The effect of different transport modes on urban PM(10) levels in two European cities

The aim of the study is to identify transport patterns that may have an important influence on PM10 levels in two European cities, namely Szeged in East-Central Europe and Bucharest in Eastern Europe. 4-Day, 6-hourly three-dimensional (3D) backward trajectories arriving at these locations at 1200 GM...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Science of the total environment 2013-08, Vol.458-460, p.36-46
Main Authors: Makra, László, Ionel, Ioana, Csépe, Zoltán, Matyasovszky, István, Lontis, Nicolae, Popescu, Francisc, Sümeghy, Zoltán
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air Movements
Air Pollution - analysis
Analysis of Variance
Cities
Cluster Analysis
Environmental Monitoring - statistics & numerical data
Geography
Hungary
Models, Theoretical
Particulate Matter - analysis
Romania
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Summary:The aim of the study is to identify transport patterns that may have an important influence on PM10 levels in two European cities, namely Szeged in East-Central Europe and Bucharest in Eastern Europe. 4-Day, 6-hourly three-dimensional (3D) backward trajectories arriving at these locations at 1200 GMT are computed using the HYSPLIT model over a 5-year period from 2004 to 2008. A k-means clustering algorithm using the Mahalanobis metric is applied in order to develop trajectory types. Two statistical indices are used to evaluate and compare exceedances of critical daily PM10 levels corresponding to the trajectory clusters. For Bucharest, the major PM10 transport can be clearly associated with air masses arriving from Central and Southern Europe, as well as the Western Mediterranean. Occasional North African dust intrusions over Romania are also found. For Szeged, Southern Europe with North Africa, Central Europe and Eastern Europe with regions over the West Siberian Plain are the most important sources of PM10. The occasional appearance of North-African-origin dust over Hungary is also detected. A statistical procedure is developed in order to separate medium- and long-range PM10 transport for both cities. Considering the 500 m arrival height, long-range transport plays a higher role in the measured PM10 concentration both for non-rainy and rainy days for Bucharest and Szeged, respectively.
ISSN:1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.04.021