IMPAC²T from the BMBF funding measure "Junior Research Groups Global Change: Climate, Environment and Health" researches the influence of traffic emissions on air pollution, health and vegetation
Climate change can intensify the negative impacts of air pollutants and increased temperature on human health and vegetation through the formation of smog. IMPAC²T is investigating these relationships.
Air pollution as well as increased air temperatures can have negative impacts on human health and vegetation. In a changing climate, these negative impacts on humans can be expected to intensify in the future. Likewise, the composition and concentration of air pollutants can change as a result of climate change - strongly depending on how emissions, for example from traffic, will change in the future.
The aim of the researchers from the junior research group IMPAC²T is to improve our understanding of the effects of air pollution on human health and vegetation. The challenges of climate change and the energy transition in transport are taken into account. In an interdisciplinary approach, expertise in climate-chemistry modelling and epidemiology will be combined and consistent projections of climate and air quality will be carried out using a global as well as regional climate-chemistry model. Based on this, the understanding of the relevant atmospheric processes and their feedbacks in the context of climate change will be improved.
The regions of West Africa and Europe, in particular Germany, will be considered. For Germany, a detailed analysis will be carried out on the basis of exposure data on emission measurements as well as the NAKO health study (long-term population study with a duration of 20 to 30 years). It will be investigated whether and how the effects of air pollution on the rate and frequency of cardiovascular diseases will be amplified in a future climate with simultaneously high air temperatures. Comparable data for West Africa are scarce or only sporadically available. At the same time, there is a large knowledge gap on air pollution in connection with climatic changes and on possible mitigation options.
The BMBF is funding IMPAC²T with 2.66 million euros from 2023 to 2028.
Project lead:
Dr. Mariano Mertens
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, German Aerospace Center e.V.
Munich Street 20, 82234 Weßling
Phone: +49 8153 28-2554
E-mail: mariano.mertens@dlr.de
Project partner:
Dr. Alexandra Schneider
Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health
Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg
Phone: +49 89 3187 3512
E-mail: alexandra.schneider@helmholtz-muenchen.de
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