Inland ship emission inventory and its impact on air quality over the middle Yangtze River, China

Shipping emissions have been considered a significant source of air pollution in the cities along the Yangtze River, with severe impacts on the climate and human health. This study created a complete annual ship emission inventory for the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and assessed its impact on air quality on a regional scale. To estimate the complete emissions, 9 main engine power regression models for different ship types were created to handle those vessels with absent main power data, and a high spatial-temporal resolution annual emission inventory was developed with the activity-based method combined with Automatic Identification System (AIS) data of the full year of 2018. The total emissions of CO₂, CO, SO₂, NO_X, PM_2.5, PM₁₀ and HC in middle reaches of the Yangtze River were 5.67 × 10⁵, 1.02 × 10³, 5.41 × 10², 1.06 × 10⁴, 2.43 × 10², 2.45 × 10² and 3.52 × 10² tons respectively. Then, the Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model was used to study the dispersion of the ship pollutants in the atmosphere and quantize the impact on the urban area. This research will provide services for the maritime authorities to develop green shipping and emission supervision.