ClearfLo: Clean Air for London
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Reading
Department Name: Meteorology
Abstract
Poor air quality, particularly in urban areas, has a demonstrable effect on human health, but the processes responsible for producing the main pollutants, namely particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and heat are not well understood and are poorly predicted. The ambition of ClearfLo is to provide integrated measurements of the meteorology, composition and particulate loading of London's urban atmosphere, made at street level and at elevated sites, complemented by modelling, to improve predictive capability for air quality. This ambition will be addressed by establishing new measurement capabilities in London, which will be used for long-term measurements and intensive observation periods, and by analysis and modelling of the measurements to establish key processes.
Organisations
- University of Reading (Lead Research Organisation)
- Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (Project Partner)
- Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (Project Partner)
- Environment Agency (Project Partner)
- Imperial College London (Project Partner)
- Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Project Partner)
- Met Office (Project Partner)
Publications
Barlow J
(2014)
Progress in observing and modelling the urban boundary layer
in Urban Climate
Barlow J
(2011)
A wind-tunnel study of flow distortion at a meteorological sensor on top of the BT Tower, London, UK
in Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics
Barlow J
(2011)
Boundary layer dynamics over London, UK, as observed using Doppler lidar during REPARTEE-II
in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Barlow J
(2014)
Observations of urban boundary layer structure during a strong urban heat island event
in Environmental Fluid Mechanics
Beddows D
(2015)
Receptor modelling of both particle composition and size distribution from a background site in London, UK
in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Belcher S
(2015)
Meteorology, Air Quality, and Health in London: The ClearfLo Project
in Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Bohnenstengel S
(2011)
Simulations of the London urban heat island
in Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
Bohnenstengel S
(2013)
Impact of anthropogenic heat emissions on London's temperatures
in Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
Bohnenstengel S.
(2012)
Something in the air
in Planet Earth
Coceal O
(2018)
Detection of sea-breeze events around London using a fuzzy-logic algorithm
in Atmospheric Science Letters
| Description | We established a system of measurements of the meteorology and chemistry that controls air quality in London. The new measurements have produced data at an unprecedented level of detail which will allow careful analysis of the drivers of poor air quality |
| Exploitation Route | The basic science developed in this project will form the basis of improved air quality models |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Environment |
| Description | We have published papers, including an overview paper in the high profile journal Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. We have held special sessions at the European Geophysical Society. Contact with policy makers around air quality includes: 1) meeting with Transport for London to discuss impact of new measurements on emissions inventories 2) ongoing contact with Greater London Authority Air Quality Manager, and wider dissemination through the Air Pollution Research in London knowledge exchange network to local authority and government policy makers/practitioners 3) discussion with Prof Ian Boyd, Chief Scientific Advisor at DEFRA 4) dissemination of project findings at International level through invitation to Hong Kong, and CSIRO in Australia - influencing policy makers and professional practioners on air quality as part of policies for healthy cities Dissemination is ongoing beyond project end date. |
| Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Construction,Education,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | Urban Physics summer school (2013, 2014, 2015) |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Training that I provided through the Urban Physics summer school, based on data and results from the ACTUAL project, has led to contact with a member of the Singapore Institute for High Performance Computing, a government laboratory. This has led to an invitation to speak at a subsequent workshop in Singapore in April 2016 at which government scientists, policy makers and academics will be present. The focus is a project to improve national weather forecasts for Singapore and improved modelling of urban climate for climate change adaptation purposes. |
| URL | http://sts.bwk.tue.nl/windengineering/Urban_Physics_2013.htm |
| Description | Newton: Atmospheric Pollution and Human Health in Chinese Megacity |
| Amount | £152,046 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/N00700X/1 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2016 |
| End | 07/2018 |
