Atmospheric Resource Impact Assessment (ARIA)

Abstract

The atmosphere is a global public asset under increasing pressure, requiring protection. Human activities damage the atmosphere, and yet there is currently no systematic way to assess a loss of functionality or measure the costs of degradation. Geographically, there is no method for identifying how atmospheric services are distributed, or where conflicts between services arise. Here we propose an ecosystem services approach, to consider all the benefits derived from atmospheric resources, and to quantify them nationally. The UK is used as a first model to test the methodological validity. The Atmospheric Resource Impact Assessment (ARIA) provides a basic framework for economic evaluation of 12 atmospheric services, which extend beyond the traditional atmospheric disciplines of climate change and urban air quality. Using free information and a deliberative mapping approach, the ARIA model summarizes key atmospheric goods and services humans benefit from in the UK, attributing location, temporal and scale estimates. The resultant Geographical Information System (GIS) maps demonstrate proof-of-concept, enable regional comparisons and test the basis for economic evaluation. Future work will attribute economic costs of ARIA in the UK, (1) to explore ARIA as a planning and policy development tool and (2) to provide leadership in protecting global atmospheric assets.

Keywords

air quality Atmospheric Resource Impact Assessment (ARIA)atmospheric services climate change ecosystem services GIS natural capital natural resource management

I Background

The Tragedy of the Commons showed how failure to properly account for shared natural resources leads to their erosion by human activity (Hardin, 1968). According to this economic theory, common environmental assets such as the atmosphere deteriorate, and this leads to human harm and economic losses (Ehrlich and Ehrlich, 1992; Vitousek et al., 1997). Where human benefits derived from the environment are considered as ‘economic goods and services’ – termed ecosystem services – it has been argued that they can be better protected (Costanza et al., 1997). Thus a movement began to protect biodiversity supported by shared commons, and improving cost-benefit analysis was a key element of that movement (Hanley and Barbier, 2009). A global harmonization of these ideas is now underway in the United Nations Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (UN IPBES) where a conceptual framework and work programme have been set out for 2014–2018 (Heal et al., 2005; Opgenoorth and Faith, 2013). It is hoped the IPBES will do for biodiversity and ecosystem services what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) did for climate change.

International efforts have begun to quantify the ecosystem services that humans derive from the natural world (Potschin and Haines-Young, 2011). Classification schemes for ecosystem services have proliferated since the late 1980s, and international initiatives integrate these into unified systems, including the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), UK National Ecosystem Assessment (2011), UNEP TEEB (2010) (teebweb.net), UNEP IPBES (2012) (ipbes.net) and EEA (2011) (European Environment Agency). Grouping ecosystem-derived goods and services that provide benefits to human well-being allows comparative social and economic evaluation.

Atmospheric services are a subset of ecosystem services and many are easily recognized. For example, the atmosphere controls local weather, global climate systems and the quality of air we breathe. Other essential services less readily appreciated include dispersal of pollen and seeds, dissipation of waste gases, ‘clean air’ for tourism, etc. Each makes a ‘valuable’ economic contribution to human well-being, but virtually all these services lack global ‘markets’ and ‘market values’, and are therefore external to policy development and management decisions. Despite atmospheric services being intrinsic to human well-being, the lack of economic valuation means the atmosphere is a particularly neglected resource (Cooter et al., 2013; Thornes et al., 2010; Walker, 2007).

Human impacts on the atmosphere are no longer peripheral. The Anthropocene, an epoch in which human activities became significant in the functioning of Earth, has been proposed (Crutzen and Stoermer, 2000; Vitousek et al., 1997). Cumulative activities of a growing population, with increasing demands and competition for global resources, radically alter the atmosphere at all scales, from local to global. The atmosphere is a cross-border asset requiring international protection and cooperation to sustain the services it provides. Protective management responses therefore require global strategy, since subsystems at the local level may experience irreversible changes under global trends (Lucier et al., 2006). Conversely, national decisions can affect local ecosystems, cumulatively modifying global systems. Coordinated action across geographical boundaries to share technical expertise on atmospheric science and leadership on the air pollution-development cycle must emerge soon to prevent irreversible damage to the atmosphere (Harris, 1999; Kendall et al., 2011).

Regrettably, recognition of atmospheric services is low in the popular and scientific consciousness (Lundy and Wade, 2012) perhaps because of the invisible, intangible, nature of air-derived goods and services. The UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UK National Ecosystem Assessment, 2011) fails to consider the atmosphere in an integrated way. Given the global scale of the atmosphere, chronic effects (e.g. ozone depletion or climate change) manifest slowly, escaping fast detection. There are rarely visible air pollution ‘slicks’ or sudden ‘air shortages’ and, to date, only localized catastrophic failures such as flooding. One may conclude that human senses fail to properly evaluate the importance of atmospheric services by not detecting subtle spatial and temporal changes that cause significant long-term risks to humans. Atmospheric science is essential in alerting society to some of these changes, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC; www.ipcc.ch) forming an exemplar of global cooperation and resolution (Porritt, 2000). But such a single-issue approach still fails to wholly protect the atmosphere and the services it provides.

