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Date checks

Quality assurance (QA) of emissions datasets is an important aspect of the compilation of emission inventories because these inventories were often compiled from very large datasets, that have been completed, revised or otherwise modified in order to arrive at a complete and consistent dataset. Due to the handling of very many data, often several persons are involved, both in selecting representative emission factors as well data processing, errors and inconsistencies may easily slip in.

Country data

Country emissions were ranked according to their size. The top-10 countries and lowest 10 countries were checked for unlikely members. Global totals were compared with the global total of regional emissions. Trend data 1990-1995 were checked for plausibility.

Gridded Datasets

First, per source category the global total sum of all grid cells was compared with global total of the regional emissions. When large discrepancies were found, a country-by-country comparison was made of grid totals and the direct calculation at country level, and where required, the grid map(s) used in the gridding process were revised. Subsequently, the spatial pattern of major source categories and of total anthropogenic sources was visually inspected and compared with patterns of the previous  EDGAR version 2.0 . The results of the first comparison per source category between global total of gridded emissions and emissions calculated at country/region level were logged in a file (qa-qc-ccc-yyyy.xls) (112Kb) included in the zip-file with gridded emissions per source category. Remaining differences normally are due to and limited to smaller sources where grid points are missing for some countries for which non-zero emissions were calculated at country level.

Regional / Country data

Regional emissions were compared with results of the previous EDGAR version 2.0. Major differences were checked for a justification (update of emission factors or of activity data). Trend data 1970-1995 (direct  greenhouse gases ) or 1990-1995 (other compounds) were visually checked for plausibility.

related dossiers

related themesites

DGAR - Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research. Link to this website. GEIA - Global Emissions Inventory Activity, of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. Link to this website. IMAGE: theme-based website logo of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. Link to this website. FAIR: theme-based website of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. Link to this website. HYDE: theme-based website logo of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. Link to this website.