Particulate matter pollution from aviation-related activity at a small airport of the Aegean Sea Insular Region
2017
Psanis, C. | Triantafyllou, E. | Giamarelou, M. | Manousakas, M. | Eleftheriadis, K. | Biskos, G.
The unprecedented growth in aviation during the last years has resulted in a notable increase of local air pollution related to airports. The impacts of aviation on air quality can be extremely high around airports serving remote insular regions with pristine atmospheric environment. Here we report measurements that show how the atmospheric aerosol is affected by the activity at a small airport in a remote region. More specifically, we report measurements performed at the airport of Mytilene, Greece, a regional yet international airport that serves the entire island of Lesvos; the third largest island of the country. The measurements show that activity during landing, taxiing and take-off of the aircrafts accounted for up to a 10-fold increase in particulate matter (PM) mass concentration in the vicinity of the airport. The number concentration of particles having diameter from 10 to 500nm also increased from ca. 4×102 to 8×105particlescm−3, while the mean particle diameter decreased from ca. 100 to 20nm when aircrafts were present at the airport. Elemental analysis on particle samples collected simultaneously at the airport and at a remote site 3km away, showed that the former were significantly influenced by combustion sources, and specifically from the engines of the aircrafts. Despite their small size, local airports serving remote insular regions should be considered as important air pollution hotspots, raising concerns for the exposure of the people working and leaving in their vicinities.
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