In response to an absence of atmospheric services in the UNIPBES, a methodology for the spatial assessment of atmospheric services at a national scale has been developed to test the feasibility of the systematic evaluation of atmospheric services. Atmospheric Resource Impact Assessment (ARIA) has been developed as a proof-of-concept scientific and economic evaluation. This scientific approach aims to establish if atmospheric services may be properly integrated into ecosystem services, and to identify data difficulties and gaps.

II Methodology

There is no existing methodology to classify atmospheric services. Therefore an analytic and deliberative approach was chosen to categorize services, to identify relevant data sources, to quantify the services by some means, and to explore how they may be presented. The method provides a working framework to quantify the 12 atmospheric services conceptualized in Thornes et al. (2010). Subcategories of the 12 services were identified, and potential data resources identified, but it is recognized that there are often no distinct boundaries between atmospheric functions. As an initial approach, free-of-cost data for the UK was sought for each subcategory.

Categories identified by Thornes et al. represent the main uses of the atmosphere, supporting human life on Earth. Each atmospheric service was: allocated an icon in this paper (Table 1); stratified into the atmospheric layer(s) in which it mostly occurs (Figure 1: Lower Troposphere, Upper Troposphere and Stratosphere); and quantified spatially using Geographical Information Systems (GIS).

Figure 1.

The 12 atmospheric services in the UK with unique, identifiable icons, and allocated into three atmospheric layers.

Table 1.

The 12 atmospheric services, subservices and complexity ratings.

Atmospheric service	Atmospheric subservice	Quantification of subservice	Complexity of subservice	Complexity of service
Air that we breathe (human, animal)	(a) Quantity of breathed air	Breathed air	1	1
Air that we breathe (human, animal)	(b) Quality of breathed air	Spatial distribution of emissions to air	1	1
Protection from radiation, plasma and meteors	Protection from direct Sun radiation	Spatial distribution of stratospheric ozone	3	3
Natural global warming of 33°C	Natural warming effect of atmosphere	Climate change gas emissions	1	1
Cleansing capacity of the atmosphere (atmospheric dispersion of matter, i.e. gas particles)	Dispersion and removal of matter, gases and energy	Deposition	2	3
		Dispersal (cycling) of aerial nutrients (NO₂, NH₃),	2
		Dispersal of particles (PM_2.5, PM₁₀)	3
Redistribution of water services	Circulating water in atmosphere	Annual precipitation in the UK	1	1
		Annual cloud cover	1
		Humidity	1
Direct use for ecosystems and agriculture	(a) Carbon dioxide emissions to/removals from atmosphere by land cover categories	Land-cover types	2	2
		CO₂ removal from atmosphere	3
	(b) Potentials for agriculture	Growing season length	1
	(c) Shelter and protection	Bioclimatic variables	1
Combustion of fuel	Oxygen used for combustion	National quantity of oxygen needed to combust fossil fuel	1	1
Direct use for sound, communications and transport	(a) Air transport	Air traffic movements and fuel use	3	3
Direct use for sound, communications and transport	(b) Sound and communication	Mobile communication coverage	3	3
Direct use for power	Power from: wind, wave, tide, solar	Wind speed	1	2
Direct use for power	Power from: wind, wave, tide, solar	Sunshine duration	2	2
Extraction of atmospheric gases	(a) Industrial gas extraction	Gas extraction in the UK for sale	3	3
Extraction of atmospheric gases	(b) Greenhouse-gas extraction	Carbon extraction from atmosphere	3	3
Atmospheric recreation and climate tourism	Domestic tourism	Number of holiday trips	2	2
		Number of holiday nights	1
		Holiday expenditure	1
Aesthetic, spiritual and sensual properties of the atmosphere, smell and taste	Population living in pleasant atmospheric environment	Needs further qualitative study	3	3

The data were scale, place, time and resolution sensitive. 1 km² resolution data for 2008 was used as the ideal case, but the closest year and resolution was accepted when this format was not available. Spatial data sets were validated before GIS processing in ArcGIS Desktop 9.3.1 (ESRI); Spatial Analyst was used for gridded data sets. Terrestrial 1 or 5 km National Grids from Ordnance Survey (OS, 2011) provided the spatial framework for the GIS. A ‘complexity rating’ for each subcategory and whole service was allocated, based on the data search, availability and processing difficulty (Table 1). The methods for quantifying each atmospheric service in the UK are detailed below, with discussion on viability.

