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page 58 of 142 RIVM report 773301 001 / NRP report 410200 051
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EDGAR data are being used extensively for both scientific and policy applications, even without
considering applications unidentified by the EDGAR-team. Gridded datasets are used as official or
preliminary GEIA inventories and have the advantage that they reflect a recent year, show sectoral
details, are consistent across compounds and have a good coverage of anthropogenic sources. Also
the sectoral data at regional and national level appear to be quite useful for a lot of policy-oriented
applications.
The documentation of EDGAR and the information on the associated uncertainties are relatively
less appreciated. However, we have noticed that the accompanying documentation files at the FTP
site are not always read carefully. Also, in a number of papers specific compound datasets and the
uncertainty in these emissions are described in more detail.
Seasonality information is important because of the reactivity of some of the compounds (e.g.
leading to ozone formation) and to compare with observed seasonality in local atmospheric
concentration measurements. Specific additional wishes of EDGAR users, notably an update to
include a more recent year, adding information on time profiles and trend data, are dealt with in
Version 3.0 (see Chapter 4). Also, we hope that by providing also access to the data through the
EDGAR website, in addition to anonymous FTP, users are more triggered to read the supporting
information provided with the data as it is presented in a more attractive form.