Plejdrup, M.S., Nielsen, O.-K., Gyldenkærne, S. & Bruun, H.G. 2018. Spatial high-resolution distribution of emissions to air – SPREAD 2.0. Aarhus University, DCE – Danish Centre for Environment and Energy, 186 pp. Scientific Report from DCE – Danish Centre for Environment and Energy No. 131 http://dce2.au.dk/pub/TR131.pdf
The Department of Environmental Science (ENVS) at Aarhus University (AU) is working on research in several areas, one of which is atmospheric pollution. This research includes the links between emissions, atmospheric dispersion, human exposure and related costs. Part of this research is the spatial distribution of emissions as input to the air quality modelling.
The Danish Centre on Environment and Energy (DCE), Aarhus University (AU) is contracted by the Ministry of Environment and Food and the Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Climate to compile and report annual national emission inventories for greenhouse gases and air pollutants. The compilation and reporting is done in accordance with Denmark’s obligations under international conventions, e.g. the Climate Convention (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) and EU regulations, e.g. the National Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD) and the Monitoring Mechanism Regulation (MMR).
The work is carried out by the Department of Environmental Science (ENVS).
Under the CLRTAP and the NECD, there is a requirement to report gridded emissions every four years. In addition, DCE is also tasked with publishing spatial data of diffuse emissions as defined under the PRTR regulation.
Before 2011, the Danish emission inventory was available on the 50 km x 50 km EMEP grid for reporting of air pollutants to CLRTAP every fifth year.
In 2011, the first version of a spatial high-resolution distribution model for emissions to air (SPREAD) was published. This model used a higher resolution (1 km x 1 km), to increase the usefulness of the data in the air quality modelling. The higher resolution was also chosen in anticipation of changes to the EMEP grid moving towards a higher resolution. This high-resolution distribution has been used in research projects focussing on either all emission sectors or in case studies for one or a few sectors, e.g. a distribution of emissions from railways on 1 km x 1 km resolution.
The current EMEP grid is a 0.1 degree x 0.1 degree resolution, which for Denmark implies grid cells with a dimension of approximately 6 km x 11 km.
The development of the SPREAD model has largely been driven by the participation in research projects. Resources from the framework contract between AU and the Ministry of Environment and Food has been used to implement the new EMEP grid.
SPREAD includes emission distributions for each sector emitting air pollution in the Danish inventory system. The main sectors are stationary combustion, mobile combustion, fugitive emissions from fuels, industrial processes and product use, agriculture and waste. However, the spatial distribution is carried out at the most detailed level possible. Currently, greenhouse gases are not included in the model.