1 Air consumption through breathing

Humans consume oxygen during breathing. The quantity of air breathed in by the UK population was calculated using the 2001 Census population figures. The Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA; Data Zones in Scotland) GIS layer (downloaded from borders.edina.ac.uk) was used to represent 2001 Census population data (the latest data available on casweb.mimas.ac.uk). The census figures of each LSOA were joined by their unique identification codes to their counterparts in the GIS layer. 2001 Census population density figures disseminated to LSOA polygons were transformed to the 1 km² Ordnance Survey grid. Each person breathes approximately 15 m³ of air per day, equivalent to 4475 m³ breathed air per year. The yearly amount of breathed-in air for the population of each 1 km² area was calculated by multiplying the population in each 1 km² cell by the annual amount of breathed air per individual (4475 m³). These values were mapped and summed to give the total quantity of air inhaled in the UK in 2001.

Significant atmospheric emissions result from human activities, mainly from fuel combustion and industrial activities, including agriculture. We mapped onshore emissions of the 22 air pollutants for which gridded data sets are available in the UK. The National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) Data Warehouse (naei.defra.gov.uk) provided 1 km² resolution emission grid data for all 22 air pollutants for 2008. These pollutants are: 1,3-butadine, ammonia, arsenic, benzene, benzo(a)pyrene, cadmium, carbon monoxide, chromium, copper, dioxins, hydrogen chloride, lead, mercury, nickel, nitrogen oxides (as NO₂), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC), PM₁₀, PM_2.5, selenium, sulphur dioxide, vanadium and zinc. The emissions per 1 km² cell of the NAEI grids were extracted to centroids of the cells then linked for the year 2008. The extracted emission values were used to map the spatial distribution of air pollutants across the UK. This map was linked to the census population data to show the likely exposures of the UK population to specific emissions. Two types of maps were created: (1) emission maps for 22 pollutants and (2) UK population exposure-proxy maps for 22 pollutants.

2 Protection from radiation, plasma and meteors

This service is provided by the atmospheric column and the ozone layer, which has a protective role. For example, significant ozone depletion results in higher ultra violet radiation in Britain, as well as other north European countries. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts’ (ECMWF, 2011) data portal (data-portal.ecmwf.int) provided ‘Total Column Ozone’ (TCO) time series for a one-year period from 5 July 2008 to 4 July 2009. By comparing intensity of solar radiation and TCO data, risks could be quantified. Solar radiation intensity data were not available from the Met Office, so the evaluation was not completed, but it was technically possible to evaluate this service.

3 Natural global warming of 33°C

Onshore UK greenhouse gas emissions (CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O) for 2008 were mapped using 1 km² NAEI emission grids, as described earlier. Emission values of each cell for all the three NAEI emission grids were calculated to map total onshore greenhouse gas emissions.

4 The cleansing capacity of the atmosphere and dispersion of air pollution

Meteorology affects the cleansing capacity of the atmosphere, mainly through the dispersion, deposition and breakdown of air pollutants. The evaluation of this service required the 5 km gridded precipitation and wind-speed data layers (metoffice.gov.uk), plus the 1 km² gridded NAEI air pollutant emissions data sets generated earlier. The 5 km gridded weather data sets were transformed to 1 km² resolution, providing a guide to where dispersion is most valuable or least effective.

Data sets for the long-term average (1961–1990) of mean air pressure, relative humidity and cloud cover were downloaded from the Met Office. Twelve 5 km gridded data sets were available for the 12-month averages over 30 years. Averages from the monthly values were calculated to establish annual means, and the results were mapped.

In line with the method described earlier, only natural emissions of NO₂ and NH₃ per 1 km² were extracted, to represent the spatial emissions of micronutrients per km² in 2008.

5 Redistribution of water services

The latest available (2006) total annual precipitation 5 km gridded data set (Met Office, 2010) was used to quantify this service.

6 Direct use of the atmosphere for ecosystems and agriculture

This service involves growing-season length (Met Office, 2010), land cover of the UK available from the European Environment Agency (EEA, 2010, 2011), and values of CO₂ sequestration from the atmosphere for main land-cover types maintained by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH, 2009). Both CO₂ emissions/removals from atmosphere by land-cover categories and growing-season length were mapped.

