The SHERPA training is now on 'EU Academy', available at:

• •   SHERPA: A tool to support the design of urban/regional air quality plans

The 2021 PM2.5 Urban Atlas has been published. More details here:

• •   Atlas maps main sources of air pollution for 150 European cities

• •   The data used to produce the 2021 PM2.5 Atlas are available here

Background

SHERPA (Screening for High Emission Reduction Potential on Air) is a Java/Python tool, which allows for a rapid exploration of potential air quality improvements resulting from national/regional/local emission reduction measures. The tool has been developed with the aim of supporting national, regional and local authorities in the design and assessment of their air quality plans.The tool is based on the relationships between emissions and concentration levels, and can be used to answer the following type of questions:

• •  What is the potential for local action in my domain?

• •  What are the priority activity, sectors and pollutants on which to take action and,

• •  What is the optimal dimension that my policy action domain (city, region…) should have to be efficient?"

The SHERPA tool is distributed with EU-wide data on emissions and source-receptor models (spatial resolution of roughly 7x7 km2), so that it is very easy to start working on any region/local domain in Europe.

More specifically, SHERPA logical pathway is implemented through the following steps:

• •  Source allocation: to understand how the air quality in a given area is influenced by different sources;

• •  Governance: to analyze how one should coordinate with the surrounding regions to optimally improve air quality;

• •  Scenario analysis: to simulate the impact on air quality of a specific emission reduction scenario (defined also through the previous two steps)

SHERPA can also provide input data to be used RIAT+ (The Regional Integrated Assessment Tool), a more advanced tool for Integrated Assessment Modeling dealing with the cost-effectiveness of measures.

Downloads

Registered users can freely download SHERPA. If not yet registered in the DELTA database, you will be asked to do so. Once registered, run the setup and a link will automatically be created on your desktop and in the Windows Start menu. You can run SHERPA by double-clicking any shortcut on your desktop or in the startup menu.

Methodological Papers

• 1.   Design and implementation of a new module to evaluate the cost of air pollutant abatement measures (2022) Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 317, 115486 ( Bessagnet, B., Pisoni, E., Thunis, P., Mascherpa, A. )

• 2.   Application of the SHERPA source-receptor relationships, based on the EMEP MSC-W model, for the assessment of air quality policy scenarios (2019) Atmospheric Environment: X, 4, art. no. 100047 ( Pisoni, E., Thunis, P., Clappier, A )

• 3.   PM2.5 source allocation in European cities: A SHERPA modelling study (2018) Atmospheric Environment, 187, pp. 93-106 ( Thunis, P., Degraeuwe, B., Pisoni, E., Trombetti, M., Peduzzi, E., Belis, C.A., Wilson, J., Clappier, A., Vignati, E )

• 4.   Application of uncertainty and sensitivity analysis to the air quality SHERPA modelling tool (2018) Atmospheric Environment, 183, pp. 84-93 ( Pisoni, E., Albrecht, D., Mara, T.A., Rosati, R., Tarantola, S., Thunis, P. )

• 5.   Adding spatial flexibility to source-receptor relationships for air quality modeling (2017) Environmental Modelling & Software, Volume 90, Pages 68-77 ( Pisoni, E., Clappier, A., Degraeuwe, B., Thunis, P. )

• 6.   On the design and assessment of regional air quality plans: The SHERPA approach (2016) Journal of Environmental Management, 183, pp. 952-958 ( Thunis, P., Degraeuwe, B., Pisoni, E., Ferrari, F., Clappier, A. )

• 7.   A new approach to design source–receptor relationships for air quality modelling (2015) Environmental Modelling & Software, Volume 74, Pages 66-74 ( Clappier, A., Pisoni, E., Thunis, P. )

Application Papers

• 1.   Prioritising the sources of pollution in European cities: Do air quality modelling applications provide consistent responses? (2020) Geoscientific Model Development, 13 (11), pp. 5725-5736 ( Degraeuwe, B., Pisoni, E., Thunis, P. )

• 2.   From emissions to source allocation: Synergies and trade-offs between top-down and bottom-up information (2020) Atmospheric Environment: X, 7, art. no. 100088 ( Sartini, L., Antonelli, M., Pisoni, E., Thunis, P )

• 3.   Urban pollution in the Danube and Western Balkans regions: The impact of major PM2.5 sources (2019) Environment International, 133, art. no. 105158 ( Belis, C.A., Pisoni, E., Degraeuwe, B., Peduzzi, E., Thunis, P., Monforti-Ferrario, F., Guizzardi, D. )

• 4.   Multi-level policies for air quality: implications of national and sub-national emission reductions on population exposure (2018) Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health, 11 (9), pp. 1121-1135 ( Peduzzi, E., Pisoni, E., Clappier, A., Thunis, P. )

• 5.   The impact on air quality of energy saving measures in the major cities signatories of the Covenant of Mayors initiative (2018) Environment International, 118, pp. 222-234 ( Monforti-Ferrario, F., Kona, A., Peduzzi, E., Pernigotti, D., Pisoni, E. )

Further Information

• •  The SHERPA model has been used to produce the Air Quality "Atlas" for Europe. The Atlas, produced by the JRC, provides information on the type and location of the main emission sources of urban background particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air, for the 150 European cities with a population density above 1,500/km2 and a population above 50,000.

• •  An infographic and a video are also available, explaining how the Air Quality "Atlas" for Europe has been produced and how the SHERPA model works.

• •  The data used to produce the PM2.5 Atlas are available here.

Contacts

Enrico Pisoni , Philippe Thunis

Joint Research Centre
Via E.Fermi, 2749
21027 Ispra (Varese, IT)