The Air Quality of a Mediterranean Urban Environment Area and Its Relation to Major Meteorological Parameters

Karagiannidis, Athanasios; Poupkou, Anastasia; Giannaros, Theodoros; Giannaros, Christos; Melas, Dimitrios; Argiriou, Athanassios

The Air Quality of a Mediterranean Urban Environment Area and Its Relation to Major Meteorological Parameters

2015

The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the most basic features of the air quality of a Mediterranean urban environment area. The impact of meteorology on the air quality is also examined. Observational surface concentrations of the most important air pollutants, recorded at two measuring stations in Patras, Greece, are used. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) meteorological model was employed to produce a series of surface and upper air data and local circulation and ventilation indices. These modeled data along with selected surface meteorological observational data comprise a substantial data set that was used to assess the effect of meteorology on the air quality. Mostly during the summer period, a significant proportion of the particulate matter is transported from sources away from the measuring sites. The synoptic setting of winter and summer seasons represented primarily by the local ventilation and recirculation, the wind, the boundary layer height, and the precipitation has a very strong impact in the overall formation of the air quality status.

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