Vegetation is the main absorber of CO₂ and ‘producer’ of natural O₂, during photosynthesis. The CO₂ removed from, or emitted to, the atmosphere by land-cover categories in the UK was quantified. The Corine Land Cover 2000 (CLC 2000) provided the geographical basis for both the calculation and subsequent mapping (EEA: www.eea.europa.eu). CO₂ removal and source statistics were taken from the UK 2008 Sectoral Report for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF). The accompanying 2008 Annual Report (Thomson et al., 2008) divides the UK into five land-use categories (namely: Cropland, Grassland, Forestland, Settlements [Urban] and Other; ecosystemghg.ceh.ac.uk). CO₂ emission and removal figures were available only for Cropland, Grassland, Forestland and Settlements. The CLC 2000 classes were matched to the four land-use categories and then the total removals/emissions were divided by the total area of each land-use category to get the CO₂ removals/emissions in tonnes per hectare per year for the four land-cover classes. Following this, a CLC 2000 layer for the UK was derived from the downloaded European-scale raster file. The land-cover values were extracted from the 100 m resolution raster data set into a vector layer. The area of the UK was selected in the vector layer to export it into a separate layer. This was then projected to the British National Grid coordinate system. Joining the separately available CLC 2000 classification table to the projected vector file created the final layer for the calculation and mapping. Then the total amount of emitted/removed CO₂ (in tonnes) was calculated for only those Corine categories which matched with the four reported land-use types. This was done by multiplying the emission/removal values per hectare by the total area (in hectares) of the class. Finally, the calculated results were mapped.

Agricultural production is climate and weather dependent, so changes in growing-season length were calculated to evaluate this subservice. The 5 km resolution gridded growing-season length long-term averages (1961–1990) were mapped and 10-yearly totals from 1994 to 2003 (Met Office, 2010). A 10-year average growing-season length per 25 km²cell was calculated from the 10-year data sets. Extracted values of both average grids were then placed into separate files, for comparison. Three maps were thereby generated for the UK to represent (1) the yearly growing-season length in the long-term average period, (2) the annual growing-season length for 1994–2003 and (3) differences between the two periods.

Local microclimatic conditions depend upon small topographical variations within an area, creating suitable conditions for different species. To include this service, the elevation of UK and four bioclimatic variables were mapped. The 30’ resolution (0.77 km over the UK) Earth-scale ESRI grids from WorldClim (Hijmans et al., 2011) were used. The area overlapping the UK was clipped out and transformed to the British National Grid coordinate system. Maps were created for elevation, mean diurnal temperature range, isothermality, temperature seasonality and the annual temperature range.

7 Combustion of fuel

Oxygen (O₂) consumption is required to burn fuel. The amount of O₂ used for onshore combustion of fuels in the UK for three product gases (CO₂, CO and NO_x) for 2008 was calculated, based on the 1 km² grids (naei.defra.gov.uk). The data were mapped as follows to spatially represent the quantity of used oxygen to form the three gases.

In 2008, 97% of the total UK CO₂ emissions (as carbon) were produced by combustion; only 3% was emitted by other processes and fugitive sources (Murrells et al., 2010). Burning of 1 kg carbon requires 2.67 kg O_2, Since the atomic mass of carbon is 12, of oxygen is 16 and of CO₂ molecule = 12 + (2*16), the ratio is 32/12 = 2.67. To map the amount of O₂ used, carbon emissions maps were multiplied by 2.67.

The atomic weight of CO is 12 + 16 = 28. The CO emission values for each cell were multiplied by the ratio of O and CO (16/28 = 0.57).

The calculation for NO_x used the ratio of atoms in the nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) molecule (32/46 = 0.695). The results from each cell were extracted and associated with the cells of 1 km National Grid (OS, 2011) to produce a vector layer quantifying the oxygen used for each 1 km² for 2008.

8 Direct use of the atmosphere for sound, communications and transport

The atmosphere enables air transport by physically supporting aircraft in flight. Based on aviation statistics (CAA, 2008a, 2008b) the number of domestic terminal passengers was calculated. The aim was to stratify traffic into each of our three atmospheric layers, to provide an estimate of quantities and location of air traffic emissions, with a main focus on GHG emissions and air pollution on individual service routes. Unfortunately, only air traffic route maps were available (one for the lower air space and another one for the upper air space) by digitizing PDF maps (CAA, 2011).

Mobile communication relies on the atmosphere. Mobile communication network coverage GIS files from the five main operators were requested, and also from OFCOM and from the UK Mobile Operators Association. To quantify this subservice, the aim was to transform the mobile network coverage GIS file from each operator to the 1 km population grid, using the method previously described. Access to mobile communication networks can be calculated by using the 1 km population data sets with mobile network coverage in the 3G coverage data set. As the operators were not willing to provide us coverage data, the analysis was technically feasible, but not possible in this study.

9 Direct use the atmosphere for power

Renewable energy sources wind and wave power are driven by atmospheric forces, and solar power is also influenced. Wind energy is widespread in the UK, but only pilot studies of wave energy production are established (EMEC, 2012; Pentland Firth Renewables, 2012). The amount of energy generated from wind alone in 2008 was calculated. Based on the Renewable UK Wind energy database (RenewableUK, 2012), the total installed 2,958.33 MW wind farm capacity (197 onshore and seven offshore plants) produced 7,774,491.24 MWh energy in 2008.

