We focus on ten societal areas.
TNO cooperates with companies, the public sector and other organisations, to apply our knowledge and expertise with and for others.
We develop knowledge not for its own sake, but for practical application.
On TNO Insights you can read in-depth interviews and articles. Get inspired by TNO’s innovations!
TNO offers you the chance to do groundbreaking work and help customers and society with innovative, practical and smart solutions.
Visit web application TOPAS and get direct insight into your local sources.
Fine particles are produced by fuel combustion, wear and tear and the processing of materials. Natural sources such as sea salt and Saharan sand also contribute to the amount of fine particles in the air. "For effective air quality policy, it is important to know the sources of fine particles in an area so that measures can be developed on the basis of this. Until recently, the so-called source allocation of fine particles was, to a certain extent, guesswork for policymakers. With our TOPAS tool, this can now be done more reliably and simply," says Martijn Schaap, a TNO researcher who has co-developed the web application with his team.
TOPAS was built on the basis of TNO knowledge, such as the atmospheric transport model LOTOS-EUROS. This model is supplied for TOPAS with information from weather models of the European Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring System (CAMS). Schaap: "TOPAS provides the user with a thorough picture of the development of fine particles over the preceding six weeks. This way you can see for your own city the countries from which the particulate matter concentration originate. In addition, we make evident which sector contributes to the fine particles and to what extent. Users see the relationship between, among other things, industrial origin, large-scale energy generation, traffic and natural sources. The data are updated every 24 hours, and are offered free of charge."
The current free version is limited to six weeks of data. For policymakers who need more data, it is possible to receive additional data. TNO will continue to develop the current beta version in the coming months so that the level of detail of the data displayed is expanded. Martijn Schaap: "At the moment, the application only shows geographical origin at country level. We want to refine this to a provincial level, for example. We would also like to make rapid use of the data generated by Tropomi (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument) from Earth orbit. It will then be possible to identify emission sources even more precisely and quantify their impact."
Your question has been sent.
Sorry! Something unexpected happened. Please try again later.
Your question has been sent.
Sorry! Something unexpected happened. Please try again later.
Stay up to date with our latest news, activities and vacancies
TNO.nl collects and processes data in accordance with the applicable privacy regulations for an optimal user experience and marketing practices.
This data can easily be removed from your temporary profile page at any time.
You can also view our privacy statement or cookie statement.