Friday, November 26, 2010

TRANSPHORM: Transport related Air Pollution and Health impacts: Integrated Methodologies for Assessing Particulate Matter

A Major Research Project Funded by the European Commission through the Seventh Framework programme

It is known that human activity is a major contributor to air pollution, with influences from emissions, meteorology, climatology and topography modifying the quality of the air that we breathe. It is also known that air pollution can have a major effect on our health. Quantifying health effects of air pollution is difficult because of the complexity of the underlying mechanisms and the variable spatial and temporal distributions exhibited by the different air pollutant species. For effective pollution abatement measures to counter, or at least limit, the effects of air pollution on health, an accurate cause and effect relationship must be established between the pollution profile and the associated health impact. The interactions between the emission, meteorological conditions and physical and chemical transformation processes occurring in the atmosphere, mean that sophisticated computer models are needed to produce reliable predictions of air quality to support policy formulation.

TRANSPHORM is a pan European project involving 21 multidisciplinary organisations, specialising in air pollution, meteorology, climate and health from 14 different countries across Europe. The project aims to develop and implement an integrated methodology to assess the health impacts of particulate matter (PM) resulting from transport related air pollution covering the whole chain from emissions to disease burden. An important element of TRANSPHORM is its multidisciplinary approach to tackle the research challenges by bringing together physicists, chemists, meteorologists, health experts, computer modellers as well as users.

TRANSPHORM focuses on the impacts of particulate matter (PM) which pose a particular risk to health. A number of research avenues will be followed in the project with emphasis on particulate matter emissions from all types of transport modes, measurements of the concentrations and composition in European cities, modelling concentrations on city and European scales, estimation of exposure, quantification of the relationship with health outcomes, and the development of a novel integrated tool for researchers and users to assess the health impacts. In addition to incorporating state of the art models, the integrated assessment tool will offer flexibility by including a variety of modelling modules based on their complexity and application.

If you wish to know more about this project, and related issues,
please register free on the website
@ http://www.transphorm.eu/

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It is known that human activity is a major contributor to air pollution, with influences from emissions, meteorology, climatology and topography modifying the quality of the air that we breathe. It is also known that air pollution can have a major effect on our health.
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