10 Commercial extraction of atmospheric gases

Gases are routinely extracted from the atmosphere for commercial sale. Data from four UK companies (Linde [BOC], Air Liquide, Praxair, Air Products) was requested, to analyse indicators of the industry (the amount of extracted gases and sale prices). As information was not forthcoming, the quantification of this subservice was not possible, although technically feasible. Figure 2 shows that the global sales of industrial gases in 2011 totalled US$74 billion, including predominantly gases extracted from the atmosphere (Praxair, 2012).

Figure 2.

The global market in 2011 for industrial gas sales, including atmospheric extraction.

There is no established practice or legislation yet for extracting greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, but carbon capture is mooted to moderate global climate change. While several pilot plants are operating in the UK, greenhouse gas extraction remains an untested technology at the large scale (BERR, 2007). Lackner (2010) suggests that CO₂ could be extracted from the atmosphere using sorbent materials at a cost of circa US$30/tonne, compared to existing commercial costs for CO₂ of up to US$100/tonne.

11 Atmospheric recreation and climate tourism

Atmosphere and climate-related recreation and tourism in the UK represents (1) summer tourism mainly to UK coasts and (2) winter tourism in the UK’s mountainous areas. Holidays and weekend getaways for UK residents in the UK – so-called ‘Stay-cations’ – are also increasing (Giles and Perry, 1998). As part of the ‘Welsh Outdoor Recreation Survey’, the Countryside Council for Wales examined motivations for visiting recreational outdoor locations. The third most common reason was ‘For fresh air or to enjoy pleasant weather’, followed by a number of other air quality-related motivations (CCW, 2011).

Overnight holidays to English local authority areas taken by UK residents were mapped. Three-year averages of local authority level statistics (number of trips, number of nights and expenditure) were available for 2006–2008, 2007–2009 and 2008–2010 (VisitEngland, 2011). The local authority GIS layer for England (OS, 2011) was used to map the values. First, unique identification codes (ONS, 2009) were assigned to each local authority stored in the tourism records. The tourism table was linked to the local authority GIS file using the identification codes as common attributes. The output GIS layer comprised the number of trips, number of nights and total expenditure on domestic overnight trips assigned to each local authority. Finally, the three-year averages of each indicator for the 2007–2009 period were mapped to illustrate the spatial distribution of holiday trips, holiday nights and the total holiday expenditure in English local authority areas.

12 Aesthetic, spiritual and sensual properties of the atmosphere

This service refers to the amenity value of atmosphere. Weather and climate affect social, psychological and physiological behaviours, and influence ecological and economic circumstances (Rehdanz and Maddison, 2005). According to this study, the climate is significantly associated with effects on countrywide happiness.

The aesthetic qualities of the sky are important to many people and expressed by artists, particularly landscape artists and photographers. UK-based artists such as William Turner and John Constable are known for their detailed rendering of the sky (Figure 3). However, quantifying the aesthetic value of the atmosphere is challenging. Even if it were possible to analyse the sales of landscape paintings and photographs in the UK, it would be problematic to determine exactly what proportion of this economic value was directly attributable to the sky in the artwork, as opposed to other elements. Also, the aesthetic benefits of the sky may provide pleasure to many people who are not able to translate this into artistic output. Further qualitative assessment of the aesthetic and/or spiritual qualities of the atmosphere is required to advance quantification of the value of this service.

Figure 3.

John Constable, 1776–1837, British, A Cloud Study, Sunset, c. 1821, oil on paper on millboard, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.

III Results and discussion

Using the collected data, maps were created of each service or subservice, where possible, for visual and quantitative evaluation (e.g. Figure 4). For some categories only calculations were possible, and for some the approaches were combined. In this section, a summary is presented of the ARIA results in a tabular format (Table 2) with an indicator of the completeness of the evaluation, ranging from *** (completed) to * (needs further research). An X means no data were available or that an appropriate evaluation method was not developed.

Figure 4.

Mapped oxygen consumption based on the NAEI emissions inventory of national combustion emission of carbon dioxide (CO₂).

Table 2.

Summary of evaluated services and completeness.

Atmospheric service	Number of maps	Completed	Comment
Air that we breathe (human, animal)	23	***
Protection from radiation, plasma and meteors	1	**	Protection from radiation, plasma and meteors
Natural global warming of 33°C	3	***
Atmospheric dispersion of matter (gas, particles)	7	*	The cleansing capacity of the atmo-sphere and dispersion of air pollution
Redistribution of water services	1	***
Direct use for ecosystems and agriculture	9	*	Carbon dioxide emissions to/re-movals from atmosphere by land-cover categories Potentials for agriculture
Combustion of fuel	3	***
Direct use for sound, communications and transport	2	X	Air traffic movements Mobile communication coverage
Direct use for power	2	**
Extraction of atmospheric gases	0	X	Industrial gas extraction Greenhouse gas extraction
Atmospheric recreation and climate tourism	3	***
Aesthetic, spiritual and sensual properties of the atmosphere, smell and taste	0	X	Aesthetic, spiritual and sensual properties of the atmosphere

Figure 5 represents the combined ARIA results for the UK. Much consideration was given to how best to represent this data in a meaningful way that was both accurate and easy to interpret for a non-expert. It was immediately apparent that regional differences could be identified and that certain regions ‘valued’ certain services more than others. ARIA therefore demonstrates that this method is able to compare atmospheric services in the UK spatially, temporally and between services where conflicts occur.

