User Feedback Summary Report - Copernicus · 2016. 1. 29. · Lead Beneficiary DLR (#11) Date...

MACC-III Deliverable 62.5

User Feedback Summary Report

Date: 3/2015 Lead Beneficiary: DLR (#11) Nature: R Dissemination level: PU (CO: show case 1)

Grant agreement n°633080

File: MACCIII_INT_DEL_62.5-update.docx/.pdf

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Work-package 62 (INT, User Interface) Deliverable 62.5 Title User Feedback Summary Report Nature R Dissemination PU (CO: show case 1) Lead Beneficiary DLR (#11) Date 3/2015 Status Final version Authors T. Holzer-Popp (DLR) Approved by T. Holzer-Popp Contact [email protected]

[In case the deliverable is not a report: provide a description of it inside this box.]

This document has been produced in the context of the MACC-II project (Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate - Interim Implementation). The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7 THEME [SPA.2011.1.5-02]) under grant agreement n° 283576. All information in this document is provided "as is" and no guarantee or warranty is given that the information is fit for any particular purpose. The user thereof uses the information at its sole risk and liability. For the avoidance of all doubts, the European Commission has no liability in respect of this document, which is merely representing the authors view.


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Executive Summary / Abstract This report summarizes the user feedback received during the MACC-II and MACC-III projects (11/2011 – 6/2015). User feedback is mainly based on bilateral interaction of MACC-II services with their users and several workshops with users held by MACC-II and MACC-III (two general user workshops, two dedicated policy user workshops, User Advisory Board meetings/telecons, summer school). This report was compiled by MACC-II and MACC-III based on the variety of user feedback received – user statements were extracted from presentations made by users at the workshops and from direct contacts. General user queries received by MACC-II / MACC-III partners or through the MACC web portal are documented in the User queries summary report (64.2). Additional / new user requirements which are briefly summarized here were systematically collected in the updates of the MACC-II / MACC-III User Requirements Document (62.1). After showing overall user statistics (this section) and summarizing the main outcomes of the different MACC-II / MACC-III workshops with users, this document concludes with a collection (not complete!) of use cases including their feedback and recommendations.


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Table of Contents

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 6

2. Feedback received during meetings ...................................................................................... 9

2.1. First MACC-II / GMES-PURE User Workshop (Harwell / UK, June 2013) ........................ 9

2.2. Second MACC-II User Workshop (Paris, F, June 2014) ................................................... 9

2.3. First MACC-II Policy User Workshop (Brussels / B, November 2013) ........................... 10

2.4. MACC-II User Advisory Board (June 2014) .................................................................... 10

2.5. MACC-II Summer School (June 2013)............................................................................ 11

2.6. MACC-III User Advisory Board telecon (November 2014) ............................................ 11

2.7. MACC-III policy user workshop (March 2015) .............................................................. 12

2.8. MACC-III user workshop (May 2015) ............................................................................ 12

2.9. MACC-III UAB telecon (May 2015) ................................................................................ 13

3. Collection of use case examples .......................................................................................... 14

Using MACC services: Managing a national pollution crisis ................................................ 14

Using MACC services: Show case on MACC-RAD ................................................................. 18

Using MACC services: Show case on Project Uncertweb ..................................................... 20

Using MACC services: Show case on Scenario Analysis Study ............................................. 22

Using MACC services: Show case on Project Hubei ............................................................. 25

Using MACC services: Show case on Bedre Byluft project .................................................. 28

Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on European air quality public information ........... 31

Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on global carbon assessment ................................. 33

Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on state of the climate reporting ........................... 35

Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on stratospheric ozone monitoring ........................ 37

Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on flight campaign support .................................... 39

Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on downstream air quality services ....................... 41

Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on local air quality information .............................. 43

Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on using global products as boundary conditions .. 45


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Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on global solar irradiance services ......................... 47

Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on downstream energy services ............................. 49

Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on solar resource assessment in the Middle East .. 51

Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on global model output for regional forecasts....... 53

Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on use in compliance monitoring ........................... 55

Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on use by a national ministry ................................. 57


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1. Introduction In the meantime users of MACC services come from a wide range of countries, sectors and types of organisations. MACC users vary from ‘power’ users (requiring daily data) to users looking for specific data (area, time, species). Data access is fully open and free. The following table provides an overview of MACC users - user registration (name, institute/company, country) has in the meantime been implemented for all data servers.

Service Number of Users/ Requests for data

Global NRT Analyses & Forecasts ~225 users

Regional NRT Analyses & Forecasts 155 users

Global Reanalysis 1600 users

GHG flux inversions 40 users

Solar Radiation ~1000 requests/year

Global ftp ~ 40 users

Emissions, fire 1773 users (716 institutes)

User queries tracking system 318 items until 8/1/2015

The geographical distribution of MACC users is shown in the following two maps on global and European level.


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MACC users can generally be split in commercial, governmental, science, and other; their distribution over the major MACC services is shown in the following table.

Service Commercial Governmental Science Other

Global NRT Analyses & Forecasts

5% 15% 60% 20%

Regional NRT Analyses & Forecasts

25% 15% 30% 30%

Global Reanalysis 5% 15% 60% 20%

Solar Radiation 50% 10% 20% 20%

Regularly MACC partners or its coordinator are contacted by media on events of public interest with exceptional atmospheric conditions; MACC supports them with consultancy and relevant material based on its routine plotting outcome but also in some cases additional analysis; some of these lead to news items which are displayed at the MACC website. Also national authorities use their contacts with MACC partners in their countries to collect information on episodes from MACC which helps them to judge potentially critical situations. Also regularly, MACC receives questions from different scientific communities which require up-to-date or historic information on the state of the atmosphere. In many cases those users get a first impression of the situation on those variables they are interested in using the standard MACC-II graphical output. Depending on their study they also frequently download relevant datasets from MACC services. A particular focused interaction with users was conducted within the RAD sub project of MACC-II. Its outcome was documented in the deliverable “Report on coordination with test users and international initiatives” (MACC-II deliverable DEL_RAD_D_121.3). The report summarizes the types of solar irradiance service users, their types of usage of the MACC-II service and feedback from a first interaction. Overall a high level of satisfaction with the RAD service was expressed including its data format, technical interfaces as well as the validation and documentation of its results. It was frequently stated by companies that the availability and quality of the MACC-II RAD service improve the quality of their services delivered to end users or decrease their cost, ease their daily work and save efforts and time; in some cases the MACC-II products have opened opportunities for new products or new markets. Further new (possibly downstream) products such as irradiance at a tilted plane or over defined spectral bands were requested.


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2. Feedback received during meetings

2.1. First MACC-II / GMES-PURE User Workshop (Harwell / UK, June 2013) At the first MACC-II user workshop (held jointly with GMES-PURE project, which is analysing the long-term requirements of the atmosphere service and needed satellite input data) a lively dialogue with about 30 users was achieved. Presentations of the service offering of MACC-II and of a wide range of example use cases (from scientific studies to downstream services and market introduction) demonstrated possible usage to new users (some are shown in brief in section 3) and triggered the discussion. Main items of the discussion ranked around the need and possible way forward to estimate and display uncertainties in an appropriate way to users (overall, simple, event-specific). Furthermore, the future evolution (existing gaps and possible improvements) and the perimeter of the service scope (e.g. national specific plots) were questioned. One important finding was that there needs to be a borderline of MACC-II service scope to allow small industries to work on the focused (regional, topical) post-processing, while those small businesses are ready to adapt to the evolving service delivery of Copernicus Atmosphere as long as its long-term sustainability is assured. Regarding data access the user workshop clearly supported a simple registration procedure but no further complicated agreement mechanism; it was suggested that the access rules should be harmonized across all Copernicus services. Also service change / outage notifications were recommended, which were implemented afterwards. A wish for further information on current users and their usage was expressed (e.g. this report provides such a collection). An evolution of data access technology (INSPIRE, WIS) was recommended (as implemented by MACC-II in 2014). Dedicated working groups discussed in more detail the products and services for air quality, atmospheric composition, emissions, and solar energy. These working groups identified in each topic the added value provided by MACC-II, required new products / parameters (covered in the user requirements document update) and possible usage barriers (e.g. data access). 2.2. Second MACC-II User Workshop (Paris, F, June 2014) The second user workshop followed a similar format as the first one, but was held in a different member state. In addition an outlook to the operational Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) until 2020 could be presented, since the Copernicus regulation had been approved recently. This setup of events limited in size and moving around the EC seems appropriate to allow fruitful interaction with users. A dedicated set of questions (focusing on the needs related to operations) was brought to the attention of the ~25 users. Questions raised targeted the evolution of input data and modelling technology, data access rules and the governance of Copernicus with its user involvement. A focus was placed on the best interaction between Copernicus and national actors who may wish to build their services on input from Copernicus (e.g. air quality modelling chain). Representatives of national authorities expressed the required constraints for using MACC-II services: stability, continuity and sustainability of the service; if there are changes to the service then these


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must be very clearly documented to remove the possibility of non-existent trends being identified when in fact the ‘trend’ is due to a model upgrade for example. Several clear needs were expressed for further evolution of the service offering (e.g. consistency between daily products and long-term re-analysis and clear documentation of service changes); those requirements were again included into the recent User Requirements Document update.

