Meteosim sets up a world pioneering system in Riyadh for the total management of air quality
The UB spin-off Meteosim, with head offices in the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), has set up in Riyadh a world pioneering system that enables the capital of Saudi Arabia and its metropolitan area introduce in a same platform the prediction of the quality of the air in the city, the management of atmospheric chemical emergencies and corresponding preventive and correcting decision-taking.
The UB spin-off Meteosim, with head offices in the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), has set up in Riyadh a world pioneering system that enables the capital of Saudi Arabia and its metropolitan area introduce in a same platform the prediction of the quality of the air in the city, the management of atmospheric chemical emergencies and corresponding preventive and correcting decision-taking.
The project -which Meteosim has worked on with Advisian, the environmental division of Worley Parsons, leading engineering company worldwide -combines time numerical modelling with big data (the system generates and analyses 1,000 million data every day). This is how the quality of the air can be predicted for every street.
“At the moment, this is the most ambitious operational project in the field of air quality. All emission sources corresponding to a city of 8 million inhabitants, in the middle of the desert, with heavy traffic and a strong industry in the Oil & Gas area -were introduced”, notes Oriol de Tera, general manager of Meteosim.
The system in Riyadh is a logical evolution of Meteosim, a world model in meteorological systems and air quality which used advanced techniques in numerical modelling. This technology enables working with atmospheric data in different temporary horizons (past, present and future), opening an interesting field of chances to adopt preventive measures -apart from correcting and mitigating ones- to improve the quality of the air people breath.
“Our Riyadh project is framed within the environmental management of big cities. The quality of the air is a problem in all big cities, because it causes a high cost on health, and even premature death of many inhabitants. Governments around the world are making an effort to promote smart cities. But, what is a better smart city concept other than a system to manage the quality of the air, involving meteorology, traffic, public transport and health?”, says Oriol de Tera.
Actually, a recent study published in the journal European Heart Journal states there are 8.8 million premature deaths in the world associated -direct and indirectly- with atmospheric pollution. These figures double the 4.2 estimated million by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Moreover, reports such as the one by the World Bank Group reveal that air pollution costs the world economy more than 5 trillion dollars in health and social assistance, and 225 billion dollars in loss of labour income. Another study, conducted in 2016 by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that if the situation does not change, costs will rise to a change between 18 and 25 trillion dollars by 2060.