Figure 5.

Atmospheric services by UK region.

This study is a first attempt to evaluate and quantify a range of atmospheric services, many of which have been historically overlooked. As no previous studies have been published, we were unable to build on past experience or undertake comparative analyses. We therefore established a novel framework to provide a basis for an inventory of atmospheric services, for later economic analysis. The methodology is expected to mature and requires further data and intellectual inputs across disciplines to refine the analyses. The applied methodology, visual representation and the significance of atmospheric services are all relative. The spatial evaluation scale, local settings (countries, regions) available data and temporal settings may significantly influence the results, and sensitivity analyses will be required in time to assess the most significant factors affecting the overall outcomes.

Our core aim was to develop an assessment system that may promote protection of the services we derive from the atmosphere. The ARIA framework proposed potentially enables the regional management of local atmospheric resources, from the bottom up, and could be extended to consider impacts on the global atmosphere. ARIA identified the cornerstones of an assessment system that could develop further to inform both national policy and local decision-making based on local information. For the bottom-up approach, the types of relevant local action that may cumulatively affect the services of the whole-Earth system, can be identified. From a top-down perspective, global management practice of key global resources can be enhanced. There remain significant data gaps, but conducting this assessment has helped establish what types of information may be required for such an assessment, as well as their availability, cost, data quality and ease of use.

A secondary aim was to highlight data gaps and to suggest alternative data sources for specific and more difficult services. A third aim was to develop effective presentation techniques to transmit key messages. The scale of the data is obviously variable with each identified service. Agencies responsible for the provision of these services – or protecting them – are best placed to recommend the ideal scale of analysis and the key considerations for each. This also influences how the data may be represented: examination of the presentation techniques available to present such ‘big data’ provided challenges to the accurate representation of the facts. However, it was not the purpose of this paper to establish data presentation, rather to provoke discussion on how important this is. The framework here is thus depicted to demonstrate the potential of the process, highlight the practical limitations of using data which is available free of cost now, and illustrate the potential benefits. Such a discussion is targeted directly at the emerging UNIPBES which has, to date, not adequately addressed ecosystem services derived from the atmosphere. It is foreseen that national and international agencies engaged in the IPBES process will be able to use such a model.

We recommend that ARIA offers a more integrated management approach than others being used currently, and may be further developed to protect atmospheric resources better. While single-issue legislature is vital, such as the Montreal Protocol or the Kyoto Protocol, a more coherent approach is now required, to harmonize all these laws. While laws such as the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive (EC, 2008) attempt integration, they control emissions to environmental media rather than considering the cost-benefits of the services at risk. In economic terms, the ecosystem approach better values and safeguards the overlooked beneficial services provided to society by the atmosphere. We see the ARIA framework developed here as the atmospheric component to be integrated into a wider ecosystems framework. Such an atmospheric assessment tool could be considered by UNIPBES, and is particularly relevant to developing countries. It could support the development of international law – a Law of the Atmosphere – to parallel global commons laws that protect the oceans (UN, 2012).

The ARIA inventory is scalable, with the capacity to develop global-, regional- or urban-scale tools. The resultant maps and figures provide the basis for monetary valuation and can support cost-benefit analysis. In turn, this may promote international dialogue, as well as international economic instruments, to promote the safeguarding of important, internationally produced and consumed services derived from the atmosphere. Dichotomy between developing and developed economies increases the risk of environmental threats; mutual misunderstanding and miscommunication promote business as usual, stalling much-needed action. There is a pressing need to develop cooperative action to protect the atmosphere, a globally shared asset. Building technical, objective decision-making and environmental policy development capacity transparently and relevant to both the developed and the developing world is key to this process. In essence, such analysis could provide a bridge between distinct perspectives, building further bridges by raising scientific capacity in developing countries, to support strong leadership in policy development.

Although the inventory has immediate uses as a basic screening tool, extension and refinement of ARIA through further development is also possible. The importance of horizontal and vertical spatial scales may be explored in the UK to establish the optimal scale necessary to identify key economic and environmental pressure points. If the data are not available to complete such an assessment, specific national data collection may be recommended to provide adequate scale. The extension of this type of mapping to the international level is the ultimate goal, reached by this bottom-up approach. At first a regional-scale model (e.g. the Eurozone), and then finally a global-scale model would take into account interactions and processes on a sufficiently large geographic scale to integrate this model with other global-scale atmospheric models. Due to the transnational nature of the atmosphere, the development of global-scale mapping to support international law must be conducted to protect the global atmospheric commons.