2.3. First MACC-II Policy User Workshop (Brussels / B, November 2013) A first dedicated policy user workshop was held in at the premises of the European Research Executive Agency, where MACC-II explained its policy-related services and products and exposed them to discussion and feedback to a group of national and regional policy actors. Those authorities named as their needed Copernicus policy services consultancy, scenarios / sensitivity studies and support in reviews; in many cases this would require on demand support possibly based on underlying routine processing of European data / models. Required services include source apportionment, future scenarios along regulatory scenarios. MACC-II policy toolboxes should allow users to define online their scenarios. Continued cooperation with European policy actors (EEA, DG-ENV, JRC) and related international activities (WMO, WHO, UNEP) was recommended. It was required to improve the robustness of services and documentation of uncertainties. The representativeness of MACC-II datasets for regional / local observations was discussed. The MACC-II European air quality assessment reports were discussed and it was recommended to assess and document the consistency with the report (using the same name) published by EEA; furthermore the need for an advanced assessment report using only non-validated ground-based data was expressed, so that the annual MACC-II report comes timely for its utilization in the national reporting obligations. Requirements expressed during this workshop were also analysed in the User Requirements Document update.

2.4. MACC-II User Advisory Board (June 2014) Based on discussions at the 2nd MACC-II user workshop preceding the UAB meeting, members of the UAB made took some of those discussion items to concrete recommendations. A major discussion point was how the MACC-II regional ensemble forecasts can be of best use to national / regional downstream services so that duplicated efforts for global / European modelling can be reduced. The challenge lies mostly in the bridging between a practically feasible service output (e.g. limited size) and the requirement of covering “complete” regional model chemical setup (“all” layers, all chemical species, …). A working group shall be initiated to iterate this issue between national representatives and the MACC-II ENS service and recommend a practical solution based on proven common needs of various users and documented impact of proposed output extensions. In addition, tools as they have been recently implemented for selection of parts of the service output (e.g. within OGC web services) can be helpful. The UAB discussed in how far metadata on service quality / degradation (e.g. a missing particular satellite) can be introduced. However, it became clear that further development


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work and discussion is needed (e.g. on the granularity and severity of such degradation points for well documented major impact) before this is mature for introduction into the service. The UAB regarded good communication on service updates and relevant meetings (e.g. user workshops) as important and recommended to re-initiate (as in MACC) issuing newsletters with general information; these newsletter should be published on a case-driven basis (a first one was published shortly after the UAB meeting). Regarding training the UAB recognized the need for a general introduction to new users on the MACC-II website (e.g. in the form of a practical guide how to access the MACC-II products). At the end of its first formal MACC-II meeting the user Advisory Board discussed the governance for the future Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service and recommended that the Service should continue to involve its own (topic-focused) User Advisory Board but at the same time the Commission should take care of a good communication between Service-internal user consultation, the Copernicus overall User Forum and the national user communities / formal representation for Copernicus.

2.5. MACC-II Summer School (June 2013) During the MACC-II summer school in June 2013 the 62 participants contributed to user feedback within several dedicated working groups who analysed different parts of the MACC-II website, detected several errors and weaknesses and made recommendations to improve the information. Overarching the need for a section with frequently asked questions (FAQ) was raised in order to support new users’ entry to accessing the products and services of AMCC-II. Acknowleding the constraint of easy maintainability those FAQ could be linked from the catalogue selections when a user has chosen the relevant service / product or they could be accessed via a general “cloud of clickable key words”. These FAQ could cover topics such as general atmospheric science background, general MACC-II services overview, technical information (methods used, input and output data, validation overview. These recommendations and further detailed findings of the summer school working groups shall be analysed and a FAQ concept for implementation in the operational Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service worked out during the MACC-III project (8/2014 – 3/2015).

2.6. MACC-III User Advisory Board telecon (November 2014) The second meeting of the User Advisory Board (UAB) was held by telephone conference, hosted by ECMWF on 25 November 2014. The UAB was informed on the seamless transition process between MACC-II and MACC-III and the planned change-over to the operational Copernicus Atmosphere Service. The UAB expressed the request for an uninterrupted service continuity and for informative communication to users about any changes occurring. The UAB was informed on preparations of a workshop (to be held 7 January 2015) to explore the best response to the user need for more complete chemical suite of species as output from the ensemble service. Finally, the UAB discussed the set of user documentation available from MACC-II (and to be updated in MACC-III): user requirements document, user queries summary, user feedback summary, metadata and technical web service interface


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descriptions. The UAB requested better accessibility to the user requirements documentation (including feedback on implementation response status) and to the user feedback summary (including use cases), either online or by better positioning on the website. Furthermore, the UAB suggested converting the user questionnaire available at the MACC website into an online tool for easier access. Finally, the UAB discussed the future process for prioritizing user requirements during the operational Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service phase. The UAB can provide valuable consultation in this process within the service. At the current stage the consideration was raised whether for each requirement a number of users making this request should be added to guide prioritizing. However, it was also stated, that requirements by “power users” (e.g. EC directorates or large commercial entities) who request large data amounts or provide their downstream services to large audiences could be prioritized as well.

2.7. MACC-III policy user workshop (March 2015) The MACC-III Policy User workshop took place in Vienna on 3-4 March 2015 and gathered 29 product providers, users and potential users from 13 European countries. The workshop focused on downstream users who make use of MACC-III data for policy support. Most participants had already gained some experience in using MACC-III products, such as the TNO-MACC emission data, the MACC global model or regional ensemble output for chemical boundary conditions, and the air pollution forecasts (in particular during episodes). These products are used in support of policy decisions, for alerting, and to get a better understanding of the origins of pollution. During the workshop, use cases were presented, and news about policy-relevant products of MACC-III were provided. The second day of the workshop was dedicated entirely to user-provider interaction. During a series of training sessions the audience received a more detailed introduction about where to find MACC-III products and how to use and interpret the data and graphs. The different roundtable discussions of the final session gave all participants the opportunity to provide their feedback and to make suggestions for MACC-III product refinements as well as new products. During and after the workshop the product providers of MACC-III received very useful comments from representatives from nine different countries, users that will be able to set the path for the information which their national policy officers will require. Among the main requests from the users were the timeliness of the products, the tailoring of products to specific regions and to simplify access to products and/or make them easier to find and to download on the MACC website. In terms of documentation, more metadata in air pollution data files was requested.

2.8. MACC-III user workshop (May 2015) The MACC-III User Workshop was held on 11 May 2015 in Rome, co-organized by ISPRA, Italy. The workshop provided an overview of MACC-III services and user support, a number of user case studies demonstrating the use of MACC-III products outside Italy and presentations on potential use cases in Italy with their associated needs. A focus topic of the user workshop was the use of MACC-III boundary conditions. The interaction during the workshop has large potential to stimulate extended use of MACC-III products in Italy, but requires further coordination of different actors in this country. The smaller number of attendees from other countries could also benefit from the interaction between users; the


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model of co-organizing the user workshop with a national Copernicus forum was considered very promising by other national representatives.

2.9. MACC-III UAB telecon (May 2015) The final UAB telecon in MACC-III was held on 22 May 2015. UAB members discussed best possible means of assuring to obtain user feedback. Suggestions were made to clean up annually the user lists by requesting a renewal of user registrations combined with an obligatory answering of a small feedback questionnaire. Such a renewal would require repeated prior notice by e-mail to avoid user frustration. Furthermore, different user types (occasional science users, high frequency operational users)) need to be treated differently. As a second item the UAB discussed the future role of an UAB in the CAMS service. All members agreed that a UAB allows more detailed discussions of critical items than possible in a larger user workshop. It was also stated that the Copernicus User Forum based on national representation is too remote from the individual services. For both reasons it was concluded that a UAB within the CAMS service would be worthwhile also in the future.


