scholarly journals Air Pollution Analysis during the Lockdown on the City of Milan

Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1692
Author(s):  
Nicoletta Lotrecchiano ◽  
Paolo Trucillo ◽  
Diego Barletta ◽  
Massimo Poletto ◽  
Daniele Sofia
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Sudden Change ◽  
Monitoring Network ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Atmospheric Particulates ◽  
Dust Events ◽  
The City

From February 2020, the progressive adoption of measures to contain coronavirus’s contagion has resulted in a sudden change in anthropogenic activities in Italy, especially in Lombardy. From a scientific point of view, this situation represents a unique laboratory for understanding and predicting the consequences of specific measures aimed at improving air quality. In this work, the lockdown effect on Milan’s (Italy) air quality was analyzed. The PM10 and PM2.5 values were measured by the ARPA Lombardia, and the real-time on-road (ROM) air quality monitoring network indicates the seasonality of these pollutants, which typically record the highest values in the coldest months of the year. The 10-year particulate matter concentrations analysis shows a PM10 reduction of 35% from 2010 to 2020. March 2020 data analysis shows an alternation of days with higher and lower particulate matter concentrations; values decrease in pollutants concentrations of 16%, respective to 2018. The complexity of the phenomena related to the atmospheric particulates formation, transport, and accumulation is highlighted by some circumstances, such as the Sahara dust events. The study showed that the trend of a general pollutant concentration reduction should be attributed to the decrease in emissions (specifically, from the transport sector) from the variation of meteorological and environmental conditions.

Air Quality in Riga and Its Improvement Options

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (-1) ◽  
pp. 72-78
Author(s):  
Janis Kleperis ◽  
Gunars Bajars ◽  
Ingrida Bremere ◽  
Martins Menniks ◽  
Arturs Viksna ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
Particle Pollution ◽  
The City

Air Quality in Riga and Its Improvement Options Air quality in the city of Riga is evaluated from direct monitoring results and from accounting registered air pollutants in the city. It is concluded that from all air polluting substances listed in the European Commission directives, only nitrogen dioxide NO2 and particulate matter PM10 exceed the limits. In assessing the projected measures to improve air quality in Riga, it can be concluded that the implementation of cleaner fuels and improvements in energy efficiency of household and industrial sectors will decrease particle pollution, but measures in the transport sector will also contribute to reducing air pollution from nitrogen oxides.

scholarly journals Characterization of particulate matter in iron ore mining region of Itabira, Minas Gerais, Brazil

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Carolina Vasques Freitas ◽  
Rose-Marie Belardi ◽  
Henrique de Melo Jorge Barbosa
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Monitoring Network ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Opencast Mining ◽  
Residential Areas ◽  
Emission Data ◽  
Particulate Matter Emission ◽  
The City

Itabira has in its territory the largest complex of opencast mining in the world, which is located close to residential areas of the city. The air quality-monitoring network installed in the city is the main source of particulate matter emission data. However, these air quality stations only cover the areas near the mines and does not measure fine particulate matter. Thus, a first field campaign was carried out to characterize the particulate matter in the city and to compare the Hi-Vol data from air quality stations with the dichotomous air sampler data. Results of trajectories cluster analysis showed a long-range transport of aerosols during the sampling days from northeast (84% of the trajectories), east-southeast (12%) and south-southwest (3%) directions. Regarding to the meteorological conditions during the sampling days, negative correlations were seen between coarse particulate matter from mostly air quality stations and all meteorological parameters (but temperature). Results of the X-ray fluorescence and principal component analyses showed that the main trace elements in the coarse and fine modes are Iron and Sulfur, associated with emissions from mining activities, air mass transport from regional iron and steelmaking industry activities, vehicle emissions, local and regional biomass burning and natural biogenic emissions. This work represents the first assessment of source apportionment done in the city. Comparisons with other studies for some Brazilian larger cities showed that Itabira has comparable contributions of sulfur, iron and elements, such as copper, selenium, chromium, nickel, vanadium and lead.

scholarly journals Measurements of Local Sources of Particulates with a Portable Monitor along the Coast of an Insular City

