Modeling of Atmospheric Transport and Deposition of Heavy Metals in the Katowice Province

Uliasz, M. & Olendrzynski, K. (1996). Modeling of Atmospheric Transport and Deposition of Heavy Metals in the Katowice Province. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-96-123

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Abstract

A large part of Poland's heavy industry, notably hard coal mining, ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy and power generation, is located in the Katowice province. Therefore, this heavy industrialized region, which is populated by four million people, experiences considerable problems with air pollution. In the METKAT study launched by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis we attempt to model atmospheric depositions of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) which are among the highest in Europe.

The applied modeling approach consists of performing detailed simulations of atmospheric transport and deposition of heavy metals with horizontal grid spacing of 5 km within one 150x150 km cell of the EMEP grid covering the Katowice province. For this purpose we implemented the Lagrangian Particle Dispersion and Deposition (LPDD) model driven by two mesoscale/regional meteorological models. Preliminary deposition calculations for the entire 1992 year and a series of sensitivity experiments for cadmium were run using relatively simple but computationally efficient hydrostatic meteorological model (MESO). The deposition results from the MESO/LPDD modeling applied to the mesoscale domain were supplemented by contributions from other emission sources in Europe calculated with the aid of the Heavy Metals Eulerian Transport (HMET) model.

The performed sensitivity tests indicate that the calculated depositions depend primarily on the quality of emission data (magnitude, spatial distribution and aggregation). Also land use data seem to be relatively important when estimating the location and magnitude of peak depositions. The proposed modeling approach shows some potential to reproduce local maxima in the deposition fluxes of heavy metals which cannot be resolved by long range transport models. However, very high Cd deposition values observed in the region cannot be reproduced by the model with available emission inventory even when emission from selected sources was increased by two orders of magnitude. The model calculations do not take into account reemission of particulates from post-mining areas and waste dumps, which may contribute considerably to ambient concentrations. A receptor-oriented modeling approach based on an influence function concepts is proposed as a tool to further investigate contributions of different potential emission sources to the observed depositions.

A series of additional 24-hour simulations for idealized synoptic conditions were run with the LPDD model linked to the Colorado State University RAMS (Regional Atmospheric Modeling System). The purpose of these simulations was to investigate the potential effect of regional scale topography on mesoscale atmospheric transport within the Katowice province. Although the terrain of this province is not very complicated, the Sudeten and Carpathian Mountains surrounding this region from the south may significantly affect transport and deposition there.

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