This research presents the development and application of generic methodologies for the production of a spatially resolved emissions inventory for the North West region of England. The overall purpose of the estimates is to provide emissions data for use within air quality management applications. The North West region is used as the basis of the work due to being composed of a number of administrative units and providing the regional context for local air quality management in the main urban areas of Greater Manchester and Merseyside. Estimates are made for the key urban pollutants (CO, NOx, VOCs, PM and S02) from anthropogenic sources in 1994 and are shown at a variety of spatial scales. Data are available in terms of a regional 5 x 5 km grid, a sub-regional 1 x 1 km grid or at the scale of the original data source. Source categories, which correspond to broad management groupings, comprise road transport; rail transport; airports; shipping; industry; (Part A and Part B); and other (domestic and commercial) sources. Estimation procedures are developed in relation to readily available data sources and are applied within a GIS environment. The use of GIS has been shown to be an appropriate tool for the development of spatially resolved inventories and has further potential in relation to additional applications of the resultant emissions data. The requirements of producing a generic methodology which uses readily available data sources has been found to limit the degree of detail with which it is possible to develop estimation procedures. One of the principal limitations is the availability of comparable activity data for a number of administrative units. However, the results of the inventory are shown to be useful for a number of air quality management activities, including the identification of patterns of emissions at different scales of investigation and the identification of the location and causality of emission 'hotspots'.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:389495 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Lindley, Sarah Jane |
| Publisher | Manchester Metropolitan University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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