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3. Collection of use case examples

Using MACC services: Show case on use of GFAS for biomass burning CONFIDENTIAL User organization and its tasks The Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) in collaboration with the UK Met Office. MSS is responsible for the provision of various weather information and forecast services, including the analysis and reporting of haze conditions in Singapore. It also hosts the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC), a collaboration programme between the national meteorological services of ASEAN member countries. ASMC’s primary task is the monitoring and assessment of forest fires and transboundary smoke haze affecting the ASEAN region. Contact person / name, e-mail: Christopher Gan ([email protected]), Laura Burgin ([email protected]),

User organization website: http://www.nea.gov.sg/weather-climate, http://www.metoffice.gov.uk

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick � Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases � European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV Other: GFAS fire emissions record near-real time � forecast Application conducted A DAILY FORECAST SERVICE IS OPERATED TO PROVIDE USEFUL OUTPUTS FOR THE OPERATIONAL FORECASTERS AT MSS TO ASSESS THE LIKELIHOOD OF TRANS-BOUNDARY SMOKE-HAZE IN SINGAPORE IN REAL TIME. FOR THIS SERVICE, THE LATEST MACC GFAS 1.2 DATA IS DOWNLOADED FROM MARS ON A DAILY BASIS, AND USED AS SOURCE INPUT IN THE NAME DISPERSION MODEL. PM10, APPROXIMATED FROM TOTAL PARTICULATE MATTER (TPM), WAS ASSESSED TOGETHER WITH PM2.5. THE MODEL IS RUN WITH A 96-HOUR SPIN UP AND A 48-HOUR FORECAST PERIOD. THE SETUP OF THE REAL TIME SERVICE HAS PREVIOUSLY BEEN DEVELOPED AS PART OF A COLLABORATION PROJECT BETWEEN THE ATMOSPHERIC DISPERSION AND AIR QUALITY

http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu/


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GROUP AT THE MET OFFICE AND THE HAZARD RISK AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT UNIT AT MSS. The project first determined the suitability of MACC GFAS emissions to form the source term for the Met Office’s NAME atmospheric dispersion model. A separate emissions dataset was also developed based on GFAS methodology, but using higher resolution land cover and peat maps available for Southeast Asia. ARCHIVED DATA OF HOTSPOT LOCATIONS WITH THEIR EMISSIONS OF PM10, PM2.5 AND VALUES OF INJECTION HEIGHT WERE USED AS SOURCES IN NAME TO STUDY THE SEVERE HAZE EVENT IN SINGAPORE IN JUNE 2013. Results and major findings IN THE ANALYSIS OF THE JUNE 2013 EVENT, THE GFAS-DRIVEN NAME MODEL WAS FOUND TO AGREE WELL WITH OBSERVATIONS WITH A FACTOR OF 2 SCALING APPLIED, PARTICULARLY FOR THE PEAK OF THE HAZE EVENT. CLOUD COVER MAY HAVE OBSCURED HOTSPOT OBSERVATIONS BY MODIS IN THE TAILS OF THE HAZE EVENT, LEADING TO LOWER EMISSION VALUES IN THE GFAS DATA. A DAILY FORECASTING SERVICE OF SMOKE-HAZE WAS THEN SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENTED BASED ON THE NAME DISPERSION MODEL WITH MACC GFAS SOURCE INPUT. A BIAS-CORRECTION ROUTINE WAS DEVELOPED TO SCALE THE RAW MODEL OUTPUT ACCORDING TO RECENT LOCAL OBSERVATIONS. THE BIAS-CORRECTED TIME SERIES AND MAPS OF CONCENTRATION PLUMES PROVIDE MSS FORECASTERS WITH an early signal of possible smoke haze activity in the region and quantitative predictions of PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations. The model outputs complement other information used within MSS for the monitoring and prediction of transboundary smoke haze. Recommendations The project is looking forward to making use of the next release of GFAS which will hopefully include higher resolution land cover data with better representation of peatland areas. The planned updates to conversion and emission factors in the next version should also help to improve the system’s forecast skill. The information provided on MACC’s website is generally very helpful e.g. the technical data here: https://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu/about/project_structure/input_data/d_fire/ProductsInMARS/ However, the project also makes use of the early assimilation cycle products which do not appear to be documented on these pages. Global Fire Monitoring publications webpage has also been useful as it provides one central location for papers and reports, with access to pdf versions.


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Using MACC services: Managing a national pollution crisis User organization and its tasks The French Ministry for environment, sustainable development and energy is responsible for managing environmental crisis on national level. In addition to national tools (Prevair, Chimere) the ministry requires European standardized tools for forecasting and analysis of air pollution events. Contact person / name, e-mail: Hubert Holin, [email protected]

User organization website: http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick � Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases x European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV � Other � record � near-real time x forecast Application conducted In March 2014 a major pollution episode covered large parts of France. In order to manage this environmental crisis forecasting of atmospheric pollutant concentrations was required, so that optimal mitigation measures could be taken. In this phase MACC European ensemble forecasts were used together with national forecasts and source receptor analysis.

Fig. 1: MACC forecast of PM10 during the episode (left) and view over Paris (right)

http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/



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Results and major findings Based on the forecasting and analysis of the event a combination of measures was considered most effective and implemented by decision of the national government. The measures affected the industrial sector (stopping or limiting work in some plants, delaying some operations), the residential sector (firewood burning for heating or pleasure forbidden), the agricultural sector (request to delay the spreading of fertilizers, strictly no derogation to the open air burning of agricultural waste), the transport sector (alternated traffic, speed limit, no trucks in Paris, tighter controls, free car parking, free metro, velib and autolib), communication. The European forecasts served to better understand long-range transport from outside the country, to estimate the reliability of forecasts by using the ensemble spread as measure of its uncertainty and to back up the national modelling with a European standard.

Tab. 1: Results of mitigation measures Fig. 2: Measures implemented during the crisis Recommendations The timely availability of reliable pollutant concentration forecasts was key to enable fast decisions and implementing measures early enough to achieve maximum possible effects. Online source receptor analysis on national and regional level from AMCC would be very helpful. For a national ministry it was key to complement the national tools with a European standard for quality assurance and to document the European dimension of the episode. MACC ensemble validation is a key requirement to be able to base governance decisions on the forecasts. Further information

Link to application: http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr

http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/


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Using MACC services: Show case on MACC-RAD User organization and its tasks Ulm University of Applied Science is a high education facility from the state of Baden Württemberg in southern Germany. The research at IEA deals with decentralized energy systems, process data management and electric drives. Research field related to MACC-RAD is the post-processing of the data to electric power feed-in of photovoltaic systems and their response to the electric low voltage grid. The purpose of the approach developed in the European research projects ENDORSE (Grant agreement no: 262892) and OrPHEuS (Grant agreement no: 608930) is the calculation of electric grid parameters using irradiance data from Meteosat Second Generation weather satellites. The connections are distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems connected to the distribution grids and their influence to grid parameters e.g. load flow direction, voltage drop and equipment utilization. The key requirements to MACC are the temporal resolution of at least 15 minutes and the simultaneity over a spatial area. Furthermore, important is a high accuracy of the calculated irradiance. Contact person / name, e-mail: Holger Ruf, [email protected]

User organization website: www.hs-ulm.de

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick � Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases � European Air Quality X Solar radiation and UV X Other X record X near-real time � forecast Application conducted MACC-RAD is used for the method development and validation of the calculation scheme for calculating grid parameters in electric distribution grids with a high share of photovoltaic system. The power feed-in of PV increase the voltage at the point of interconnection while the responsible distribution system operator (DSO) has to ensure the voltage in the tolerance band according to the standard EN 50160. Furthermore, depending on the ratio of PV feed-in power and load reversal load flows occur and has to be respected in the grid control schemes. The spatial resolution is approximately 600 x 600 m. For the irradiance data, required input parameters are information on global (GHI), diffuse (DHI) and direct (BHI) irradiances on the horizontal planes delivered by MACC-RAD. Ambient temperature and wind speed are delivered by the meteorological station. The PV system simulation uses the calculated tilted and direct/diffuse split irradiances and the ambient temperature to calculate the cell temperature reducing the efficiency of the PV array. However, it is assumed that temperature and wind speed could be also used from MACC. This will be investigated in future work.



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The calculated 15 minute averages of the feed-in active power of the individual PV system are validated against the 15 minute averages of the active power measurement from the feed-in smart meters of 12 PV systems and at the transformer station.

