07 Oct MI-TRAP’s Real-Time Air Quality Monitoring System Goes Live in Copenhagen
by i. A. Anna Mahlau , IVU Umwelt GmbH
As part of the MITRAP project, IVU Umwelt is setting up the IMMISmt monitoring system for the cities of Copenhagen, Athens, and Lisbon to monitor air pollution levels across the city in real time. This means that IMMISmt calculates the levels of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter every hour at selected sections of road, known as ‘hotspots’. To do this, the system utilizes data made available online by our project partners; the Technical University of Munich (TUM) provided traffic data, and the Free University (FU) of Berlin provided background pollutant concentrations and the necessary meteorological parameters. All input and output data are collected in a shared repository and made available, for example, for use in the dashboard developed as part of the project.
Milestone
A major milestone was reached this summer when the MITRAP monitoring system for Copenhagen went live. To this end, air pollution levels in Copenhagen for the year 2021 were first modelled in order to identify the areas potentially subject to the highest levels of pollution from nitrogen oxides and particulate matter – the ‘hotspots’. This calculation already required the collection, refinement, and consolidation of a vast amount of data on road traffic, meteorology, background pollution levels, and the geometry of the road space. As a result, 40 hotspots were identified, for which air pollution levels from nitrogen oxides and particulate matter are calculated hourly and thus in near-real time (NRT).
To reach this milestone, intensive and fruitful coordination efforts were undertaken with all part- ners in order to establish an efficient system for providing input data and calculation results to the NRT system. For example, this allows the project partner FU Berlin to replace generic emission data for motor vehicle traffic in Copenhagen with local data from the NRT system. For the mod- elling of road traffic emissions, continuous updates were required for the database of emission factors first published in 2025. Here, too, the modular structure of the overall system proved its worth, as only the relevant component needed to be updated. The road traffic emissions are thus available to the FU Berlin for modelling background pollution, which in turn is used as input data in IMMISmt for calculating total pollution levels.
Contribution to MI-TRAP
With this milestone, the key objective of Work Package 3 for the pilot city of Copenhagen has been achieved: the provision of an operational system that calculates and provides real-time in- formation on air pollution caused by road traffic.
Outlook
The final steps in setting up the NRT system for the two cities of Athens and Lisbon are currently being carried out. This means that, by the end of 2026, three NRT systems will be in place, providing the necessary data for the subsequent tasks in WP3 and in WP5.
It will be important to define how the NRT system can be used, for example, to trigger short-term measures to reduce pollution levels, or as a data and modelling basis for long-term pollution- reduction planning.
The system developed in MITRAP could, for example, be used in the cities of Copenhagen, Athens, and Lisbon to address the upcoming requirements and obligations arising from the European Air Quality Directive, which has been in force since April 2024. Air quality roadmaps must be prepared before the future limit values enter into force in order to enable compliance with those limit values from 2030 onward. It is therefore particularly valuable that the system developed and completed as part of this project can be made available to support the preparation of such plans.
Furthermore, the NRT system can form a key part of a digital twin, which can standardize and thus simplify planning processes in the cities concerned.
About IVU Umwelt GmbH
IVU Umwelt GmbH has been active in the field of air quality management for over 30 years. In addition to providing consultancy services in this area, IVU Umwelt GmbH is heavily involved in the development and application of models, the compilation of emissions inventories, and the development and implementation of software solutions. For many years, IVU Umwelt GmbH has, for example, been developing and marketing the IMMIS model family for modelling vehicle-related emissions and for dispersion modelling at various spatial scales; this system has been used in Germany and in parts Europe as part of air quality management and urban development planning. This system is also used in numerous online systems for environmentally-oriented traffic man- agement developed by IVU Umwelt, which are based on real-time data for monitoring, forecast- ing, and management.