Impact of the emissions of international sea traffic on airborne deposition to the Baltic Sea and concentrations at the coastline⁎

The impact of ship traffic emissions in the Baltic Sea on deposition and airborne concentrations of nitrogen and sulphur compounds in the period 2008–2011 was studied using the Hilatar chemistry transport model with a 0.068° latitude-longitude resolution. An accurate ship emission inventory based on AIS (automatic identification system) security signals was used. The uncertainty of the European emission inventories are discussed, as is an inter-comparison of the Baltic Sea airborne load and concentrations with other model-based estimates and with air quality measurements and the effect of the EU sulphur directive for ship emissions on sulphate concentrations.