AVIATION IMPACT ON LOCAL ENVIRONMENT AND LONG TERM & GLOBAL PHENOMENA

Abstract

This report represents the deliverable D2.1 of the H2020-SESAR-CREATE project “Aviation impact on local environment and long term & global phenomena” related to the work done in the WP2.1 and WP2.2.

The report describes the impact of aviation on local environment estimated through an analysis of air quality impact assessment at local scale and the quantification of emission intensity and areas of impact for different size and traffic airports. Comparison with other anthropogenic emission sectors from municipal to national scale is included, together with the relative impact of the actual practices in environmental impact assessment to estimate emissions and air quality impact at local to regional scale (considering GSE – Ground Support Equipment- activities and aircraft emissions per LTO – Landing and Take-Off-cycle). For demonstration purposes, this work was applied to the analysis of the impact of emissions from the aviation sector for the Capodichino airport (Naples), but the tools and methodology used are applicable to any other airport context.

The report describes the impact of aviation as well on long-term and global phenomena (climate) carried out by the global atmospheric composition model SILAM (System for Integrated modeLling of Atmospheric coMposition) application to simulate the effect of air traffic on the UTLS (Upper- Troposphere Lower Stratosphere) interface. UTLS is a comparatively pristine part of the atmosphere where even the spatially distributed forcing of aviation may play a significant role. Pathways were investigated for further distribution of the aircraft exhausts from UTLS to the stratosphere, where they can have significant impact on chemical composition and ozone-related chemistry. A series of simulations was performed for a period of 11 years (to cover the solar cycle period) for different scenarios of aviation development, including present-day intensity of flights, no aviation scenario, etc.