UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST
FACULTY OF PHYSICS

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2024-11-23 17:50
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Conference: Bucharest University Faculty of Physics 2022 Meeting


Section: Atmosphere and Earth Science; Environment Protection


Title:
Observational study of major air pollutants over urban Romania in 2020 in comparison with 2019 as it results from ground-based measurements


Authors:
Robert Valentin CHIRITESCU (1), Eduard LUCA (2) and Gabriela IORGA (1,3)


*
Affiliation:
1) University of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics, Atomistilor 405, 077125 Bucharest-Magurele, Romania

2) University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography, Center for Coastal Research and Environmental Protection, Nicolae Balcescu 1, 010041 Bucharest, Romania

3) University of Bucharest, Faculty of Chemistry, Regina Elisabeta 4-12, 030018 Bucharest, Romania



E-mail
chiritescu.robert.valentin@gmail.com


Keywords:
air quality, urban air pollution, East Europe, ground-based PM10, PM2.5, NO2, CO, SO2, O3


Abstract:
This study aimed to characterize urban air pollution in 33 cities across Romania in 2019 and 2020. The selected cities have different level of economic development, various climate and topographic conditions, and they are expected to be impacted by manifold pollution sources. Because during 2020 different levels of measures of COVID-19 pandemic prevention were taken at the country scale, measures that have led to significant reductions of the emissions of primary pollutants, the 2020 year provided us with a unique opportunity to find out what would be the possible variation range of major air pollutants in Romanian urban areas under various strengths of anthropogenic activity. The ambient pollutant mass concentrations, both particulate PM10 and PM2.5 and gaseous species NO2, CO, SO2, O3, were extracted from the database of the National Air Quality Monitoring Network from 01.012019 to 31.12.2020. The time-series were statistically analyzed for each city for the representative month of each season and then used to estimate the pollutant impact on the surrounding regions. Results show pollution decreases for most pollutants in most cities in 2020. In addition to social and traffic restrictions, the decreases are higher or lower depending on other factors (topography, climatic factors, degree of industrialization of the area, etc.). The lockdown period in spring of 2020 determined significant improvement of air quality in all Romanian urban areas. Maps of interpolated mass concentrations reveal regional significant differences with pollutant-specific hot- and cold-spots in Romania. This work constitutes a good database to characterize de urban air pollution in major cities and the spatial distribution of their impact around and could help the authorities in their measures to better control pollutant emissions or to investigate the impact on population health under various future economic development scenarios.


Acknowledgement:
Research in this work received funding from the NO Grants 2014-2021, under contract no. 31/2020, EEA-RO-NO-2019-0423 project. Data regarding ground-based air pollutants and local meteorology were extracted from the public available Romanian National Air Quality Database, www.calitateaer.ro, last accessed in December 2021.