Improving the LOTOS-EUROS Dry Deposition Scheme for Mediterranean Climate Conditions
摘要
The Mediterranean houses some nitrogen-sensitive ecosystems. A lack of infrastructure to monitor nitrogen concentrations and deposition, together with a lack of policies to enforce nitrogen emission reductions poses an imminent risk, as ammonia is the most critical pollutant to fulfil emission ceiling goals in southern European countries. To solve the limitation of monitoring sites, the major part of the deposition assessments studies conducted on this topic use chemical transport models (CTM). Among these models, LOTOS-EUROS is regarded as one of the most advanced and is one of the few with a compensation point parametrization. However, applying this model to a Mediterranean area requires some adaptation since deposition parameters in the model are mostly based on studies from North-Western Europe. With this study, we aim to adapt and enhance the dry deposition module of LOTOS-EUROS by including specifications for the Mediterranean climate and vegetation. Sensitivity runs were performed for multiple vegetation and climate-specific parameters to assess which are the most influential variables for the study region. The most sensitive parameters were analysed to understand the variations. The results highlight that the vapour pressure deficit is extremely susceptible to changes. The changes in the maximum stomatal conductance induced an increase in deposition for both ozone and ammonia. This increase in deposition led to a decrease in ozone concentrations. For ammonia, an increase in deposition was registered due to the compensation point used in the model. Further testing is warranted, especially the assessment of the impacts over a longer period, among others.