Schematic study setup for simulation of the medium-to-low voltage transformer load flow. The irradiance time-series is provided by MACC-RAD, PV and load data from the DSO. Results and major findings The study shows the opportunity to compute PV feed-in power and load flows on transformers in low voltage grids (area several hundred meters) using data provided by MACC (mainly irradiance). The results show sufficient statistical values (mainly root-mean-squared error and mean error) for both PV feed-in power and load flow according to interviewed DSOs. Further developments and improvements are possible and foreseen. The usefulness of these improvements will be discussed with several DSOs. The main benefit of using data provided by MACC is the independence to ground-based measurements and the corresponding effort of operate and maintain in-situ measurements. Recommendations The available reports are very helpful for deeper understanding of the provided services. The access to the data by the website (www.soda-pro.de) was well for this study. The access by WebGIS was not used. The validation information was helpful to compare the basic data validation with other European areas and determine that no local effects occur in this study. Further information Publication(s): in preparation

http://www.soda-pro.de/


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Using MACC services: Show case on Project Uncertweb User organization and its tasks NILU (Norwegian Institute for Air Research). NILU performs research in the areas of atmospheric composition, air quality, hazardous substances and climate change. Based on its research, NILU markets integrated services and products within the analytical, monitoring and consulting sectors. NILU is concerned with increasing public awareness about climate change and environmental pollution. The project Uncertweb (Uncertainty enabled model web) aimed to create an internet infrastructure made of model components that could then be combined and chained through web services to allow model simulations. The respective results would be used in the study of model simulations uncertainty. NILU participated in providing an exemplar of the technology in the field of Air Quality Forecasting. MACC Regional Air Quality Ensemble provides background concentrations in the cities of Oslo and Rotterdam. MACC requisites to this study was to provide 3-day forecast data in the cities of Oslo and Rotterdam for NO2 and PM10. Contact person / name, e-mail: Sam-Erik Walker, [email protected]

User organization website: http://www.nilu.no/Forsiden/tabid/41/language/en-GB/Default.aspx

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick � Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases ■ European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV � Other � record � near-real time ■ forecast Application conducted The aim of the application was to provide probabilistic forecasts (up to 3 days), nowcasts and short-term forecasts (current and coming 2-3 hours) of air quality in Oslo and Rotterdam with the consideration of uncertainty contributions from meteorology, emissions, and boundary conditions. To achieve this, a model chain was set up, delivering output from a synoptic scale weather forecasting system (ECMWF) to a mesoscale meteorological model (TAPM), which in turn provided urban scale meteorological fields as input to an urban and local scale air quality model for Oslo and Rotterdam (EPISODE). Additional inputs to the EPISODE model include emissions produced with the PC-based Air Quality Information System at NILU (AirQUIS2003) and background concentrations from the MACC Regional Air Quality Ensemble. To represent uncertainty it was created for each input a respective ensemble defining a probability function.



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In the specific case of the background conditions for EPISODE, the ensemble was created by using for each city a data point for each model that is included in the MACC ensemble. The mean and the standard deviation are calculated and they serve as the basis to create a probability density function (PDF) using a cube-root transformation. The PDF is normally distributed with the mean and the standard deviation of the MACC ensemble. The PDF is used in a large set of EPISODE simulations to represent the contribution of the boundary concentrations to the overall model simulations uncertainty. Figure 1 shows results for both cities.

Figure 1 – Observations (blue line) and composite of results from forecasting simulations in Rotterdam (3rd day of 3-day forecasts) (left) and in Oslo (2nd day of 2-day forecasts) (right) for NO2 (µg/m3). Results and major findings Overall, the forecasting system produced probabilistic predictions of meteorology and air quality, which were in good agreement with available observations, albeit being of a somewhat under-dispersive and biased nature. For future improvement of the system, statistical post-processing of the ensemble needs to be added, in order for the ensemble predictions to be probabilistically calibrated. The MACC ensemble of regional scale background concentrations added to the overall level and uncertainty of the urban and local concentrations in a realistic way. Recommendations The MACC data we used were made manually for us at Meteo-France specifically for our project. In the future, we would like the ensemble data (for all compounds and models) for a specific geographic area and time-period to be available directly via the web. We did not use the documentation on the web, but got information directly from Meteo-France via email. We did not use the validation information per se in our case. Further information Publication(s): Walker, S.-E., Denby, B.D., Castell, N., Pross, B., Cornford, D. (2014) Ensemble based probabilistic forecasting of air quality in Oslo and Rotterdam. Submitted to Environmental Modelling & Software, April 2014. Link to application: http://ww.uncertweb.org


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Using MACC services: Show case on Scenario Analysis Study User organization and its tasks NILU (Norwegian Institute for Air Research). NILU performs research in the areas of atmospheric composition, air quality, hazardous substances and climate change. Based on its research, NILU markets integrated services and products within the analytical, monitoring and consulting sectors. NILU is concerned with increasing public awareness about climate change and environmental pollution. MACC provided the boundary conditions to the air quality dispersion model EPISODE in the framework of a scenario analysis study for the region of Oslo and Bærum in Norway. MACC requisites were to have boundary conditions data for the year 2013 in the region around Oslo and Bærum to the height of circa 3.5km. The data should have hourly frequency for the compounds NO (or NOx), NO2, O3, PM10, and PM2.5. Because NO or NOx data did not exist, it was assumed for the purpose of the simulations and for the boundary conditions that [NOx] = [NO2]. Contact person / name, e-mail: Gabriela Sousa Santos, [email protected]


MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick � Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases ■European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV � Other ■ record � near-real time � forecast Application conducted The scenario analysis study for Oslo and Bærum prepared in 2014 intended to reevaluate an action plan prepared in 2010. This was prompted by signals that this action plan for 2010 was not being effective, like the fact that yearly means of NO2 were not reduced and continued exceeding the limit values. Moreover, in some years hourly NO2 also exceeded the legislative limits. In 2013, it was also measured exceedances of the daily mean for PM10 for the first time since 2006. The MACC Regional Air Quality Ensemble data for the entire year of 2013 was retrieved by request from MeteoFrance. It was acquired in files with hourly data, with 8 vertical levels (0 to 2000 meters) and horizontal resolution of 0.1° × 0.1° in its European domain (see Figure 1). The files contained concentrations (µg/m3) for CO, SO2, NO2, O3, PM10, and PM2.5. The last four chemical species are used. These data are interpolated using a weighted four-point



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bilinear interpolation to a 1km × 1km horizontal resolution, and a linear interpolation is done from the 8 MACC levels to the 11 EPISODE levels (0 to 3500 meters) to produce boundary conditions around and above the EPISODE domains. Results were produced for NO2, NOx, PM10, and PM2.5 (an example in Figure 2).

Figure 1 – The MACC domain downloaded for use in the Scenario Analysis for Oslo and Bærum.

Figure 2 – Source Allocation for PM10 (relative contribution in percent) in the receptor point of Aakebergveien (in the city of Oslo) for each week in the year 2013. Yellow – Background concentrations contribution; Blue – Biomass Burning; Green – Traffic; Red – Other sources. Results from the air dispersion model EPISODE. Results and major findings Boundary conditions are very important for the air quality levels gotten from the model. As shown in Figure 2, the contribution of background concentrations to PM10 levels during the


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year of 2013 is in the range of 10-60%. The same holds for PM2.5. For NO2, the contribution of background concentrations is around 10% (not shown). In the case of NO2, another level of importance is set by the background concentrations of O3, which anchor the NO2 levels. This is due to the fact that in EPISODE we assume the photochemical steady-state. From the Scenario Analysis, we concluded that the two dominant challenges in reducing air pollution levels in Oslo and Bærum relate to 1) the volume of traffic and 2) the fuel used by the vehicles. A set of measures were defined to be implemented from 2015 to 2020 as, for example:

1. different fees to enter in the city according to vehicle type; 2. decrease of speed limits in all roads; 3. Increase public transport offer; 4. Increase parking fees in the city; 5. Optimize the operation of the ventilation towers in tunnels; 6. Etc.