IV Conclusion

The need to manage environmental resources through a broadened ecosystem services approach now has solid and consensual scientific support. The atmosphere is an overlooked resource, the importance of which is often missing from current ecosystem service framework models. We have developed a methodology for considering the ecosystems services derived specifically from the atmosphere. The conceptual framework Atmospheric Resource Impact Assessment (ARIA) provides a proof-of-concept scientific assessment for quantifying and presenting the services, with a view to evaluating the economic benefits derived from the atmosphere. The methodology establishes the basis for a simplified, visual, but objective decision-making framework. The aim was to promote an appreciation and understanding of these services, so as to support public engagement in environmental policy development. This involves presenting scientific data to a non-expert audience, while maintaining scientific rigor. Such a tool may aid policy decisions related to atmospheric resources in rapidly developing countries and promote understanding of the increasing pressures on these services coming to bear as global population rises. Future economic evaluation of these services will inform public policy-making, and also assist integrated policy development across scales.

References

BERR (2007) Competition for a carbon dioxide capture and storage demonstration project. London: Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). Available at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file42478.pdf.

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) (2009) LULUCF GHG data on basis of IPCC 2004 Good Practice Guidance. Table 5: Sectoral report for land use, land-use change and forestry. Edinburgh: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Available at: http://ecosystemghg.ceh.ac.uk/inventory/GBR-2008-1990-2008-v1.1.pdf.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) (2008a) UK Airline Statistics: 2009 – annual. Table 0 1 7 4: Domestic scheduled services 2009. Available at: http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airline_data/2009Annual/Table_0_1_7_4_Domestic_Scheduled_Services_2009.pdf.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) (2008b) UK Airline Statistics: 2009 – annual. Table 0 1 8 4: Domestic non scheduled services 2009. Available at: http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airline_data/2009Annual/Table_0_1_8_4_Domestic_Non_Scheduled_Services_2009.pdf.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) (2011) Enroute information. ATS routes. Whiteley: UK Aeronautical Information Service NATS Ltd. Available at: http://www.nats-uk.ead-it.com/public/index.php%3Foption=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=4&Itemid=11.html.

Cooter

Rea

Bruins

. (2013) The role of the atmosphere in the provision of ecosystem services. Science of the Total Environment 448: 197–208.

Costanza

d’Arge

de Groot

. (1997) The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387: 253–260.

Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) (2011) Wales outdoor recreation survey 2011: Technical report. Bangor: CCW. Available at: http://www.ccw.gov.uk/enjoying-the-country/idoc.ashx?docid=6be4cccc-7b0d-423d-b336-ce1c9cb24756&version=-1.

Crutzen

Stoermer

(2000) The ‘Anthropocene’. Global Change Newsletter 41: 17–18.

10.

EC (2008) Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/;ELX_SESSIONID=nrLbTfnGZZPMwj782xnYpDqctL8lbpvMs3M8hTckk3NVpJh2WlB3!78905566?uri=CELEX:32008L0001.

11.

Ehrlich

(1992) The value of biodiversity. Ambio 21: 219–226.

12.

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) (2011) GEMS integrated near real-time analysis/forecast. Total column ozone (TCO). Reading: ECMWF. Available at: http://data-portal.ecmwf.int.

13.

European Environment Agency (EEA) (2010) Corine Land Cover 2000 raster data – version 13 (05/2010). Copenhagen: EEA. Available at: http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/corine-land-cover-2000-raster.

14.

European Environment Agency (EEA) (2011) Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES), 2011 update. Copenhagen: EEA.

15.

European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) (2012) Charting achievement. Orkney: EMEC. Available at: http://www.emec.org.uk/?wpfb_dl=11.

16.

Giles

Perry

(1998) The use of a temporal analogue to investigate the possible impact of projected global warming on the UK tourist industry. Tourism Management 19(1): 75–80.

17.

Hanley

Barbier

(2009) Pricing Nature: Cost-Benefit Analysis and Environmental Policy-Making. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

18.

Hardin

(1968) The tragedy of the commons. Science 162: 1243–1248.

19.

Harris

(1999) Common but differentiated responsibility: The Kyoto Protocol and United States policy. N.Y.U. Environmental Law Journal 7: 27.

20.

Heal

Barbier

Boyle

. (2005) Valuing Ecosystem Services: Toward Better Environmental Decision-Making. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

21.

Hijmans

Cameron

Parra

. (2011) WorldClim - Global Climate Data. Bioclim - Bioclimatic variables. WorldClim. Available at: http://www.worldclim.org/current (accessed: 17 June 2014).

