Understanding emissions of ammonia from buildings and the application of fertilizers: an example from Poland

Abstract

Abstract. A Europe-wide dynamic ammonia (NH3) emissions model has been applied for one of the large agricultural countries in Europe, and its sensitivity on the distribution of emissions among different agricultural functions was analyzed by comparing with observed ammonia concentrations and by implementing all scenarios in a chemical transport model (CTM). The results suggest that the dynamic emission model is most sensitive to emissions from animal manure, in particular how animal manure and its application on fields is connected to national regulations. To incorporate the national regulations, we obtained activity information on agricultural operations at the sub-national level for Poland, information about infrastructure on storages and current regulations on manure practice from Polish authorities. The information was implemented in the existing emission model and was connected directly with calculations from the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF). The model was used to calculate four emission scenarios with high spatial (5 km × 5 km) and temporal resolution (3 h) for the entire year 2010. In the four scenarios, we have compared a constant emission approach (FLAT), scenario (1) against (2) a dynamic approach based on the Europe-wide default settings (Skjøth et al., 2011, scenario DEFAULT); (3) a dynamic approach that takes into account Polish practice and less regulation compared to Denmark (POLREGUL); (4) a scenario that focuses on emissions from agricultural buildings (NOFERT). The ammonia emission was implemented into the chemical transport model FRAME (Fine Resolution Atmospheric Multi-pollutant Exchange) and modelled ammonia concentrations were compared with measurements. The results for an agricultural area suggest that the default setting in the dynamic model is an improvement compared to a non-dynamical emission profile. The results also show that further improvements can be obtained at a national scale by replacing the default information on manure practice with information that is connected with local practice and national regulations. Implementing a dynamical approach for simulation of ammonia emission is a reliable but challenging objective for CTM models that continue to use fixed emission profiles.