A different strategy of defining the boundary conditions for EPISODE is to use the values in a background measuring station. This option contains no information of the spatial-time variation in the transport from the boundary into the model domain. Therefore, MACC allows more information in the input data fed to EPISODE. Recommendations We would like to be able to cut the MACC domain available in a smaller portion as we only need the area surrounding Norway. Further information Publication(s): https://www.baerum.kommune.no/Documents/Tiltaksutredning%20for%20luftkvalitet%20i%20Oslo%20og%20B%C3%A6rum%202015-2020.pdf

https://www.baerum.kommune.no/Documents/Tiltaksutredning%20for%20luftkvalitet%20i%20Oslo%20og%20B%C3%A6rum%202015-2020.pdf

https://www.baerum.kommune.no/Documents/Tiltaksutredning%20for%20luftkvalitet%20i%20Oslo%20og%20B%C3%A6rum%202015-2020.pdf


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Using MACC services: Show case on Project Hubei User organization and its tasks NILU (Norwegian Institute for Air Research). NILU performs research in the areas of atmospheric composition, air quality, hazardous substances and climate change. Based on its research, NILU markets integrated services and products within the analytical, monitoring and consulting sectors. NILU is concerned with increasing public awareness about climate change and environmental pollution. MACC provides the boundary conditions to the regional chemistry-transport model EMEP MSC-W in China which operates within a forecast system for the city of Wuhan. EMEP MSC-W is run in a 1-way nesting and the MACC data is used in the larger scale run which then provides the boundary conditions to EMEP MSC-W in the smaller-scale run. The latter run in turn provides boundary conditions to the air quality dispersion model EPISODE, which provides the air quality forecast at the urban level. MACC requisites are to make available frequent forecasting data for the period of minimum 72hours for the geographical area around China and the troposphere region. The compounds used are SO2, SO4, NO, NO2, HNO3, PAN, O3, CH2O, C2H6, CH4, isoprene, CO, seasalt (fine and coarse), dust (fine and coarse). Contact person / name, e-mail: Gabriela Sousa Santos, [email protected]


MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick ■ Global Aerosol ■ Global Reactive Gases ■ Global Greenhouse Gases � European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV � Other � record � near-real time ■ forecast

Data comes from MOZART-3.5 at the Juelich server. Application conducted Within the Hubei project framework it was established an air quality forecast system for the city of Wuhan in the Hubei region (China). The main objective was to provide a tool for early warning of predicted pollution episodes. Secondarily, it was intended to work as an example of such a system in the region, which can be extended to other cities in Hubei. The system focus on criteria components, such as SO2, NOx, PM10, PM2.5, CO and Ozone. MACC provides the data for the mother domain in the 1-way nest system in which EMEP MSC-W is run (see Figure 1). The MACC product is the MOZART (version 3.5) 5-day forecast from 00 UTC (3-hourly frequency) that is retrieved from Juelich MACC WCS server



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http://ows-server.iek.fz-juelich.de/MACC_fnyp_fc-3hourly_ModelLevel?service=WCS&request=GetCapabilities. The data has a spatial resolution of 1.1°×1.1°.with 47 vertical layers with a hybrid coordinate system (ƞ-coordinates). Internal routines in the EMEP MSC-W take care of vertical and horizontal interpolation of the boundary input data. Figure 2 contains an example of the data produced by EMEP MSC-W. The inner Hubei nest has the resolution of 0.1° whereas the outer domain has the resolution of 0.5°.

Figure 1 – The two nest domains for EMEP MSC-W (boundaries in red). From http://emep.int/publ/reports/2013/EMEP_status_report_1_2013.pdf.


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Figure 2 – EMEP MSC-W mode forecast of maximum ozone 27 June 2013 in China. From http://emep.int/publ/reports/2013/EMEP_status_report_1_2013.pdf Results and major findings The new air quality forecasting system for the Wuhan city provides air quality information in the next 48 hours to authorities and subsequently to the public. For the cities with medium or low resources and knowledge in air quality modelling as is the case in Hubei, the air quality system is an important tool: 1) it allows the users to try to understand and improve their emission inventories for modelling purposes; 2) to understand the existing monitoring data; 3) it gives the knowledge about the relative importance of sources; 4) it gives awareness of the air quality situation. This provide an innovative solution in the region which has severe air quality problems. The alternative to using MACC boundary conditions for EMEP MSC W in China is the use of simple functions to prescribe concentrations in terms of latitude and time of the year and day. As an example of this, ozone 3-D fields specified from climatological ozone-sonde data, modified monthly against clean air surface observations. The MACC forecast provides better boundaries, because it includes more information. More specifically, it is difficult to take into account the transboundary air pollutions from outside of China, such as inter-continental transport, sand storms, Asian Brown Clouds etc. without a global scale air quality forecasting model. Using MACC forecasting products enable the system to include such large scale contribution as input, which in turn improves the EMEP MSC W model performance and ultimately the forecasting results.


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Using MACC services: Show case on Bedre Byluft project User organization and its tasks NILU (Norwegian Institute for Air Research). NILU performs research in the areas of atmospheric composition, air quality, hazardous substances and climate change. Based on its research, NILU markets integrated services and products within the analytical, monitoring and consulting sectors. NILU is concerned with increasing public awareness about climate change and environmental pollution. MACC provides the boundary conditions to the air quality dispersion model EPISODE. In the project Bedre Byluft, forecasts of air quality are produced for several Norwegian cities. The main objective is to give early warning of predicted pollution episodes to the authorities and the public. MACC requisites are to make available frequent forecasting data for the period of minimum 72 hours for the geographical area of Norway to the height of circa 3.5km. The necessary compounds are NO (or NOx), NO2, O3, PM10, and PM2.5. Contact person / name, e-mail: Ingrid Sundvor, [email protected] User organization website: http://www.nilu.no/Forsiden/tabid/41/language/en-GB/Default.aspx

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick � Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases ■European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV � Other � record � near-real time ■forecast Application conducted The Bedre Byluft project is a long standing forecast system for a group of Norwegian cities: Oslo, Drammen, Grenland, Stavanger, Bergen and Trondheim. The MACC Regional Air Quality Ensemble data are automatically downloaded from the MeteoFrance server. They are downloaded in files with hourly data (3-day forecasts), with 8 vertical levels (0 to 2000 meters) and horizontal resolution of 0.1° × 0.1° in its European domain (see Figure 1). The files contain concentrations (µg/m3) for CO, SO2, NO2, O3, PM10, and PM2.5. The last four chemical species are used. These data are interpolated using a weighted four-point bilinear interpolation to a 1km × 1km horizontal resolution, and a linear interpolation is done from the 8 MACC levels to the 11 EPISODE levels (0 to 3500 meters) to produce boundary conditions around and above the EPISODE domains. The forecast is produced for NO2, PM10, and PM2.5 (an example in Figure 2).



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Figure 1 – The MACC Regional Air Quality Ensemble domain downloaded in the project Bedre Byluft.

Figure 2 – A Bedre Byluft forescast for NO2 in Oslo (surface concentrations in µg/m3). The circles contain the model results for the points corresponding to the existing monitoring stations. Results and major findings The model results are valuable information for the forecasters and the authorities. They have risen the awareness of pollution and its causes in Norwegian cities.


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A different strategy of defining the boundary conditions for EPISODE is to use the values in a background measurement station. This option contains no information of the spatial-time variation in the transport from the boundary into the model domain. Therefore, MACC allows more information in the input data fed to EPISODE. Recommendations We use the MACC RAQ Ensemble boundary conditions, which are produced for the European domain. However, we only need data for Norway. In this way, we would like to be able to define the boundaries of the data for retrieval, similar to what is done for the MACC global forecast product. Further information Publication(s): http://met.no/filestore/METreport-23_2013.pdf (This report marks the point from when MACC boundary conditions started to be used in Bedre Byluft. It contains an evaluation of this introduction. The report is in Norwegian)

http://met.no/filestore/METreport-23_2013.pdf


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Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on European air quality public information User organization and its tasks ObsAIRve provides easy and intuitive information on air quality using MACC European ensemble (model maps) together with ground-based EEA AIRBASE (station) input data and (where available) higher resolved maps e.g. from PASODOBLE downstream service. MACC data provide the European coverage background information. The key requirement from MACC is a stable data delivery of forecast ground level air pollutant concentration maps (analysis and forecast from ensemble and individual models) for O3, PM, NO2 and further pollutants if available. Contact person / name, e-mail: Matthias Baron, [email protected]

User organization website: http://www.gaf.de

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick � Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases X European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV � Other � record x near-real time x forecast Application conducted MACC-II data were acquired routinely. ObsAIRve converted the air pollutant concentrations into the Common Air Quality Index for dissemination to non-experts. A specific Service Level Agreement was signed between GAF (for ObsAIRve) and MeteoFrance (forMACC-II). Accordingly MACC-II data were routinely made available in GRIB format via ftp to GAF and used for delivering the ObsAIRve service (lay web information and mobile device app).