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 261
Author(s):  
Christos Petsas ◽  
Marinos Stylianou ◽  
Antonis Zorpas ◽  
Agapios Agapiou
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Portable Monitor ◽  
Traffic Jam ◽  
Modern Cities ◽  
Anthropogenic Processes ◽  
The City ◽  
Coastal Front

The air quality of modern cities is considered an important factor for the quality of life of humans and therefore is being safeguarded by various international organizations, concentrating on the mass concentration of particulate matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10, 2.5 and 1 μm. However, the different physical and anthropogenic processes and activities within the city contribute to the rise of fine (<1 μm) and coarse (>1 μm) particles, directly impacting human health and the environment. In order to monitor certain natural and anthropogenic events, suspecting their significant contribution to PM concentrations, seven different events taking place on the coastal front of the city of Limassol (Cyprus) were on-site monitored using a portable PM instrument; these included both natural (e.g., dust event) and anthropogenic (e.g., cement factory, meat festival, tall building construction, tire factory, traffic jam, dust road) emissions taking place in spring and summer periods. The violations of the limits that were noticed were attributed mainly to the various anthropogenic activities taking place on-site, revealing once more the need for further research and continuous monitoring of air quality.

scholarly journals Urban influence on the concentration and composition of submicron particulate matter in central Amazonia

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzane S. de Sá ◽  
Brett B. Palm ◽  
Pedro Campuzano-Jost ◽  
Douglas A. Day ◽  
Weiwei Hu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Nitrogen Oxides ◽  
Mass Concentration ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
Organic Mass ◽  
The City

Abstract. Fundamental to quantifying the influence of human activities on climate and air quality is an understanding of how anthropogenic emissions affect the concentrations and composition of airborne particulate matter (PM). The central Amazon basin, especially around the city of Manaus, Brazil, has experienced rapid changes in the past decades due to ongoing urbanization. Herein, changes in the concentration and composition of submicron PM due to pollution downwind of the Manaus metropolitan region are reported as part of the GoAmazon2014/5 experiment. A high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) and a suite of other gas- and particle-phase instruments were deployed at the T3 research site, 70 km downwind of Manaus, during the wet season. At this site, organic components represented on average 79 ± 7 % of the non-refractory PM1 mass concentration, which was in the same range as several upwind sites. The organic PM1 was, however, considerably more oxidized at T3 compared to upwind measurements. Positive-matrix factorization (PMF) was applied to the time series of organic mass spectra collected at the T3 site, yielding three factors representing secondary processes (73 ± 15 % of total organic mass concentration) and three factors representing primary anthropogenic emissions (27 ± 15 %). Fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM) was applied to the afternoon time series of concentrations of NOy, ozone, total particle number, black carbon, and sulfate. Four clusters were identified and characterized by distinct airmass origins and particle compositions. Two clusters, Bkgd-1 and Bkgd-2, were associated with background conditions. Bkgd-1 appeared to represent near-field atmospheric PM production and oxidation of a day or less. Bkgd-2 appeared to represent material transported and oxidized for two or more days, often with out-of-basin contributions. Two other clusters, Pol-1 and Pol-2, represented the Manaus influence, one apparently associated with the northern region of Manaus and the other with the southern region of the city. A composite of the PMF and FCM analyses provided insights into the anthropogenic effects on PM concentration and composition. The increase in mass concentration of submicron PM ranged from 25 % to 200 % under polluted compared to background conditions, including contributions from both primary and secondary PM. Furthermore, a comparison of PMF factor loadings for different clusters suggested a shift in the pathways of PM production under polluted conditions. Nitrogen oxides may have played a critical role in these shifts. Increased concentrations of nitrogen oxides can shift pathways of PM production from HO2-dominant to NO-dominant as well as increase the concentrations of oxidants in the atmosphere. Consequently, the oxidation of biogenic and anthropogenic precursor gases as well as the oxidative processing of pre-existing atmospheric PM can be accelerated. The combined set of results demonstrates the susceptibility of atmospheric chemistry, air quality, and associated climate forcing to anthropogenic perturbations over tropical forests.

