GEIA Newsletter, July 2000
Global Emissions Inventory Activity
Providing highest quality data to address critical and complex environmental issues
GEIA NEWSLETTER
July 2000
Introducing the GEIA Newsletter
The GEIA Newsletter is a new communication medium developed by the GEIA Data Management and Communication Center to enhance exchange of information on GEIA and to encourage participation in GEIA. Each newsletter will have highlights from projects and workshops as well as other timely news related to global emissions inventories.
If you received this newsletter by e-mail, we encourage you to forward it to colleagues and others who are interested in global emissions. If you are viewing it on the GEIA Web Site <http://www.geiacenter.org>, you may download it in PDF format. This will allow you to print the newsletter in hard-copy form to be posted or passed on to other interested readers.
Workshops help address modellers’ needs
The 10th GEIA International Workshop was held in Bologna, Italy, on 13 September 1999 in conjunction with the Sixth Scientific Conference of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Project (IGAC). The objective of the GEIA Workshop was to provide an opportunity for informal exchange of information about updated inventories and the future direction of the GEIA Web Site between GEIA participants and others interested in global/regional emissions inventories who were attending the IGAC Conference.
The workshop was attended by 12 participants, six of whom are modelers. Because of the good mix of GEIA participants and modelers, the workshop program was refocused to discuss how to improve interaction between GEIA and users of GEIA data, both through the GEIA study groups and the GEIA Center. As a result of these discussions, GEIA is focusing on:
- bringing CO, CH4, biomass burning and aircraft and ship emissions data on-line
- developing enhanced QA, expanded formatting and flexible downloading protocols
- starting this newsletter, completing a new GEIA brochure and updating the e-mail network
- developing links to related web sites and enhancing user response forms.
The 11th GEIA Workshop will be coordinated with a global modeling workshop. The time and place for have not been set.
IGAC Synthesis Report Meeting generates more support for GEIA tasks
GEIA Co-Convener Derek Cunnold returned from this meeting with a number of requests, many of which are already in the GEIA Five-Year Plan:
- Inventories for about every 10 years over the past 30-50 years.
- Seasonal cycles in the emissions
- Formulae for the dependence of natural emissions on soil moisture and temperature
- Evaluation of NOX emissions from soils
- Biomass burning emissions given as a function of burning temperature and land use practices
- Combine the GEIA and EDGAR data bases
- Organohalide emissions
- Distinguish between emissions into the canopy and those that reach the global atmosphere
Data updates
Reactive Chlorine Emissions Inventory
The RCEI data are back online. Detailed information on chlorine chemicals and processes are captured in 20 data files now available on the GEIA Web Site.
Cropland Inventory
A global cropland data set recently became available and can be accessed through the GEIA Web Site. Yi-Fan Li of the Atmospheric Environment Service, Environment Canada led the inventory development.
Statistics on GEIA users
The GEIA Center tracks the number of visitors to the GEIA Web Site, the number and type of downloads, and users comments regarding their use of the data and their suggestions for GEIA. Details can be found on the web site. We had 540 downloads of data in 1998 and 704 downloads in 1999. The natural VOC inventory was the most popular download in 1999 and nitrogen oxides was most popular in 1998.
GEIA outreach
In addition to this newsletter, we are expanding our GEIA e-mail network, establishing more two-way links to related web sites, and developing GEIA information materials such as the new brochure. We also are upgrading our web site survey of users and are initiating follow-up discussions with users.
GEIA has provided scientifically sound, policy-relevant global emissions inventories to the science and policy communities since the early 1990s. These inventories are used to assess past, present and future global atmospheric chemistry, air quality and climate change. GEIA is a major activity of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Project, a core project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program.
GEIAs work is guided by GEIA Co-Conveners Derek Cunnold <cunnold@eas.gatech.edu> of the Georgia Institute of Technology (USA) and Jos Olivier <jos.olivier@rivm.nl> of RIVM, the Netherlands National Institute of Public Health and the Environment. The co-conveners work closely with an international coordinating committee.
The hub of the worldwide GEIA network is the GEIA Data Management and Communication Center. The Centers activities are supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and directed by Paulette Middleton <Paulette_Middleton@rand.org> of the RAND Environmental Science & Policy Center.
