Climate Change Impact on the Air Quality: The Portuguese Case

The changes in greenhouse gases and aerosols emissions are expected to lead to regional and global
changes in temperature, precipitation, and other climate variables. The degree to which human conditions
and the natural environment are vulnerable to the potential effects of climate change is a key concern
for governments and the environmental science community. Regional differences in climate
change and its impacts have recently been identified as current gaps in the present scientific knowledge.
Air quality regional impacts of global climate change, namely the effects on photochemical production,
are not a common subject of scientific studies. The main objective of this paper is to provide a basis of
scientific information for policy makers and public use by the assessment of the vulnerability of
Portuguese air quality to climate change. A General Circulation Model was applied in order to provide
initial and driving meteorological boundary conditions, assuming a present climate situation and a scenario
of double carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, for higher resolution mesometeorological
and photochemical models. Results emphasise a possible significant impact of the climate
change scenario on the photochemical pollution, namely at noon.