22.

Kendall

Pala

Gucer

(2011) Fine airborne particulate matter (PM_2.5 and PM₁₀) and associated metals in Bursa, Turkey. Air Quality, Atmosphere, and Health 4: 235–242.

23.

Lackner

(2010) Washing carbon out of the air. Scientific American 302: 66–71.

24.

Lucier

Palmer

Mooney

. (2006) Ecosystems and climate change: Research priorities for the US Climate Change Science Program – recommendations from the scientific community. Report on an Ecosystems Workshop, prepared for the Ecosystems Interagency Working Group. Special Series No.SS-92-06. Solomons, MD: University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory.

25.

Lundy

Wade

(2012) Integrating sciences to sustain urban ecosystemservices. Progress in Physical Geography 35(5): 653–669. (accessed: 19 July 2011).

26.

MET Office (2010) UKCP09: Gridded observation data sets. MET Office, Exeter, England. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climatechange/science/monitoring/ukcp09/download/access_gd/index.html (accessed 19 July 2011).

27.

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) Ecosystems and General Well-Being: General Synthesis. Vancouver: Island Press.

28.

Murrells

Passant

Thistlethwaite

. (2010) UK emissions of air pollutants 1970 to 2008. AEA Technology. London: NAEI-DEFRA. Available at: http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/reports/cat07/1009030925_2008_Report_final270805.pdf.

29.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2009) LAU2 names and codes. University of Manchester. Available at: http://geoconvert.mimas.ac.uk/help/documentation/10feb/Documents/Names%20and%20Codes/ (accessed: 16 July 2014).

30.

Opgenoorth

Faith

(2013) The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), up and walking. Frontiers of Biogeography 5(4): 207–211.

31.

Ordnance Survey (OS) (2011) 1 km National Grid. University of Edinburgh. Available at: http://digimap.edina.ac.uk/digimap/home.

32.

Pentland Firth Renewables (2012) Pentland Firth poised to become first energy park in Scotland. Available at: http://www.pentlandfirthrenewables.co.uk/2012/01/27/pentland-firth-poised-to-become-first-energy-park-in-scotland.

33.

Porritt

(2000) Playing Safe: Science and the Environment. London: Thames and Hudson.

34.

Potschin

Haines-Young

(2011) Introduction to the Special Edition: Ecosystem services. Progress in Physical Geography 35: 571–574.

35.

Praxair (2012) PraxairCitiChemicals11262012.pdf. Available at: http://www.praxair.com/~/media/North%20America/US/Documents/Reports%20Papers%20Case%20Studies%20and%20Presentations/Investors/Investor%20Presentations/2012/PraxairCitiChemicals11262012.ashx

36.

Rehdanz

Maddison

(2005) Climate and happiness. Ecological Economics 52: 111–125.

37.

RenewableUK (2012) UK Wind Energy Database (UKWED). Operational wind farms. London: RenewableUK. Available at: http://www.renewableuk.com/en/renewable-energy/wind-energy/uk-wind-energy-database/index.cfm.

38.

Thomson

Mobbs

Milne

. (2008) Inventory and projections of UK emissions by sources and removals by sinks due to land use, land use change and forestry. Annual Report, No. C03116. Available at: http://ecosystemghg.ceh.ac.uk/docs/2008/Defra_Report_2008.pdf.

39.

Thornes

Bloss

Bouzarovski

. (2010) Communicating the value of atmospheric services. Meteorological Applications 17: 243–250.

40.

UK National Ecosystem Assessment (2011) The UK National Ecosystem Assessment: Synthesis of the key findings. Cambridge: UNEP-WCMC.

41.

United Nations (UN) (2012) United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. New York: United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea. Available at: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_overview_convention.htm.

42.

United Nations Environment Programme Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (UNEP IPBES) (2012) New intergovernmental body established to accelerate global response towards sustainable management of world’s biodiversity and ecosystems. Nairobi: UNEP Division of Communication and Public Information. Available at: http://www.ipbes.net/news-centre11/229-ipbes-established-today-biodiversity-won.html. http://www.ipbes.net/component/docman/doc_download/979-press-release-english.html?Itemid=58.

43.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) TEEB (2010) The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: Mainstreaming the economics of nature – a synthesis of the approach, conclusions and recommendations of TEEB. Available at: http://www.iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/2010-051.pdf.

44.

VisitEngland (2011) Overnight tourism data for towns, local authorities and counties: Analysis of GB tourism survey data 2006–2010. A listing of trip volumes and values for all local authorities in England, listed by county, London.

45.

Vitousek

Mooney

Lubchenco

. (1997) Human domination of Earth’s Ecosystems. Science 277: 494–499.

46.

Walker

(2007) An Ocean of Air: A Natural History of the Atmosphere. London: Bloomsbury.