Previous studies reported significant variability of air pollutants across Europe with the lowest concentrations generally found in Northern Europe and the highest in Southern European countries. Within the MED-PARTICLES project the spatial and temporal variations of long-term PM and gaseous pollutants data were investigated in traffic and urban background sites across Southern Europe. The highest PM levels were observed in Greece and Italy (Athens, Thessaloniki, Turin and Rome) while all traffic sites showed high NO<inf>2</inf>levels, frequently exceeding the established limit value. High PM<inf>2.5</inf>/PM<inf>10</inf>ratios were calculated indicating that fine particles comprise a large fraction of PM<inf>10</inf>, with the highest values found in the urban background sites. It seems that although in traffic sites the concentrations of both PM<inf>2.5</inf>and PM<inf>10</inf>are significantly higher than those registered in urban background sites, the coarse fraction PM<inf>2.5-10</inf>is more important at the traffic sites. This fact is probably due to the high levels of resuspended road dust in sites highly affected by traffic, a phenomenon particularly relevant for Mediterranean countries. The long-term trends of air pollutants revealed a significant decrease of the concentration levels for PM, SO<inf>2</inf>and CO while for NO<inf>2</inf>no clear trend or slightly increasing trends were observed. This reduction could be attributed to the effectiveness of abatement measures and strategies and also to meteorological conditions and to the economic crisis that affected Southern Europe. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Angeliki Karanasiou, Xavier Querol, Andres Alastuey, Noemi Perez, Jorge Pey, Cinzia Perrino, et al. (2014). Particulate matter and gaseous pollutants in the Mediterranean Basin: Results from the MED-PARTICLES project. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, 488-489(1), 297-315 [10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.04.096].
Particulate matter and gaseous pollutants in the Mediterranean Basin: Results from the MED-PARTICLES project
POLUZZI, VANES;FERRARI, SILVIA;STAFOGGIA, MASSIMO;FORASTIERE, FRANCESCO;ALESSANDRINI, ESTER RITA;ANGELINI, PAOLA;CATRAMBONE, MILENA;DAVOLI, MARINA;DE DONATO, FRANCESCO;FORASTIERE, FRANCESCO;PANDOLFI, PAOLO;PELOSINI, RAFFAELLA;PIZZI, LORENZO;POLUZZI, VANES;STAFOGGIA, MASSIMO;STIVANELLO, ELISA;
2014
Abstract
Previous studies reported significant variability of air pollutants across Europe with the lowest concentrations generally found in Northern Europe and the highest in Southern European countries. Within the MED-PARTICLES project the spatial and temporal variations of long-term PM and gaseous pollutants data were investigated in traffic and urban background sites across Southern Europe. The highest PM levels were observed in Greece and Italy (Athens, Thessaloniki, Turin and Rome) while all traffic sites showed high NOI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
