Pollution from aircraft emissions in the North Atlantic flight corridor (Polinat 2)

European Commission Directorate-General For Research And Innovation

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Research policy and organisation
Environment policy and protection of the environment

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• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION-DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-RESEARCH-AND-INNOVATION
• Nombre de lectures: 8
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 9 Mo

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EUROPEAN
COMMISSION
SCIENCE
RESEARCH
DEVELOPMENT
AIR POLLUTION RESEARCH REPORT 68
Pollution from aircraft emissions in the
North Atlantic flight corridor
(POLINAT 2)
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EUR 18877 EN Illustration on the title-page. Mean distribution of air traffic nitrogen oxides (NO«) in the upper
troposphere over the North Atlantic as computed with the ECHAM model for September and October
conditions and main POLINAT 2 investigation area.
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Edith CRESSON, Member of the Commission
responsible for research, innovation, education, training and youth
DG XII/D.1 — Environment technologies
Contact: Dr. G. T. Amanatidis
Address: European Commission, rue de la Loi 200 (SDME 7/55),
B-1049 Brussels — Tel. [phone]; fax [phone] EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE GENERAL XII, SCIENCE, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATEH PROGRAMME
Air Pollution Research Report 68
Pollution from Aircraft Emissions in the
North Atlantic Flight Corridor
(POLINAT 2)
Final Report
Contract no. ENV4-CT95-043, POLINAT 2 (DG 12)
Edited by
Ulrich Schumann
December 1998 LEGAL NOTICE
Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is
responsible for the use which might be made of the following information.
A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet.
It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int).
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication.
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1999
ISBN 92-828-6197-X
© European Communities, 1999
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
Printed in Belgium
PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE-FREE PAPER Foreword
This volume contains the final report of the project POLINAT 2 (1996-1998). POLINAT 2 is
a follow-on project of AERONOX (1992-1994) andT 1 (1994-1996) which were
supported by the European Commission's Environment Research Programme in order to con­
tribute to a better understanding of the atmospheric effects of subsonic aircraft, aiming more
specifically to investigate the importance of NOx and particle emissions on the ozone forma­
tion in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere.
The specific objectives of the POLINAT 2 project are: a) to determine the relative contribu­
tion from air traffic exhaust emissions to the composition of the atmosphere at altitudes be­
tween 9 and 13 km within and near the flight corridor over the North Atlantic and b) to assess
the effects of air traffic emissions in that region in relation to background levels and pollutant
concentrations from various sources and to analyze their importance for changes in ozone,
oxidizing capacity, aerosols, and clouds. This report describes the results of the two tasks per­
formed within this project, measurements and modeling, including a summary.
The POLINAT-2 project gains considerably from coordination and cooperation with various
other projects funded by the European Commission within the CORSAIRE initiative (Coordi­
nation of Results for the Study of Aircraft Impact on the Environment) such as MOZAIC,
EULINOX, and AEROCHEM. Moreover the POLINAT project is coordinated with the US-
NASA-project SONEX and various other national and international projects, including AC-
SOE, NARE, and „Pollutants from Air Traffic".
The results of the POLINAT projects have contributed to the international, assessment on
„Aviation and the Global Atmosphere" which is presently being performed under, guidance by
die Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The POLINAT-projects results show
that aircraft cause measurable increases of nitrogen oxides not only in the plume of aircraft for
several hours, but also at the scale of the flight corridor over the North Atlantic. The results
show that die atmospheric composition is very variable in the tropopause region and often
affected by surface and lightning induced emissions.
The European Commission acknowledges gratefully the work of all scientists involved in the
project, especially, Prof. U. Schumann for the overall coordination, Dr. H. Schlager for the
experiment organization and Dr. H. Kelder for the modeling part coordination.
