PhD Thesis Defence Presentations - Evangelia Siouti

Presentation Title (Τίτλος Παρουσίασης): Air quality forecasting in an urban area at high spatial resolution
Presentation Type (Τύπος Παρουσίασης): PhD Thesis Defence Presentations
Speakers Full Name (Ονοματεπώνυμο): Evangelia Siouti
Speakers Affiliation (Προέλευση Ομιλητή): University of Patras, Department of Chemical Engineering
Seminar Room (Αίθουσα): "A. C. Payatakes" Library
Event Date: Fri, Jun 02 2023, Time: 17:00 - 20:00
Abstract (Περίληψη)

Air quality forecasting systems can contribute to the eventual improvement of atmospheric quality on regional or urban scales and to reduce the risk of people being exposed to high air pollutant levels. PM2.5 is one of the most important air pollutants that can penetrate deep into our lungs causing premature deaths, cardiovascular and respiratory problems, but also can damage ecosystems. Gas-phase pollutants such as O3 and NOx have also a negative effect on human health causing lung diseases. Air pollution forecasting systems are becoming an increasingly useful tool, as they can predict the future status of the atmosphere and potentially prevent human health risks. 

The air quality forecasting system that we have developed called SmartAQ (Smart Air Quality), combines state-of-the-art meteorological and chemical transport models to produce high-resolution predictions of 1x1 km2 for an urban area for the next 3-day period. The system simulates the air pollution in Europe using 36x36 km2 spatial resolution and through three nested grids with increasing resolution it focuses on the urban area of interest with 1x1 km2 resolution. The WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model prepares high-resolution predictions of meteorology, the MEGAN (Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature) model provides aerosol and gas-phase emissions and the chemical transport model PMCAMx (Particulate Matter Comprehensive Air quality Model with extensions) is used to simulate air quality. The PSAT (Particulate matter Source Apportionment Technology) algorithm is used together with PMCAMx to determine the source contributions for each pollutant for the urban area. SmartAQ operates automatically, in real-time and predicts the pollutant concentration of tens of gases (NOx, SO2, CO, O3, volatile organic compounds, etc.), the complete aerosol size and chemical composition together with PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 levels and the pollutant sources. The urban area of Patras in Greece was used for the first application of our system due to high-dense network of low-cost sensors that measure PM2.5 concentrations in the city.  

Field measurements have indicated that cooking and residential biomass burning sources are of primary importance in urban areas, but the corresponding emissions are often neglected or underestimated by emission inventories and chemical transport models leading to uncertain air quality predictions. In Patras, wood burning in fireplaces is the dominant source of pollution during wintertime, while cooking is the most important local source of pollution during the summer and especially during the nighttime based on field measurements. For these reasons, bottom-up inventories for cooking and residential biomass burning were developed at 1x1 km2 resolution for the city of Patras. The spatial distribution of cooking emissions was based on the exact location of restaurants in the city and the temporal distribution on measured cooking organic aerosol (OA) diurnal profile. The spatial distribution of residential biomass burning emissions was based on the density of houses in the urban area and the temporal patterns on field measurements. Biomass burning organic aerosols were considered volatile and chemically reactive and their emissions were temperature dependent. 

PMCAMx reproduced well the PM2.5 concentrations for the area of high cooking OA emissions, while it tended to overestimate the PM2.5 concentrations for the outskirts of the city. During the wintertime, the model reproduced the measured PM2.5 profile in the high-biomass-burning-emission area, but it tended to overpredict PM2.5 in the suburbs. Driving variables for the discrepancies between model and measurements were uncertainties in cooking and biomass burning OA emissions, errors in meteorology and uncertainties in the low-cost sensor measurements used for the evaluation. The overprediction at the outskirts was probably due to overestimation of regional pollution. SmartAQ predicted for PM2.5 that cooking was the dominant local source of pollution during summer and biomass burning for residential heating was the dominant one during winter, which are consistent with measurements. The developed air quality forecasting system can be applied to any European urban area to produce high resolution atmospheric and weather predictions. 

Speakers Short CV (Σύντομο Βιογραφικό Ομιλητή)

Evangelia Siouti

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences (ICE-HT), Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), Patras, Greece

Email: siouti.valia@chemeng.upatras.gr

 

EDUCATION

PhD. Candidate in Chemical Engineering                                              2018-present

Laboratory of Air Quality Studies

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Greece 

 

Diploma in Chemical Engineering                                                             2013-2018

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Greece

Grade: 8.59 of 10

 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Graduate teaching assistant                                                                                 

Dept. of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Greece 

Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry                                                                        2019

Organic Chemistry Laboratory                                                                                2019

Statistics for Engineers                                                                                             2020

 

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Laboratory of Air Quality Studies                                                             

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Greece 

 

PyroTRACH                                                                                       2018-2020, 2021

Pyrogenic TRansformations Affecting Climate and Health

 

SmartAQM                                                                                                            2020

Smart Air Quality Monitoring system 

 

IMSAP                                                                                                           2021-2022

Innovative integrated system of Mass spectrometry Sensors for Atmospheric Pollutants

 

RI-URBANS                                                                                               2022-present

Research Infrastructures Services Reinforcing Air Quality Monitoring Capacities in European Urban & Industrial Areas

 

JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS

Siouti, E., Skyllakou, K., Kioutsioukis, I., Ciarelli, G., Pandis, S.N. (2021). Simulation of the cooking organic aerosol concentration variability in an urban area. Atmos. Environ. 265, 118710.

Siouti, E., Skyllakou, K., Kioutsioukis, I., Patoulias, D., Fouskas, G. and Pandis, S.N. (2022). Development and application of the SmartAQ high-resolution air quality and source apportionment forecasting system for European urban areas. Atmosphere 13, 1693.

Siouti, E., Kilafis, K., Kioutsioukis, I. and Pandis, S.N. (2023). Simulation of the influence of residential biomass burning on air quality in an urban area. Atmos. Environ., submitted.

Pappa, A., Siouti, E., Pandis, S.N. and Kioutsioukis, I. (2023). High-resolution WRF forecasts in the SmartAQ system: evaluation of the meteorological forcing used for PMCAMx predictions in an urban area. Atmosphere, submitted.

Siouti, E., Skyllakou, K., Kioutsioukis, I., Patoulias, D., Fouskas, G. and Pandis, S.N. (2023). Evaluation of the SmartAQ high-resolution air quality and source apportionment forecasting system for European urban areas. In preparation.

 

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Siouti, E., Skyllakou, K., Kioutsioukis, I., Ciarelli, G., and Pandis, S. N.: “Simulation of the cooking organic aerosol concentration variability in an urban area”, European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 April 2021.

Siouti, E., Skyllakou, K., Kioutsioukis, I., Ciarelli, G., and Pandis, S. N.: “Development and application of the SmartAQM high-resolution air quality forecasting system for European urban areas”, 13th Panhellenic Scientific Conference of Chemical Engineering (PESXM13), 2-4 June 2022, Patras.

Siouti, E., Skyllakou, K., Kioutsioukis, I., Patoulias, D., Fouskas, G. and Pandis, S.N.: “Development and application of the SmartAQ high-resolution air quality and source apportionment forecasting system for European urban areas”, International Aerosol Conference (IAC) 2022, 4-9 September 2022, Athens.