ObsAIRve website and mobile app to disseminate non-expert European air quality information (index) based inter alia on MACC-II input. Results and major findings



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After some initial problems the AMCC-II service delivery was stable and communication with the service provider improved significantly. Service delivery was extended based on requests made among others by ObsAIRve (extended forecast length from 72 to 96 hours to support timely post-processing, extended European coverage). MACC-II provided the essential all-Europe coverage with daily air quality analysis and forecasts. MACC-II provided “Perfect performance w.r.t. timely availability”. Recommendations Establish service-oriented OGC-compliant access to MACC products (WMS, WCS) Note: MACC established in the meantime such an OGC interface for the ensemble products. A notification service was established about updates in service delivery which was very helpful. Further information Publication(s): “Using MACC-II regional forecasts in mobile applications” at http://www.copernicus-atmosphere.eu/events/userworkshop/presentations/ Link to application: http://obsairve.eu

http://obsairve.eu/


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Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on global carbon assessment User organization and its tasks The Global Carbon Project (GCP) was established in 2001 in recognition of the large scientific challenges and critical nature of the carbon cycle for Earth's sustainability. The scientific goal of the project is to develop a complete picture of the global carbon cycle, including both its biophysical and human dimensions together with the interactions and feedbacks between them. The key requirement is the provision of a best quality CO2 inversion datasets Contact person / name, e-mail: Frederic Chevallier, [email protected]

User organization website: http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/index.htm

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick � Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases x Global Greenhouse Gases � European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV � Other x record � near-real time � forecast Application conducted A MACC-II CO2 inversion dataset was selected by the Global Carbon Project for its preliminary synthesis for IPCC AR5 and its Global Carbon Atlas.

MACC-II CO2 inversion from in the Global Carbon Atlas



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Results and major findings The Global Carbon Atlas is a platform to explore and visualize the most up-to-date data on carbon fluxes resulting from human activities and natural processes. MACC-II contributed its CO2 inversion datasets to this atlas. The MACC-II dataset was selected on the basis of its scientific quality as one of the datasets usable for the atlas and the IPCC synthesis report. Recommendations Validation of the MACC-II dataset against ICOS measurements was crucial to allow its inclusion into the analysis conducted by the Global Carbon Project. Further information Publications: Benjamin Poulter, David Frank, Philippe Ciais, Ranga B. Myneni, Niels Andela, Jian Bi, Gregoire Broquet, Josep G. Canadell, Frederic Chevallier, Yi Y. Liu, Steven W. Running, Stephen Sitch & Guido R. van der Werf, Contribution of semi-arid ecosystems to interannual variability of the global carbon cycle, Nature, 509, 600-603, 2014, doi:10.1038/nature13376 Link to application: http://www.carbonatlas.org

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v509/n7502/full/nature13376.html%23auth-1















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Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on state of the climate reporting User organization and its tasks NOAA publishes an Annual State of the Climate Report For the report NOAA requires global datasets of atmospheric variables, i. a. aerosols and fire occurrence. Contact person / name, e-mail:

User organization website: http://www.noaa.gov

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick x Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases � European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV x Other: Global Fire x record � near-real time � forecast Application conducted MACC-II global datasets were used in three subsequent years of the NOAA State of the Climate Report published in BAMS.

MACC-II datasets used in the NOAA State of the Climate Reports 2010-2012 (upper: total aerosol optical depth 2003-2010, lower: biomass burning carbon emissions anomaly 2010 against 2003-2009)



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Results and major findings Good support was provided by MACC-II in using its datasets. MACC-II datasets were used because of their well documented quality and reliability. Recommendations Proven quality was a prerequisite for allowing the use of the datasets in this annual report on the climate. Further information Publication(s): A. Benedetti, J. W. Kaiser, and J.-J. Morcrette. [Global Climate] Aerosols [in "State of the Climate in 2011"]. BAMS, 93(2): 44-46, 2012 Kaiser et al. in "State of the Climate in 2011", BAMS 2010, 2011, 2012 Link to application: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/bams-state-of-the-climate/


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Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on stratospheric ozone monitoring User organization and its tasks The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It is the UN system's authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth's atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources. WMO requires annual datasets on the state of atmosphere, in this case particularly on the stratospheric ozone layer. Contact person / name, e-mail: Geir Braathen, [email protected]

User organization website: http://www-wmo.int

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick � Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases � European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV x Other: Stratospheric ozone x record � near-real time x forecast Application conducted Within its Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) program WMO issues an annual Antarctic Ozone Bulletin in which it publishes different datasets on the stratospheric ozone layer. MACC stratospheric ozone data used in the WMO Antarctic Ozone Bulletin



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Results and major findings MACC model data were used in comparison to other datasets (e.g. MLS satellite) and for demonstrating forecasting capabilities. The MACC-II results were displayed on the title page of the ozone bulletin 372012. MACC datasets (forecasts) were also valuable to time the release of ozone sonds. Recommendations The regular availability of MACC-II datasets for the annual reporting is valuable and should be continued. Further information Publication(s): WMO Antarctic Ozone Bulletin Link to application: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/gaw/ozone/


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Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on flight campaign support User organization and its tasks The UK MetOffice operates FAAM, the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements to provide an aircraft measurement platform for use by all the UK atmospheric research community on campaigns throughout the world. MACC-II atmospheric composition forecasts are needed to conduct detailed planning of airborne measurement campaigns. For this purpose the key requirement for MACC-II forecasts is their timely availability. Contact person / name, e-mail: James Haywood, [email protected]

User organization website: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick � Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases � European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV x Other: Fire emmissions � record � near-real time x forecast Application conducted MACC and MACC-II have provided regular forecasts and custom products for scientific users conducting and analyzing scientific (aircraft) field campaigns. As one example we show here the SAMBBA campaign (South AMerican Biomass Burning Analysis, 9/2012) planning conducted by UKMO.

Extract from SAMBBA flight planning document



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Results and major findings MACC-II aerosol forecasts were very useful and accurate and allowed suitable planning of the measurement campaign. Note: Based on early experiences with flight campaign support MACC-II provides now a dedicated website (see below) to register requests for campaign support. Further campaigns supported were: POLARCAT (EU), HIPPO (NSF/NCAR), FENNEC (NERC), CARDEX (UCSD), MOCCA test flights (UKMO), DC3 (NASA/NSF/DLR), TRAQA (CNES/CNRS) TCAP (NASA/BNL), ACCESS, SAMBBA (NERC/NCAS) Recommendations “Thanks so much for these [forecasts] - they've been very useful - it looks as though the forecasts were pretty good. Unfortunately, it looks just abit too far away from the aircraft for us to make a dedicated flight into it. It's a very near miss though!” Further information Publication(s): Link to application: http://www.faam.ac.uk/index.php/current-future-campaigns/171-sambba-south-american-biomass-burning-analysis http://www.copernicus-atmosphere.eu/services/aqac/campaign_support/

http://www.faam.ac.uk/index.php/current-future-campaigns/171-sambba-south-american-biomass-burning-analysis

http://www.faam.ac.uk/index.php/current-future-campaigns/171-sambba-south-american-biomass-burning-analysis

http://www.copernicus-atmosphere.eu/services/aqac/campaign_support/


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Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on downstream air quality services User organization and its tasks PASODOBLE is the GMES downstream service project for air quality. It uses MACC-II input as background conditions for nesting to finer spatial scales. The key requirement for MACC-II input was a reliable daily forecast of air pollutant concentration fields; furthermore needed emission inventory, satellite aerosol, UV forecast. Contact person / name, e-mail: Thilo Erbertseder, [email protected]

User organization website: http://www.dlr.de

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick � Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases x European Air Quality x Solar radiation and UV x Other: satellite aerosol, emission inventory � record � near-real time x forecast Application conducted Overall PASODOBLE consists of 35 regional and local services in the domains of public forecasting and assessment, health community support and compliance monitoring support. It was central to implement a nesting chain from global modeling via European modeling (both in MACC-II) down to finer regional and local scales suitable for the different applications in the health, traffic, tourism, and environment sectors. MACC daily forecasts were acquired via ftp and disseminated inside PASODOBLE to the individual services.

