Shipping contributions to inland pollution push for the enforcement of regulations
SCIPPER will implement available and innovative techniques for monitoring the compliance of individual ships to existing sulphur and future NOx and PM air pollution regulations. Using five field measurement campaigns, one mirror campaign in Hong Kong and long-term monitoring data SCIPPER will assess the suitability, operational capacity, and cost-effectiveness of various monitoring methods.
The techniques identified include on-board, on-shore in situ and optical remote, airborne, and satellite systems: assessment will be demonstrated in ports (Gothenburg, Hamburg or Rotterdam and Marseille) and in the shipping lanes of the North and Baltic Seas, English Channel and Mediterranean. Where available this will be carried out in parallel to established official monitoring methodologies.
Bilateral knowledge exchange to ports in Asia, Australia and the US will be enabled through the consortium’s extensive network of contacts, thereby advancing the global impact of EU initiatives.
New innovations to be tested by SCIPPER include:
- on-board and airborne sensors to measure black carbon and ultrafine particles;
- a new ultra-sensitive ‘sniffer’ SO2 method and;
- the potential use of satellite observations for monitoring individual vessel NOx and SO2 emissions.
Measurements will also be used to develop relevant emission factors, required by emissions inventories and Air Quality (AQ) simulation models. AQ models will be enhanced to simulate secondary aerosol formation as the emission plume ages in the atmosphere. Using these advanced simulation tools, SCIPPER will quantify the environmental and health impacts of varying degrees of regulatory compliance for selected test cases.
The overall objective of SCIPPER is to provide authorities with:
- fundamental technical information in developing their enforcement approaches and
- modelling tools and monitoring techniques in order to quantify the environmental benefits of successful enforcement.
More information about the project can be found at the project website.