Christian Asker

In 2024, SMHI published modelled national high-resolution concentrations of NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 for the year 2019. The simulations were performed using a new methodology that enabled a combination of dispersion modelling on regional, urban and street scales without double counting of emissions. With a spatial resolution as high as 50x50 m2, these results provided the most detailed description of air quality over Sweden so far.

Using the same methodology, we have now performed national simulations for the year 2023. Whereas the first project focused on developing a framework for model calculations, the aim of this project has been to further improve the model quality by improving emissions and modelling assumptions, as well as optimising calculation performance. In addition to evaluating concentrations related to the current Swedish air quality standards, we have also included the limits from the updated EU Ambient Air Quality Directive (AAQD) and the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

The emissions and model improvements include:

Better handling of street level NOx chemistry.Improved emissions data from the public power and industrial sectors as well as for the domestic and international shipping sectors.Traffic emissions data has been improved by regionalising vehicle fleets, the assumptions regarding street gritting and the date interval for changing to/from winter tyres.The model results have been validated against applicable Swedish measurement stations and show:

Significantly reduced NO2 concentrations for traffic stations compared to measurements due to model improvements. The modelled concentrations now tend towards underestimation, but with improvements in quality compared to the 2019 results.Improved quality of PM10 concentrations compared to measurements due to a number of improvements to the emission assumptions. The quality has improved particularly in northern Sweden due to regionalised assumptions regarding use of winter tyres and street gritting with sand.Similarly high quality of PM2.5 concentrations as that of the 2019 results.Overall the validation shows improved results, but still with some exceedances with regards to the RDE and RPE and/or through the MQI statistical indicators. More work is needed to improve the model quality enough for it to pass all the data quality objectives for the whole country. It is therefore important to note that more detailed local scale studies are needed to fully understand the air quality at a given location.

Generally, the highest concentrations are seen in urban environments and along major roads. The traffic sector is one of the dominating source sectors as can now also be seen in the source apportionment, a new feature implemented in this upgraded version of our modelling system.

The results from this study are meant to be used by Swedish municipalities and other organisations to help analyse and improve their assessment and mitigation of local air quality. The results have been made freely available on the SMHI web portal “Luft-webb”.