Map of PASODOBLE regional and local air quality downstream services nested in MACC-II and nesting chain from MACC-II via Airsheds to regional/local services



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Results and major findings MACC-II daily air pollutant concentration forecasts were routinely made available and used as boundary conditions / initialization for the different airsheds (finer resolved pan-European regions as mother nest for the regional and local services). Issues were found with the set of parameters provided, since each model used in the local / regional services has different set-ups of the chemical scheme and vertical grid / regional coverage: Available from MACC-II were O3, NO2, PM10, SO2 and CO. Can we use some species from MACC ensemble and other species from somewhere else e.g. one ensemble member of MACC? Highest priority would be the addition of (but this depends on model / chemical scheme used and region): O2, Na (coarse and fine), part. SO4, ethene. PAN, HNO3, ISO. Many species and vertical levels are required (otherwise a complex nesting approach needs to be developed), but limited possibilities because of transfer and storage capacities. In future: possible extension of MACC ensemble data with additional species and levels. Timeliness: two nesting steps require availability of MACC data very early in morning => not possible, therefore use of yesterday's MACC forecast (for compensation, forecast length should be extended from 3 to 4 days). Recommendations In order to allow full nesting of the regional air quality models it was recommended to provide better vertical resolution, more species, especially aerosol speciation and extend the area further South/East to cover the Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Note: The MACC-II ensemble forecast was updated based on PASODOBLE request to increase the area (including Black Sea), to extend the forecast length from 72 to 96 hours (which allows earlier invocation of PASODOBLE services in the morning based on the additional forecast day). Additional species were added: PM2.5 and recently 4 new chemical species (NO, NH3, non-methane VOC, PANs). Furthermore, 4 supplementary vertical levels were added (50m, 250m, 2000m, 5000m) A working group was suggested at the User Advisory Board to work out a practical solution on the mostly needed further species. Overall PASODOBLE confirmed an excellent working relation with MACC-II including a continuous flow and exchange of information. Further information Publication(s): PASODOBLE Core Service Evaluation Report Link to application: http://www.myair.eu/


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Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on local air quality information User organization and its tasks Within the PASODOBLE nesting chain the airTEXT service provides public information for vulnerable people on air quality for Greater London. MACC-II air pollutant concentration forecasts are needed as boundary conditions. Contact person / name, e-mail: Paul Clift, [email protected]

User organization website: http://www.islington.gov.uk

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick � Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases x European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV � Other � record � near-real time � forecast Application conducted airTEXT is the air quality forecasting service for London, operated by CERC on behalf of the airTEXT consortium, a group of organisations including UK Environment Agency, Health Protection Agency, Greater London Authority (GLA) and all Greater London local authorities airTEXT provides free air quality alerts direct to over 7000 subscribers airTEXT was initially developed in 2007 under ESA-funded PROMOTE, and supported by further funding from FP7 PASODOBLE, UK National Government (DEFRA), the GLA and all the Greater London Local Authorities Through the PASODOBLE nesting chain airTEXT is based on MACC-II ensemble forecasts.

airTEXT website and mobile device targeted information for subscribers (health information)

http://www.islington.gov.uk/



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Results and major findings Assessing the direct impact of MACC-II is difficult since it enters the processing chain at the very beginning of several steps. However, it is well-known that long-range transport of pollution plays a significant role and needs to be covered – this is why a European enst embedded in a global transport model is needed. Although airTEXT received MACC-Ii data through PASODOBLE, they also interacted with MACC-II as the project preparing the long-term sustainable Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service directly. Recommendations The key requirement is the long-term sustainable availability of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, so that downstream users can rely on its provision and build their application on its basis. The interface between MACC-II output and the service at the end of the chain needs to utilize up-to-date interface technology. Note: The “interface to core” within PASODOBLE, which provided this harmonized access to the MACC-II output (namely the ensemble forecasts) was transferred into MACC-II (WP142) during period 2 of MACC-II, so that users have now access to the ensemble forecasts in OGC GIS compatible web services including INSPIRE conform metadata. Further information Publication(s): PASODOBLE User Evaluation Report Link to application: http://www.airtext.info/


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Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on using global products as boundary conditions User organization and its tasks CERC conducts air quality forecasts for China based on its experiences in Europe. Its dispersion models ADMS-Urban and ADMS-EIA (special version of ADMS-Urban) were approved for use in China by Chinese authorities; both models have a Chinese language GUI; around 100 institutes across China use ADMS-Urban or ADMS-EIA The key requirement was coverage of Chinese territory with air quality forecasts. Contact person / name, e-mail: Amy Stidworthy, [email protected]

User organization website: http://www.cerc.co.uk/

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick x Global Aerosol x Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases � European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV � Other � record � near-real time x forecast Application conducted In August 2012, CERC and CERC China were jointly awarded the contract to provide Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Centre (BMEMC) with an air quality forecasting system. As background conditions MACC-II forecasts were used (since the higher resolution regional forecasts are only available over Europe, the global forecasts were used). The Beijing system installed by CERC uses the MACC-II web coverage service (WCS) to extract data for the Beijing region.

Comparison of MACC-II global forecasts with ground-based station time series in Beijing



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Results and major findings The WCS interface system was rated as quick and efficient, allowing to only download the data required. Knowing of the limited resolution of the global MACC-II forecasts validation with several stations in the Beijing area was made. Despite of not yet using appropriate local emissions the local forecasts worked well when using MACC-II boundary conditions. Recommendations Recommendations for improvement: - SO2 is overestimated (maybe due to outdated emissions?), but NO2 and PM10 show good agreement with measured values - Nitrate should be added to the MACC-II global product Overall user assessment: “Our experience with the MACC-II global product leads us to think ADMS-Forecast can be applied anywhere in the world.” Further information Publication(s): CERC Street Level Air Quality Forecasts for Beijing Report Link to application: http://www.cerc.co.uk/air-quality-forecasting/china.html

http://www.cerc.co.uk/air-quality-forecasting/china.html


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Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on global solar irradiance services User organization and its tasks Geomodel develops and operates a SolarGIS online system which includes solar resource and meteo database, PV simulation software, data services for solar energy and PV (planning, monitoring, forecasting). Using the GIS system Geomodel provides consultancy and expert services: solar resource assessment, PV yield and performance assessment, country studies. The key requirements for MACC-II global aerosol data are global coverage and qualified accuracy. Contact person / name, e-mail: Tomas Cebecauer, [email protected]

User organization website: http://geomodelsolar.eu

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick x Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases � European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV � Other x record � near-real time � forecast Application conducted Within the SolarGIS system MACC-II aerosol data were used since 2009 (earlier GEMS and MACC data were used), feedback was given regularly and improvements implemented by MACC-II were assessed.

Solargis website showing the consultancy services offered by Geomodel

mailto:[email protected]

http://geomodelsolar.eu/



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Results and major findings As Main positive features of MACC-II Geomodel listed: Data availability, global coverage, continuous coverage in space and time, sub-daily frequency, near-real time forecasting, good technical support. Several improvements were identified: Better day-by-day variability, improved representation of extreme situations, improved inter-annual variability. With these the solar irradiance calculations using the MACC-II data is better suited as input to financial models and planning: more precise modeling of systems with nonlinear response to the radiation, better assessment of PV mounting technologies (fixed, tracking,…), for better sizing of small autonomous systems, improved grid impact assessment & grid management Recommendations Following needs for further improvement were identified: higher spatial resolution < 1.125 (0.8) deg, reanalysis AOD for older periods 1990 – 2002, scheduled and more frequent update of reanalysis, shorter delay of NRT, forecast up to 7 days ahead. It was confirmed that MACC-II provides a stable data access with high availability. The major long-term need is for sustainability (Copernicus). Regarding quality understanding of regional quality of AOD and understanding of differences between reanalysis and NRT AOD is required. Further information Publication(s): Geomodel presentation at second MACC-II User Workshop Link to application: http://solargis.info

http://solargis.info/


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Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on downstream energy services User organization and its tasks The project ENDORSE aims at a user-driven development of downstream services in renewable energies by exploiting the GMES Core Services (MACC, SAFER and Geoland 2) together with other EO/in-situ data and modelling. It addresses regional services promoting the energy use from sun, wind, and biomass, electricity grid management and building engineering through daylighting in buildings. The consortium has teamed with relevant users to stimulate the development of sustainable and transferable downstream services. The key requirement from MACC is for surface irradiance long-term datasets. Contact person / name, e-mail: Lucien Wald, [email protected]

User organization website: http://www.endorse-fp7.eu/

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick � Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases � European Air Quality x Solar radiation and UV x Other: satellite clouds of RAD service x record � near-real time � forecast Application conducted A typical meteorological year (TMY) is one year of meteorological parameter, which is representative of a given situation (median, pessimistic or optimistic) and can be used as inputs to software to simulate the electrical yield of PV, CPV or CSP systems. It was calculated from a 10 year MACC-II irradiance dataset.

Converting a 10 year time series into a typical meteorological year.