scholarly journals One-Year Simulation of Ozone and Particulate Matter in China Using WRF/CMAQ Modeling System

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianlin Hu ◽  
Jianjun Chen ◽  
Qi Ying ◽  
Hongliang Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Model Performance ◽  
Monitoring Network ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Quality Monitoring ◽  
Air Quality Monitoring ◽  
Low Concentration ◽  
Temporal And Spatial

Abstract. China has been experiencing severe air pollution in recent decades. Although ambient air quality monitoring network for criteria pollutants has been constructed in over 100 cities since 2013 in China, the temporal and spatial characteristics of some important pollutants, such as particulate matter (PM) components, remain unknown, limiting further studies investigating potential air pollution control strategies to improve air quality and associating human health outcomes with air pollution exposure. In this study, a yearlong (2013) air quality simulation using the Weather Research &amp; Forecasting model (WRF) and the Community Multi-scale Air Quality model (CMAQ) was conducted to provide detailed temporal and spatial information of ozone (O3), PM2.5 total and chemical components. Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC) was used for anthropogenic emissions and observation data obtained from the national air quality monitoring network were collected to validate model performance. The model successfully reproduces the O3 and PM2.5 concentrations at most cities for most months, with model performance statistics meeting the performance criteria. However, over-prediction of O3 generally occurs at low concentration range while under-prediction of PM2.5 happens at low concentration range in summer. Spatially, the model has better performance in Southern China than in Northern, Central and Sichuan basin. Strong seasonal variations of PM2.5 exist and wind speed and direction play important roles in high PM2.5 events. Secondary components have more boarder distribution than primary components. Sulfate (SO42−), nitrate (NO3−), ammonium (NH4+), and primary organic aerosol (POA) are the most important PM2.5 components. All components have the highest concentrations in winter except secondary organic aerosol (SOA). This study proves the ability of CMAQ model in reproducing severe air pollution in China, identifies the directions where improvements are needed, and provides information for human exposure to multiple pollutants for assessing health effects.

scholarly journals The value of satellite observations in the analysis and short-range prediction of Asian dust

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 987-998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Benedetti ◽  
Francesca Di Giuseppe ◽  
Luke Jones ◽  
Vincent-Henri Peuch ◽  
Samuel Rémy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Short Range ◽  
Asian Dust ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Global Model ◽  
Deep Blue ◽  
Dust Events

Abstract. Asian dust is a seasonal meteorological phenomenon which affects east Asia, and has severe consequences on the air quality of China, North and South Korea and Japan. Despite the continental extent, the prediction of severe episodes and the anticipation of their consequences is challenging. Three 1-year experiments were run to assess the skill of the model of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in monitoring Asian dust and understand its relative contribution to the aerosol load over China. Data used were the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Dark Target and the Deep Blue aerosol optical depth (AOD). In particular the experiments aimed at understanding the added value of data assimilation runs over a model run without any aerosol data. The year 2013 was chosen as representative of the availability of independent AOD data from two established ground-based networks (AERONET, Aerosol Robotic Network, and CARSNET, China Aerosol Remote Sensing Network), which could be used to evaluate experiments. Particulate matter (PM) data from the China Environmental Protection Agency were also used in the evaluation. Results show that the assimilation of satellite AOD data is beneficial to predict the extent and magnitude of desert dust events and to improve the short-range forecast of such events. The availability of observations from the MODIS Deep Blue algorithm over bright surfaces is an asset, allowing for a better localization of the sources and definition of the dust events. In general both experiments constrained by data assimilation perform better than the unconstrained experiment, generally showing smaller normalized mean bias and fractional gross error with respect to the independent verification datasets. The impact of the assimilated satellite observations is larger at analysis time, but lasts into the forecast up to 48 h. The performance of the global model in terms of particulate matter does not show the same degree of skill as the performance in terms of optical depth. Despite this, the global model is able to capture some regional pollution patterns. This indicates that the global model analyses may be used as boundary conditions for regional air quality models at higher resolution, enhancing their performance in situations in which part of the pollution may have originated from large-scale mechanisms. While assimilation is not a substitute for model development and characterization of the emission sources, results indicate that it can play a role in delivering improved monitoring of Asian dust optical depth.

