Integrated air quality modelling for the assessment of air quality in streets against the council directives

We discuss the application of the integrated air quality model AURORA to evaluate the concentration levels of NO2, SO2, PM10 (1999/30/EC), CO and benzene (2000/69/EC) in 11 selected streets in the city of Antwerp. Together with the emission module, the analytical street box module of AURORA was used for the assessment of pollutant concentrations in street canyons. Comparisons with a measurement station located in one of the evaluated street canyons show agreements that are within the uncertainty range given by the guidelines in the EU directives, except for the NO2 concentrations. An analysis of the measured and modelled concentrations and percentiles shows that concentrations of NO2, CO and benzene vary widely from street to street, whereas for SO2 and PM10 the model results show less variation between individual streets, indicating a more important contribution from the urban and regional background.