CO Space-SI and Chair of Meteorology UL-FMF have developed a model for the real time prediction of air pollution
The Centre of Excellence SPACE-SI is actively engaged in the environmental protection issues. In particular, the atmospheric research group within SPACE-SI has been carrying out several projects related to the use of satellite observation of the atmosphere, weather, climate and pollution modelling. Since January 2013 results of the pollution prediction project are made available online at http://meteo.fmf.uni-lj.si/onesnazenje. It represents the most sophisticated coupled meteorological and chemical transport system in use for research and development not only in Slovenia but much wider in this part of Europe.
The applied most advanced online coupled Atmospheric Chemical Transport (ACT) and Meteorology (Numerical Weather Prediction) modelling is based on the WRF-Chem model and involves simultaneous computation and two-way interactions between different atmospheric processes including chemistry, clouds, radiation, boundary layer, emissions, dispersion and meteorology. On one hand, this means that the complete atmospheric state at a given point in time influences chemical processes and dispersion. On the other hand, the presence of pollutants is accounted for in the physical processes making weather such as radiation, clouds and precipitation. In contrary to the traditional pollution modelling, which considers only meteorological conditions on the pollutants with a coarser time step, the coupled modelling allows the maximal use of meteorological input infromation for the environmental application while at the same time allowing pollutants to impact the physical state of the atmosphere.
The project and its resulsts, now available online, contributes to the development of Earth system modelling in Slovenia and also to the European COST project EuMetChem. The SPACE-SI meteorology group involved in the project (http://meteo.fmf.uni-lj.si) is a part of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Ljubljana that is carrying out the only undergraduate and graduate meteorology program in Slovenia. The group research areas include atmospheric dynamics on various scales, coupled chemical-dynamical modelling in complex terrain, precipitation measurements by satellites and modelling, data assimilation and regional climate modelling. Reserach activities include collaborations in Europe, USA and Japan. The group is also hosting the first Slovenian project funded by the European research council.
Link to air quality products: http://meteo.fmf.uni-lj.si/onesnazenje
For further information concerning the air quality modelling: Dr. Rahela Žabkar, rahela.zabkar@fmf.uni-lj.si
For further information concerning atmospheric research within SPACE-SI: Prof. Nedjeljka Zagar, nedjeljka.zagar@fmf.uni-lj.si