POLLUTION MONITORING OF SHIP EMISSIONS: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH FOR HARBOURS OF THE ADRIATIC BASIN (POSEIDON) Implementation between 01/06/2014 and 31/05/2015 http://www.medmaritimeprojects.eu/section/poseidon
HARBOURS AND ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTANTS Chemical reactions The main atmospheric pollutants released by ships are (Healy et al., Atmospheric Environment 43, 2009, pp. 6408-6414): Nitrogen oxides, globally about 5-7 Tg/year. Sulphur oxides, globally about 4.7-6.5 Tg/year. Particulate matter, globally about 1.2-1.6 Tg/year. The emissions associated with maritime transport have potential effects on health and climate of coastal areas. This involves both the in-port emissions (considering that several Mediterranean harbours are located near urban areas) and emissions during cruise that are generally released within 400 km from the coasts. Emissions of particulate matter require specific attention, because of the estimated potential health risks associated with maritime traffic (Corbett et al., Environmental Science and Technology 41, 2007, pp. 8512-8518).
SIMULATION OF INTERNATIONAL SHIP TRAFFIC CONTRIBUTION TO PM 10 Numerical simulations from The impact of international shipping on European air quality and climate forcing, EEA Technical report N. 4/2013. In Mediterranean basin there are three main routes: from West to East; along the Spanish, French and Italian coasts in the North; from North to South in the Adriatic/Ionian seas.
CONTRIBUTION OF SHIPS TO AEROSOL CONCENTRATION IN EUROPE Scientific literature and a recent review (Viana et al., Atmospheric Environment 90, 2014) show: Impacts could be comparable with those of road traffic of a medium size town. Lack of data in the Adriatic/Ionian area. It is difficult to compare data obtained with significantly different approaches. The contribution of ships traffic is mainly on small particles, however, there is not sufficient data to have a clear picture of impacts to ultrafine and nanoparticles concentrations.
PARTNERSHIP OF POSEIDON POSEIDON foresees an Advisory Committee composed by six local environmental/port authorities operating in the different port-cities that will participate to the project meetings and will interact with the consortium during the phase of project implementation.
OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF POSEIDON Quantify the impact of ship traffic and harbour activities to atmospheric pollution in four port-cities of the Adriatic/Ionian Seas using homogeneous and comparable state-of-the-art methodologies. Identify policy gaps and support the proposal of integrated common strategies and future actions for environmental management of harbours and sustainable development of coastal cities in the area. METHODOLOGY USED An advanced state-of-the-art methodology that integrate emission inventories, numerical modelling and experimental results will be used to investigate the ships/harbours impact on air quality. POSEIDON is designed for capitalisation of experiences and results of previous projects (CESAPO-Interreg Greece-Italy 2007-2013 and local projects in Venice and in Rijeka).
POSEIDON ACTIVITIES To understand the levels of air pollution in four large port-cities of the Adriatic Sea: Patras, Brindisi, Rijeka and Venice, emphasizing on aerosol pollutants (coarse and fine particulate matter). To pinpoint the relative contribution of pollution sources to air pollutants in the urban agglomerations assessing the environmental impact of the pollutants emissions from the maritime transport and the activities within the harbours comparing the results obtained in the four port-cities of the Adriatic/Ionian area understanding the similarity and differences related to the air pollution causes. To share knowledge, experiences and tools between the project partners and the advisory committee identifying eventual policy gaps and supporting the proposal of common strategies and future actions and transnational projects aimed to sustainable growth and environmental management of harbours and coastal area in the Mediterranean space. To consolidate a network of communication among the local and environmental authorities, the research institutions and the public promoting possible links with other similar projects/actions performed in different areas of the Mediterranean space.
SCHEME OF POSEIDON ACTIONS Evaluation of harbour impact in Brindisi Evaluation of harbour impact in Rijeka Evaluation of harbour impact in Venice Evaluation of harbour impact in Patras Inter-comparison, identification of policy gaps, and proposal of possible future strategies and actions Presentation of common results at international conferences
THE BRINDISI AREA SALENTUM PENINSULA ADRIATIC SEA BRINDISI IONIAN SEA The Brindisi area is characterised by a quite complicated scheme of emission sources including: Urban emissions (88,500 inhabitants). Harbour-related emissions (harbour traffic accounted yearly for more than 9,5 million tons, over 520,000 passengers and over 175,000 vehicles). Airport emissions. Industrial emissions. Petrochemical emissions. Power-plants emissions.
THE VENICE AREA Tourist harbour (near the town of Venice with traffic mainly in spring and summer (83.1% of berths between May and October). Large cruise ships, in 2012, 61.3% of berths were associated with ships larger than 40,000 tons and 22.5% of berths were of ships larger than 100,000 tons. Commercial ships follows a different path in the lagoon and docks at Porto Marghera harbour located in the large industrial area of Venice at about 6 km WNW from the tourist harbour. The Venice Lagoon is the largest lagoon and one of the most important wetland sites in the Mediterranean Sea. The Venice Lagoon is located in a highly populated area (270000 inhabitants in Venice) and it is subjected to pollution deriving from agricultural drainage, from industrial inputs (Porto Marghera district), urban activities (traffic and domestic heating) from the cities of Mestre and Venice, the harbour and the airport.
THE PATRAS AREA The harbour of Patras (about 214500 inhabitants) covers almost all the coastal zone of the city and it has three main areas: a marina with a capacity of 415 yachts and boats under 15 m; the north (old) port, where some cargo vessels moor (also for long term mooring) and fishing fleet; the south (new) port used by the ferries connecting Greece with Italy (operational from 2011).
THE RIJEKA AREA The port of Rijeka is the biggest, mostly trade oriented port of Croatia, located at the bottom of the Rijeka bay. The city has 130000 inhabitants (arriving at 200000 with neighboring communities). The area include a petroleum refinery and an airport. In 2011 the harbour had a total throughput of: cargo of more than 9 millions tons, including 151000 containers (TEU) about 180000 passengers (source: Rijeka Port Authority).
CONTACTS Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, ISAC-CNR (Lead partner) Daniele Contini d.contini@isac.cnr.it University Ca Foscari, Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics (Partner 2) Andrea Gambaro gambaro@unive.it University of Patras, Department of Physics (Partner 3) Athanassios Argiriou - athanarg@upatras.gr University of Rijeka, School of Medicine, Environmental Health Department (Partner 4) Ana Alebić-Juretić - ana.alebic.juretic@medri.uniri.hr