Georgios Amanatidis
European Commission, DGXII/D-I.l PROJECT PARTNERSHIP
Scientific coordinator:
U. Schumann, DLR
Contractors (Investigators):
DLR: U. Schumann, H. Schlager, R. Sausen, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raum­
fahrt, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
MPI-K: F. Arnold, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg,
Germany
LMD: J. Ovarlez, Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique du CNRS, Ecole Polytech­
nique, Palaiseau, France
KNMI: H. Kelder, Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut, AE de Bilt, the
Netherlands
AEA: G. Hayman, National Environmental Technology Centre, AEA Technology,
Culham, Abingdon, U.K., in cooperation with C. Johnson (Meteorological Office,
Hadley Centre for Climate, Bracknell), and I. Ford (Department of Physics and As­
tronomy, University College London)
NILU: F. Stordal, Norsk instituit for luftforskning, Lillestrom, Norway in cooperation
with I.S.A. Isaksen (Univ. of Oslo) and 0. Hov (Univ of Bergen, now at NILU),
ETH: J. Staehelin, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Institute for Atmospheric
Science, ETH-Hònggerberg, Zürich, Switzerland
UMR: P.D. Whitefield and D.E. Hagen, University of Missouri - Rolla, Rolla MO,
USA (associated contractor)
Key words:
Pollution, Aviation, Ozone, Nitrogen oxides, Air chemistry.
Reporting period: :
1 April 1996 - 30 September 1998 ABSTRACT
The project POLINAT 2 was performed to investigate the impact of aircraft emissions on the
state of the atmosphere over the North Atlantic, including the full range of the main flight
corridor from western Europe to eastern North America. The project includes measurement
and modeling tasks. Measurements have been performed from August to November 1997 us­
ing the instrumented research aircraft Falcon and an instrumented airliner B-747. The meas­
urements include various nitrogen oxides, nitrous and nitric acids, sulfur oxide and sulfuric
acid, acetone, carbon dioxide, ozone, water vapor, carbon monoxide, aerosols, and meteoro­
logical parameters. The experiments were performed based on predictions of air mass trajecto­
ries and of chemical forecasts. The measurements, which were performed in coordination with
other experimental activities, included instrument intercomparison flights. The modeling was
done using existing and refined models for the atmospheric dynamics and chemistry on all
scales from the engine exit to the globe. Direct intercomparisons have been performed be­
tween experimental data and chemical transport models. Plume models are used to investigate
the conversion of emissions in the aircraft plume, including particle formation and interaction
between a multiple of plumes from several aircraft. A global circulation model is used to
compare with the statistics of nitrogen oxides and ozone measurements.
The project has resulted in an extensive dataset on the air composition of the atmosphere in
the altitude range 6 to 13 km above the North Atlantic, for all components measured, in par­
ticular for nitrogen oxides. The intercomparison flights provide support for the reliability of
the instruments used, though to different degree. The project succeeded in assessing by meas­
urements and analysis the relative contribution from air traffic exhaust emissions to the com­
position of the lower stratosphere and upper troposphere in the North Atlantic flight traffic
region. The concentration change due to aircraft emissions can be measured and identified in
single and multiple plumes at time scales of several hours and accumulation of such emissions
can be identified in and downstream of the flight corridor region, at least under certain
weather conditions. The concentration change is largest for nitrogen oxides. The atmospheric
composition is highly variable, perhaps more than thought before, and emissions from other
sources (at the surface or from lightning in convective events) contribute also strongly to the
nitrogen oxides abundance and ozone formation. A change in ozone due to nitrogen oxide
emissions by aircraft cannot be measured. The global and regional models predict an ozone
increase of the order of 3 to 4 % at the flight corridor altitude north of 30°N, in agreement
with previous model analysis. A plume model suggests that contrail and cirrus particles may
reduce the ozone increase by activation of chlorine compounds. During September to October,
much of the flight traffic occurs in the upper troposphere, which is often cloudy with water
vapor concentration above ice saturation, providing conditions were aircraft induces persistent
contrails enhancing cirrus cloudiness. The measured data are available for further analysis. CONTENTS
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