Scenario analysis of livestock-related PM2.5 pollution based on heteroskedastic geostatistical modelling

The air in the Lombardy region, Italy, is one of the most polluted in Europe because of limited air circulation and high emissions levels. There is a large scientific consensus that the agricultural sector has a major impact on air quality. In Lombardy, livestock activities are widely acknowledged to be responsible for approximately 97% of regional ammonia emissions due to the high density of livestock. The main objective of our study is to quantify the relationship between ammonia emissions and PM2.5 concentrations in the Lombardy region and evaluate PM2.5 changes due to the reduction of ammonia emissions through scenario analysis. In particular, the study refers to the years between 2016 and 2020 inclusive. The information contained in the data is exploited using a spatiotemporal model capable of handling spatial and temporal correlation, as well as missing data. In this study, we propose a heteroskedastic extension of the Hidden Dynamic Geostatistical Model (HDGM) which is a two-level hierarchical model suitable for complex environmental processes. Scenario analysis will be carried out on high-resolution maps of the Lombardy region showing the changes in PM2.5 across the area. As a result, it is shown that a 26% reduction in NH3 emissions in the wintertime could reduce the PM2.5 average by 2.09 mg/m3 while a 50% reduction could reduce the PM2.5 average by 4.02 mg/m3 which corresponds to a reduction close to 5% and 10% respectively. Finally, results are detailed by province and land type

Agrimonia: a dataset on livestock, meteorology and air quality in the Lombardy region, Italy

The air in the Lombardy region, Italy, is one of the most polluted in Europe because of limited air circulation and high emission levels. There is a large scientific consensus that the agricultural sector has a significant impact on air quality. To support studies quantifying the role of the agricultural and livestock sectors on the Lombardy air quality, this paper presents a harmonised dataset containing daily values of air quality, weather, emissions, livestock, and land and soil use in the years 2016–2021, for the Lombardy region. The daily scale is obtained by averaging hourly data and interpolating other variables. In fact, the pollutant data come from the European Environmental Agency and the Lombardy Regional Environment Protection Agency, weather and emissions data from the European Copernicus programme, livestock data from the Italian zootechnical registry, and land and soil use data from the CORINE Land Cover project. The resulting dataset is designed to be used as is by those using air quality data for research

Agrimonia: a dataset on livestock, meteorology and air quality in the Lombardy region, Italy

The air in the Lombardy region, Italy, is one of the most polluted in Europe because of limited air circulation and high emission levels. There is a large scientific consensus that the agricultural sector has a significant impact on air quality. To support studies quantifying the role of the agricultural and livestock sectors on the Lombardy air quality, this paper presents a harmonised dataset containing daily values of air quality, weather, emissions, livestock, and land and soil use in the years 2016–2021, for the Lombardy region. The daily scale is obtained by averaging hourly data and interpolating other variables. In fact, the pollutant data come from the European Environmental Agency and the Lombardy Regional Environment Protection Agency, weather and emissions data from the European Copernicus programme, livestock data from the Italian zootechnical registry, and land and soil use data from the CORINE Land Cover project. The resulting dataset is designed to be used as is by those using air quality data for research