have been been carried out within the MACC project series, which ran from 2005 - 2015. The outcome of this work has been integrated into a European capacity for Earth Observation, the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS). In MACC/CAMS, key pollutant concentrations are computed at the European scale and globally by employing chemically-driven advanced transport models. In GLANCE, a system model is developed for calculating the health impacts and damage costs of air pollution at different physical scales. It combines MACC/CAMS (assimilated Earth Observations, an ensemble of chemical transport models and state of the art ECWMF weather forecasting) with downscaling based on in-situ network measurements. This project develops a software toolkit in Python, based on open source libraries, to yield health and economic burden assessments. Its modular design does not restrict it to the modelled concentration fields that MACC/CAMS provides, but allows the application and integration of other data. This project is a multidisciplinary approach which brings together leading experts from natural sciences and socioeconomic fields. GLANCE benefits the European community by contributing a novel approach to assess impacts of air quality at the local and regional levels, thus benefiting to long running EU commitments, while exploring new pathways for exploiting earth observational data.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Current annual global estimates of premature deaths from poor air quality are estimated in the range of 2.6-4.4 million, and 2050 projections are expected to double against 2010 levels. In Europe, annual economic burdens are estimated at around 750 bn €. Climate change will further exacerbate air pollution burdens; therefore, a better understanding of the economic impacts on human societies has become an area of intense investigation.European research efforts are being carried out within the MACC project series, which started in 2005. The outcome of this work has been to establish a European capacity for Earth Observation, known as Copernicus. In MACC, key pollutant concentrations are computed at the European scale and globally by employing chemically-driven advanced transport models. The proposed work in GLANCE would develop a novel integrated assessment model for calculating the health impacts and damage costs of air pollution at different physical scales. It would combine MACC (assimilated Earth Observations, an ensemble of chemical transport models and state of the art ECWMF weather forecasting) with downscaling based on in-situ network measurements. The strengthening of modelled projections through integration with empirical evidence would, therefore, reduce errors and uncertainties in the health impact projections. In addition, GLANCE would yield improved data accuracy at high time resolution. This project is a multidisciplinary approach which would bring together leading experts from natural sciences and socioeconomic fields. The fellow would benefit from learning new and multidisciplinary skills, collaborating in international networks, and publishing novel results in high impact journals. Moreover, GLANCE would benefit the European community by contributing a novel approach to assess air quality at the local and regional levels, thus benefiting to long running EU commitments, while exploring new pathways for exploiting earth observational data.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • ASOCIACION BC3 BASQUE CENTRE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE - KLIMA ALDAKETA IKERGAI · LeioaCoordinatorSpain

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union