| Description | "Towards a Healthy City" workshop (Jan 2014, Chinese University of Hong Kong) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | One day workshop co-organised between CUHK and HK Green Building Council included speakers on public health, planning and research underpinning policy-making in Hong Kong. This and other later visits to workshops in Hong Kong are leading to a partnership with the Chinese University of Hong Kong (and other HK Universities) in research activities that feed into their Air Ventilation Assessment planning policy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.arch.cuhk.edu.hk/server1/staff2/szewai/KT_web/en/KT%20sources/2013/Poster_workshop.pdf |
| Description | Barlow J.F., Building an urban atmospheric laboratory in London: lessons learnt from a decade of experiments, 14th March 2012, CSIRO Urban Science Symposium, 13-15 March 2012, Melbourne, Australia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk describing urban atmospheric observations in London to mostly Australian government scientists and practitioners, stimulated discussion, widened network. One contact joined a University of Reading steering group. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | https://wiki.csiro.au/display/CSSNetworks/1+Urban+Science+Symposium,+13-15+March+2012 |
| Description | Barlow JF Boundary Layer Meteorology, Prestige lecture, 6th European and African Conference on Wind Engineering, 7-11 July 2013 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Keynote lecture, led to book chapter, increased engagement in wind engineering community Led to invitation to join COST action TU1304, international panel assessing wind power resources in urban areas; invite to join UK Wind Engineering Society Steering Group |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/eacwe/index.aspx |
| Description | Barlow JF Measuring fluxes over urban areas: results from observations in London, 13th February 2012, Prime Minister's Initiative 2 (PMI2) workshop, British Council sponsored, Newcastle University, 13-14th Feb 2012 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Talk led to discussion, network widening Discussion with academic partner about further work |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Barlow JF Progress in measuring and modelling the urban boundary layer, 8th International Conference on Urban Climatology, Dublin 6-10th August 2012, keynote talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Keynote lecture, led to review paper, discussion, network widening, influencing research agenda Talk led to research review paper in international peer reviewed journal; other invitations to do talks |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://urban-climate.com/wp3/about/icuc8-2 |
| Description | Barlow JF Urban Meteorology - lessons learnt from a decade of experiments in London, UK Wind Engineering Society Conference, Southampton 10-12th September 2012, keynote talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Keynote lecture at international conference, stimulated discussion/participation/new projects Stimulated increased collaboration with the wind engineering community; shared knowledge from urban climate studies with engineering community |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Barlow JF, Air Pollution Research in London, The Cleaner Air Conference, Greater London Authority, 22 Jan 2013 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | talk led to discussions Engagement with Greater London Authority on Cearflo outcomes, with wider local authority and government reps through Air Pollution Research in London knowledge exchange network |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/archives/cleaner_air_conference_agenda_220113.pdf |
| Description | Barlow JF, Atmospheric processes and urban air pollution, talk to MSc students at UCL, London, 14th Nov 2012 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited talk was formal part of MSc students's education at UCL led to increased research contact with UCL academic (Liora Malkhi-Epstein) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Barlow JF, Climate Change and the Built Environment, visit by Ian Boyd (DEFRA) to Uni of Reading, 3 July 2013 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | talk sparked questions giving a steer on future research priorities, ie microscale pollutant exposure Relationship between DEFRA and Walker Institute at University of Reading strengthened |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Barlow JF, Experience in using Doppler lidars: London (summer 2012), COST EG-CLIMET meeting, 26-28 Sep 2012, University of Reading |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Talk led to discussion afterwards invitation to join follow-on COST European activity |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://cfa.aquila.infn.it/wiki.eg-climet.org/index.php5/Final_Report#Available_Techniques_4 |
| Description | Bohnenstengel S.I. (2012): Something in the air, Olympic Special, PlanetEarth magazine NERC, June 2012. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | paper was picked up by the BBC The BBC produced a news item on the ClearfLo campaign visiting our field site and used the article as background material alongside interviews with research staff Interview on radio BBC Berkshire |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/features/story.aspx?id=1211 |