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Results and major findings An intensive interaction with end users was conducted by ENDORSE which enabled a constant refinement of the product and the service. These are regarded as the essential conditions to develop a sustainable service. The audience has gained in skills and knowledge thanks to numerous efforts for dissemination (free training, information on the ENDORSE website, workshops, and regular exchanges via emails during the testing phase of the service). This service, developed on a local/regional scales, has successfully stimulated the service industry, i.e. potential providers of similar downstream services: regular contacts were received via the website or during conferences and fairs. Sustainable and free provision of the McClear (MACC-II RAD) service will change the market opportunities by providing free input data for more advanced applications.

Recommendations The work carried out on the inputs of the TMYs (MACC-II RAD, ground station measurements, numerical weather models and reanalyzes) has brought a good feedback and enabled improvements of EO data and GMES products in renewable energies area. The careful inspection of the market has enabled the development of a clear price strategy for the following year (this is the typical planning horizon!) for MACC RAD based TMY and a derived added value calibrated TMY. An example assessment was given by the SME Transvalor: “The achievements of MACC-II are a major opportunity for SMEs to do business in the domain of solar energy and represent multiple possibilities for enhancing their current services provided to their customers.” Further information Publication(s): ENDORSE presentation at MACC-II / GMES-PURE user workshop Link to application: http://www.endorse-fp7.eu/


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Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on solar resource assessment in the Middle East User organization and its tasks An accurate estimate of a site solar resource is as important to a “Solar Energy investor” as the assessment of a reservoir capacity is to an Oil investor. The general objective of the PREDISOL Project is to develop a model that allows the use of satellite imagery for accurate assessment of solar resource potentials of specific locations in the Arabian Peninsula for which current models are especially weak. MACC aerosol data are needed in Arabia. Contact person / name, e-mail: Armel Oumbe, [email protected]

User organization website: http://total.com

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick x Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases � European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV � Other x record � near-real time � forecast Application conducted AOD datasets provided from MACC-II were first validated against ground-based AEROENT stations in the Arabian region. An empirical linear correction was developed so that the AOD data could then be used to calculate surface solar irradiance.

AOD and irradiance assessment during PREDISOL project.



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Results and major findings Overall, MACC AOD overestimates the measured AOD by 26% in the United Arab Emirates. Radiative Transfer Model (RTM) libRadtran to simulate the propagation of solar radiation through the atmosphere was used to calculate global (GHI) and direct (DNI) irradiances. The error on MACC AODs may lead to low deviation on GHI (bias 3%, RMS 5%), but to high deviation on DNI (bias 12%, RMS 20%). Therefore, MACC AODs need to be calibrated before being used as input for irradiance calculation in the region. MACC is the most suitable source of aerosol data: the highest accurate publicly available. The performance of the McClear irradiance model is high in the Middle East. Analyses of the deviations between the MACC AOD in this region and the AERONET measurements show that they are mainly due to the coarse spatial resolution of MACC which cannot properly represent the spatial variability of the AOD in the region. The accuracy of the Predisol model - comprised of the McClear model operated with the empirically-corrected MACC AOD as input - is the best recorded in the Middle East. This work confirms the applicability of MACC products in estimating, monitoring and forecasting of the power output of solar plants. Recommendations We believe that an increase of MACC AOD spatial resolution will improve the accuracy of the Predisol irradiance model. Further information Publication(s): Presentation at MACC-II 2014 open science conference (Armel Oumbe) Link to application:


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Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on global model output for regional forecasts User organization and its tasks XAQUM is the Met Office on-line air quality forecast model which runs once per day (at around midnight). Site specific forecasts out to 5 days ahead for 5000 sites (UK daily air quality index computed from concentrations of ozone, NO2, SO2, PM10, PM2.5; no longer CO) are provided on the Met Office external website and disseminated to customers before 0400 UKMetoffice requires lateral boundary conditions from global modeling MACC -II Contact person / name, e-mail: Paul Agnew, [email protected]

User organization website: http:// www.metoffice.gov.uk/

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick x Global Aerosol x Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases � European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV � Other � record � near-real time x forecast Application conducted Real-time lateral boundary fluxes of pollutants from MACC global model were used in the UK Met Office forecasting. An observation-based bias correction scheme (simple monthly varying bias correction) was found necessary and thus applied. Two case studies were conducted to assess the impact of using MACC-II: surface ozone during London Olympics 2012 with increased pollution levels the few days prior to the opening ceremony, 2013 particulate matter episode. Validation against ground-based measurements was made.

Air quality index and PM2.5 measurements during particulate matter episode case study

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/



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Results and major findings Met Office was satisfied with MACC-II: - saves them having to develop and operate their own global model - Reliable - Generally high quality forecasts - Good communications and rapid response to feedback - Improved level of communication regarding operational changes Recommendations Nitrate aerosol as key component of European PM should be added. Forecasts out to 6 days ahead should be provided (current 5 day forecast is not available until 17:00) Verification of global model at European surface sites should be included as part of VAL reports. These VAL assessments should be used as a factor in go/no-go decision for new model configurations. Further information Publication(s): Presentation at MACC-Ii/ GMES-PURE user workshop (P. Agnew) Link to application: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/guide/weather/air-quality


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Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on use in compliance monitoring User organization and its tasks LANUV the Northrhein-Westfalia state agency for environment is responsible for reporting to the EC on its air pollution according to the EC directive 2008/50/EC. MACC European modeling is needed to help fulfill reporting obligations. Contact person / name, e-mail: Sabin Wurzler, [email protected]

User organization website: http://www.lanuv.nrw.de/

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick � Global Aerosol � Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases x European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV � Other x record � near-real time x forecast Application conducted The European air quality directives set (i.a.) several needs for reporting: Where possible modelling techniques should be applied to enable point data to be interpreted in terms of geographical distribution of concentration. This could serve as a basis for calculating the collective exposure of the population living in the area. Contributions from natural sources can be assessed but cannot be controlled. Therefore, where natural contributions to pollutants in ambient air can be determined with sufficient certainty, and where exceedances are due in whole or in part to these natural contributions, these may, under the conditions laid down in this Directive, be subtracted when assessing compliance with air quality limit values.

Possible use of MACC-II output in support of compliance reporting



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Results and major findings The possible use of MACC European model datasets as complementary source of information in this documentation obligation was demonstrated. European model results help in extending station measurements into the spatial domain of the entire state. Global aerosol forecasts help identify dust outbreaks as significant events of natural origin. Recommendations To fulfill reporting obligations MACC-II model data can provide complementary documentation, but always need to be complemented with own measurements. Further information Publication(s): Presentation at first MACC-II policy user workshop Link to application:


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Using MACC-II services: Utility Report on use by a national ministry User organization and its tasks France has global territorial presence and therefore needs global data. Air pollution crises knows no political boundaries (e.g. Eyjafjallajökull 2010 eruption, Russian 2010 forest fires, dust outbreaks) Contact person / name, e-mail: Hubert Holin

User organization website: http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/

MACC service(s) used (see http://www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) – please tick x Global Aerosol x Global Reactive Gases � Global Greenhouse Gases x European Air Quality � Solar radiation and UV x Other: episode specific forecasting support � record � near-real time x forecast Application conducted As responsible ministry information needs to be assessed and analysed to understand questions such as: - volcanic eruptions: Where is the plume? Is it safe for planes to fly? Have volcanic particles been detected at ground level? - Dust outbreaks: Saharan dusts events can cause the PM10 hourly concentrations to exceed the 50 ug/m3 threshold. They are reported to the EC as natural contributions that can be substracted from the total concentration. Wildfires: Where is the plume? Are any radio-active fallouts to be expected

MACC-II services used by French ministry for the environment



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Results and major findings Pre-operational MACC service data was instrumental in informing French policy makers. MACC enables to access: - Emission sources location - Source tracers (to feed forecast models) MACC allows an evaluation of impacted areas. Recommendations Further information Publication(s): Presentation at 1st MACC-II policy user workshop Link to application:


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References Report of 1st MACC-II / GMES-PURE User Workshop Report of 2nd MACC-II User Workshop Report of MACC-II 1st User Advisory Board Meeting Report of MACC-II Summer School Report on coordination with test users and international initiatives (RAD service) Report of MACC-II Policy User Workshop Report on MACC-III Policy User Workshop Report on MACC-III User Workshop Report on telecons of MACC-III User Advisory Board The presentations listed in each use case summary can be found at the MACC-II/MACC-III website.

User Feedback Summary Report - Copernicus · 2016. 1. 29. · Lead Beneficiary DLR (#11) Date...

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