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Evolution of anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions of air pollutants at global and regional scales during the 1980–2010 period

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Abstract

Several different inventories of global and regional anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions are assessed for the 1980–2010 period. The species considered in this study are carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and black carbon. The inventories considered include the ACCMIP historical emissions developed in support of the simulations for the IPCC AR5 assessment. Emissions for 2005 and 2010 from the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) are also included. Large discrepancies between the global and regional emissions are identified, which shows that there is still no consensus on the best estimates for surface emissions of atmospheric compounds. At the global scale, anthropogenic emissions of CO, NOx and SO2 show the best agreement for most years, although agreement does not necessarily mean that uncertainty is low. The agreement is low for BC emissions, particularly in the period prior to 2000. The best consensus is for NOx emissions for all periods and all regions, except for China, where emissions in 1980 and 1990 need to be better defined. Emissions of CO need better quantification in the USA and India for all periods; in Central Europe, the evolution of emissions during the past two decades needs to be better determined. The agreement between the different SO2 emissions datasets is rather good for the USA, but better quantification is needed elsewhere, particularly for Central Europe, India and China. The comparisons performed in this study show that the use of RCP8.5 for the extension of the ACCMIP inventory beyond 2000 is reasonable, until more global or regional estimates become available. Concerning biomass burning emissions, most inventories agree within 50–80%, depending on the year and season. The large differences between biomass burning inventories are due to differences in the estimates of burned areas from the different available products, as well as in the amount of biomass burned.

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Acknowledgments

The authors greatly acknowledge the support of the MACC European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under Grant Agreement no. 218793, as well as the support of the FP7 CityZen project, under Grant Agreement no. 212095 and the FP7 PEGASOS project, under Grant Agreement 265148. We also thank the FP7 ACCENT European Network, which provided funding for meetings to develop the ACCMIP emissions dataset. The National Center for Atmospheric Research is operated by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research under sponsorship of the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in the publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The authors would like to thank Josh Drukenbrod from the US EPA for providing the most recent details on US emissions.

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Granier, C., Bessagnet, B., Bond, T. et al. Evolution of anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions of air pollutants at global and regional scales during the 1980–2010 period. Climatic Change 109, 163 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-011-0154-1

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