| Description | C.H. Halios, J.F. Barlow, S.I.L.D. Bohnenstengel, C.R. Wood, and S.E. Belcher: An intercomparison of urban and rural boundary layer turbulent characteristics based on 2 years of Doppler lidar observations in London, UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | questions and discussions collaboration |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EMS2013/EMS2013-709-1.pdf |
| Description | JF Barlow, AF Brocklehurst, S Upton, The effect of urban flows on pollutant ingress into buildings - results from experiments in central London, Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling Liaison Committee Annual Forum, Harwell, 17 Sep 2013 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk sparked discussion, network widening Talk led to invited talk at Uni of Cambridge, better links to Building Research Establishment |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | JF Barlow, CR Wood, SE Lane, L Caporosa, SILD Bohnenstengel, SE Belcher, F Di Giuseppe and H Lean, Evaluating Numerical Weather Prediction Simulations of Urban Boundary Layer Structure, Intl Workshop Urban Weather Climate, 12-15 Jul 2011, Beijing, China |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | talk as part of workshop to share international best practice in urban weather observations and modelling Widened international network, particularly in China |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | JF Barlow, M Gouvea, S Grimmond, S Kotthaus, SE Lane, L Pauscher, H Ward and CR Wood, Probing the urban boundary layer: the ACTUAL project, RMS Conference, June 2011, Exeter, UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | poster sparked discussion increased collaboration with the Met Office, particularly participation in Met Office Urban Working Group influencing development of weather forecasting in urban areas |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | JF Barlow, T Dunbar, CR Wood, E Nemitz, M Gallagher, and R Harrison, Doppler lidar observations of urban boundary layer dynamics in London, UK, AMS 19th Symposium BLT, 2-6 Aug Keystone, US |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Talk stimulated discussion afterwards Wider interest in London work using Doppler lidars to observe urban atmosphere |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Janet F. Barlow, C.R. Wood, D.R. Drew, W. Nogueira-Neto, S.E. Lane, A. Brocklehurst, C.S.B. Grimmond, A.G. Robins, S.G. Bradley and P. Klein, Impact of urban boundary layer processes on sustainable building design, Uni of Helsinki invited talk, Dec 2012 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Talk led to discussion Plans for collaboration with University of Helsinki and Finnish Meteorological Service |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | News articles |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 2013, 20th April - contribution to New Scientist article "Oases of Cool" 2015, 23rd Feb - article in Weatherwatch column, The Guardian |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013,2015 |
| URL | http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/23/weatherwatchuk-environment |
| Description | S.I. Bohnenstengel, S.E. Belcher, J Barlow, O Coceal, CH Halios, J McConnell, H Lean, ZL Fleming, L Williams, C Helfter, and J Lee: The impact of boundary layer height on air pollution concentrations in London - early results from the ClearfLo project, |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | discussion between AQ and Met community interdisciplinary paper in preparation |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EMS2013/EMS2013-553.pdf |
| Description | Sylvia I. Bohnenstengel, University of Reading, S. E. Belcher, J. F. Barlow, O. Coceal, H. W. Lean, C. Halios, J. McConnell, Z. Fleming + ClearfLo Team - understanding London's meteorology and composition, 2.-6. February 2014, Atlanta, USA |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | discussions between met and aq community collaboration with project partners on papers |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | https://ams.confex.com/ams/94Annual/webprogram/Paper236661.html |
| Description | Sylvia I. L. D. Bohnenstengel, I. Hamilton, M. Davies, and S. E. Belcher The impact of anthropogenic emissions on the London's temperatures |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | discussions regarding model development N/A |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | https://ams.confex.com/ams/94Annual/webprogram/Paper239861.html |
| Description | TV appearances |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 2010, 20th Sep - participant in BBC London programme "Wild weather - climate in the city", showcasing roof-top measurements in London 2011, 10th Jan - participant in BBC Horizon programme "What is One Degree?", showcasing measurements on top of BT Tower, London 2012, 8th August - interview about Clearflo project on BBC News at Ten 2013, 17th July - interview on BBC News 24 about summer heatwave 2013, 22nd July - interview on BBC Radio Five Live about summer heatwave 2014, 24th July - interview on BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show about summer heatwave 2015, 30th June - interview on ITN News at Ten, commenting on Committee on Climate Change report (general outcome is further requests to do media coverage; occasional links made to general public, private sector companies, etc) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015 |