Variability of trends observed in Atmospheric Aerosol optical properties over Pune, India

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudeep Das ◽  
Govindan Pandithurai
Keyword(s):  
Optical Properties ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Sea Salt ◽  
Negative Slope ◽  
Average Height ◽  
Aerosol Optical Properties ◽  
The City ◽  
Monthly Variations

&lt;p&gt;Long term trends of various aerosol optical properties are observed over the city of Pune, the ninth most populated city in India using ground and satellite based instruments such as AERONET, MODIS (Aqua and Terra), MISR, CALIOP and reanalysis tool MERRA. Annually, the Aerosol Optical Depth is observed to be increasing over all the types of instruments (2004-17) with values of 0.01 to 0.006 yr&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;, whereas the Angstrom exponent has a negative slope (AERONET) which suggests that the fine aerosols are decreasing. Single scattering albedo (SSA) is also increasing (0.00657 yr&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;), which means the emission of smaller darker particles like soot has decreased over the years. MISR shows that the Absorbing AOD trend is decreasing in the overall study period (-0.0001237 yr&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;). All these annual trends are related to anthropogenic activities and show differing trends before and after 2008, the year when various pollution counter measures were introduced mainly in Pune and also in various nearby areas. After 2008, the AOD increasing slope reduces, and the AAOD reverses the trend from positive to a negative slope. The average height till various kinds of aerosols reach and their vertical profile is studied using CALIOP data. Monthly variations of AOD and their vertical distribution also observed and discussed. Aerosol characterization is done using the MERRA tool into dust, sea salt, sulfates, elementary carbon, and organic carbon. Their monthly variations are explained by source characterizations using the HySplit model. In summer, air from the Arabian sea brings in dust and sea salt into the city and in winter, aerosols come from central India dominantly as carbon and sulfates changing the air quality over there. This study lays its stress on the fact that even though aerosols cover over a city is mostly non-local, anthropogenic activities of that area do play a significant role and here the city of Pune is a role model to show how measures can be taken to improve air quality over any urban area.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Analysis of concentration levels of particulate matter (PM10, total suspended particulates and black smoke) in the city of Zrenjanin

2010 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 453-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogdana Vujic ◽  
Dusan Milovanovic ◽  
Dejan Ubavin
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Quality Monitoring ◽  
Air Quality Monitoring ◽  
Suspended Particulates ◽  
Black Smoke ◽  
Total Suspended Particulates ◽  
The City ◽  
Concentration Levels

Air quality monitoring on the territory of AP Vojvodina was initiated in mid 90s. During the last decade of the 20th century the development of the air quality monitoring in Serbia didn?t keep up with the pace of the other countries in the region due to political isolation and severe economic crisis. Monitoring of the particular pollutants was conducted unsystematically and sporadically. Data presented in this paper were obtained on the territory of the city of Zrenjanin, which represents typical agglomeration in the region in regard to its geographical location, population, level of industry development and the presence of natural gas as energy product in the remote and domestic heating system of residential objects. Available data on the concentration levels of PM10 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 ?m), TSP (total suspended particulates) and BS (black smoke) during the period of 2005-2007 (three cold and three warm seasons) have been used in this work in order to carry out analysis and comparison of the daily concentration levels of PM10, TSP and BS and their seasonal variation.

scholarly journals The relative risk of mortality to the population on the Krasnoyarsk in the period when the air quality standards are exceeded

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.A. Chernykh ◽  
E.N. Bel’skaia ◽  
O.V. Taseiko
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Relative Risk ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Risk Model ◽  
Quality Standards ◽  
Relative Increase ◽  
Risk Of Mortality ◽  
The City ◽  
Relative Risk Model

A study was carried out to assess the effect of concentrations of particulate matter (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and formaldehyde (F) exceeding the MPC on the mortality rate of the population of the city of Krasnoyarsk for 10 years (from 2000 to 2004 and from 2014 to 2018). The relative increase in mortality from exposure to the pollutants under study was determined using the relative risk model.

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