Fifthteenth International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution

23 - 25 April 2007
Algarve, Portugal

 Overview

This successful series first started in Mexico (1993) and continued in Barcelona (1994); Halkidiki (1995); Toulouse (1996); Bologna (1997); Genova (1998); San Francisco (1999); Cambridge, UK (2000); Ancona (2001); Segovia (2002); Catania (2003); Rhodes (2004); Cordoba (2005); and New Forest (2006).

The goal of the Conference is to bring together researchers who are active in the study of air contaminants and to exchange information through the presentation and discussion of papers dealing with a wide variety of topics.

 Opening Address

Prof C. Borrego at the opening
of the conference

The meeting was opened by Prof Carlos Brebbia of WIT, who explained the activities of his Institute in the field of environmental and ecological research. Some of the most recent research refers to the effects of environmental pollution risk. WIT is also involved in a series of publishing initiatives including the new journals in the fields of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Design and Nature.

Prof Brebbia also described the new facilities on his Institute’s campus, which has resulted in an increased number of researchers working there. The facilities are also well suited to holding more courses as well as conferences at Ashurst Lodge.

The success of WIT conferences is an important activity within its knowledge transfer programme, which in great part is due to the high quality of the papers presented at meetings such as Air Pollution. Proof of this is the growing popularity of the WIT eLibrary where the conference papers are permanently archived (library.witpress.com). At present, nearly 250,000 downloads of abstracts and papers takes place each year. This extraordinary performance ensures that the work presented at WIT conferences is not lost to the international scientific community.

Prof Brebbia ended his introductory remarks by inviting the participants to discuss with him collaboration with WIT in any relevant research, training and publishing activities. WIT welcomes the visit of colleagues to its campus which is located in the New Forest National Park near Southampton in the UK.

 Keynote Address by Proffessor Jan Kretzschmar

The keynote address was given by Prof Jan Kretzschmar of VITO Research Centre in Belgium. Jan graduated as an electronic engineer at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium where he also completed a degree in nuclear engineering. His PhD thesis, also at Leuven, was entitled “Microwave heating and drying”. After these studies, he received a NASA Fellowship to undertake post-doctoral studies at the University of California in Berkeley.

He started his air pollution research at the Belgium Nuclear Energy Research Centre in 1972, after which he established the Energy Division at VITO, the Flemish Institute of Technological Research, where he is now Research Director responsible for energy, environmental and materials technology.

Jan has a long and distinguished research career with more than 150 papers and numerous communications at meetings, courses and conferences. He is now Adjunct Professor at the University of Antwerp where he teaches Air Pollution and Renewable Energy Technologies.

The title of his keynote address was “Fifty years of Air Pollution Research and Policy in the EU”. In his address, Jan mentioned that Air Pollution has been a well known problem from ancient times. The term ‘Acid Rain’ can be traced to R.A. Smith in 1872 and the first recorded ‘smog episode’ was reported in 1930 in the Meuse Valley in Belgium. The consciousness of the world was aroused by the famous London smog of 1952. From then on, systematic ambient measurements were to follow in USA (1953), London (1954), Los Angeles (1955) and many others.

Jan’s lecture covered several important points:

• The Air Pollution system

• Emissions regulations

• Ambient pollution level reductions

• Air quality standards becoming more stringent

• Widespread use of modelling

During his talk, he discussed the important progress that has taken place in Air Pollution in the last 50 years.

In the 1970s, numerical models started to be applied to solve the transport-diffusion equation. It was also then that the first photochemical models appeared. The models started to be at regional and then global scale and included meteorological fields. Since the 1980s, this work has been expanded to on-line real time forecasting, with numerical meteorological walls as important and working with complex nested models. Today a wide variety of operational models are available and modelling and monitoring go hand in hand.

Jan drew the following conclusions:

• Major reductions have been achieved and further reductions are being planned.

• The work has resulted in drastic decreases of ambient pollutant levels, although some pollutants are not yet at acceptable levels.

• Ambient monitoring and modelling tools have improved significantly and are widely used.

• Knowledge of health efforts and ecological impacts are continuously improving.

• Air quality standards and emissions reduction or abatement regulations have been widely implemented and become more stringent.

As a general conclusion, Jan said that further developments and their practical implementation will not stop today and research into how to solve new problems will certainly continue.

After Jan’s address, Prof Brebbia proceeded to award him the Eminent Scientist Award of WIT for his outstanding contribution to Environmental Sciences. This medal has been awarded annually since 1985 to scientists who have contributed to the development of different scientific disciplines and who have been instrumental in creating new centres or schools of research. The awardees are also colleagues of scientific and personal integrity.

Pictured above from left to right:
Prof J Kretzschmar, Prof C A Brebbia 
and Mrs Kretzschmar

 Conference Sessions

 The other sessions were organised in accordance with the following topics:

• Air quality management
• Emission studies
• Climate change and air pollution
• Air pollution modelling
• Monitoring and laboratory studies
• Aerosols and particles
• Indoor pollution

 Special Session

Prof Borrego organised a special session on Air Pollution in Portugal consisting of four papers following his keynote address.  The session comprised the following papers:

• “Application of TAPM to predict photochemical air pollution over Portugal”.
• “Evaluating ozone spatial distribution in Portugal using passive samplers”.
• “Composition and source apportionment of atmospheric aerosols in Portugal during the 2003 summer in the Forest Fire period”.
• “Influence of traffic on the electrical composition of PM10 and PM26 in Oporto region”.

 Invited Presentations

A number of other invited talks were given:

• “Air pollution and child respiratory diseases: the Viseu case study, Portugal”, by C Borrego, University of Aveiro, Portugal
• “Modelling of carbon monoxide dispersion along roads with the use of the finite element method”, by W Kaminski, Technical University of Lodz, Poland
• “Local scale vehicles pollution study in the absence of sufficient data: the case of the city of Thessaloniki”, by M J Assael, Aristotle University, Greece
• “Real time air quality forecasting systems for industrial plants and urban areas by using MM5-CMAQ-EMIMO”, by R San Jose, Politecnique University of Madrid, Spain
• “Biological monitoring – the useful method for estimation of air and environment quality”, by K Sawicka-Kapusta, University of Krakow, Poland.

 Conference Dinner

The Conference dinner took place in a beautifully restored home, now converted into a well known restaurant.  The dinner was accompanied by excellent Portuguese wines and a Fado ensemble played during the banquet.  Fado is a unique Portuguese music usually consisting of nostalgic songs which can express sadness or more usually the joys of life.

 ISAC Dinner

The International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC) met over dinner during the Conference to discuss the meetings to take place in the next two years.  Several possible venues were put forward for 2009 and the decision will be taken shortly.  The ISAC also discussed new topics to be covered by the Conference and the possibility of inviting new members to join the Committee. Special thanks were given to Jan Kretzschmar who is shortly to retire from VITO after a long and successful research career.  He has supported the Conference since its beginning in 1993.

 Publication of Papers

The proceedings of Air Pollution XV, 624pp (ISBN: 1-84564-067-5) are available in hard back from WIT Press priced at £195/US$355/€292.50. Orders can be placed by telephone: +44 (0) 238 029 3223, fax: +44 (0) 238 029 2853, e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or via the WIT Press web site at www.witpress.com

Papers from the conference will also be hosted online at the WIT eLibrary as volume 100 of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment (ISSN: 1743-3541). For more details visit the WIT eLibrary at www.witpress.com