Statistical distributions of air pollutant concentrations

1982 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 401-415
Author(s):  
Laura Goulier ◽  
Bastian Paas ◽  
Laura Ehrnsperger ◽  
Otto Klemm

Since operating urban air quality stations is not only time consuming but also costly, and because air pollutants can cause serious health problems, this paper presents the hourly prediction of ten air pollutant concentrations (CO2, NH3, NO, NO2, NOx, O3, PM1, PM2.5, PM10 and PN10) in a street canyon in Münster using an artificial neural network (ANN) approach. Special attention was paid to comparing three predictor options representing the traffic volume: we included acoustic sound measurements (sound), the total number of vehicles (traffic), and the hour of the day and the day of the week (time) as input variables and then compared their prediction powers. The models were trained, validated and tested to evaluate their performance. Results showed that the predictions of the gaseous air pollutants NO, NO2, NOx, and O3 reveal very good agreement with observations, whereas predictions for particle concentrations and NH3 were less successful, indicating that these models can be improved. All three input variable options (sound, traffic and time) proved to be suitable and showed distinct strengths for modelling various air pollutant concentrations.


Author(s):  
B. Yorkor ◽  
T. G. Leton ◽  
J. N. Ugbebor

This study investigated the temporal variations of air pollutant concentrations in Ogoni area, Niger Delta, Nigeria. The study used hourly data measured over 8 hours for 12 months at selected locations within the area. The analyses were based on time series and time variations techniques in Openair packages of R programming software. The variations of air pollutant concentrations by time of day and days of week were simulated. Hours of the day, days of the week and monthly variations were graphically simulated. Variations in the mean concentrations of air pollutants by time were determined at 95 % confidence intervals. Sulphur dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ground level Ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations exceeded permissible standards. Air pollutant concentrations showed increase in January, February, November and December compared to other months. Simulation showed that air pollutants varied significantly by hours-of-the-day and days-of-the-week and months-of-the-year. Analysis of temporal variability revealed that air pollutant concentrations increased during weekdays and decreased during weekends. The temporal variability of air pollutants in Ogoni area showed that anthropogenic activities were the main sources of air pollution in the area, therefore further studies are required to determine air pollutant dispersion pattern and evaluation the potential sources of air pollution in the area.


2021 ◽  
pp. 045
Author(s):  
Jimmy Leyes ◽  
Laure Roussel

La surveillance réglementaire de la qualité de l'air en France est confiée aux associations régionales agréées de surveillance de la qualité de l'air (Aasqa) telles qu'Atmo Hauts-de-France. Elles s'appuient sur une palette d'outils et leur expertise pour mesurer les polluants dans l'air de leur territoire, alerter les populations en cas d'épisode de pollution, répondre aux exigences réglementaires de surveillance définies au niveau européen, tout en prenant en compte les spécificités régionales. Cet article présente les différents outils utilisés par les Aasqa, et plus particulièrement Atmo Hauts-de-France, pour surveiller et estimer la qualité de l'air. L'association régionale opère ainsi un ensemble de stations de mesures fixes et mobiles pour suivre en continu les concentrations de polluants réglementés ou non sur son territoire, et dispose d'outils de modélisation pour évaluer et prévoir la qualité de l'air en tous points de la région. Cet article présente également certains des paramètres météorologiques qui influencent la qualité de l'air de la région Hauts-de-France, particulièrement concernée par les épisodes de pollution aux particules. Regulatory air quality monitoring in France is performed by government-approved non-profit organisations called AASQAs, one of which is Atmo Hauts-de-France. These organisations rely on decades of accumulated air quality expertise and use several techniques to measure air pollutant concentrations, inform the public when pollutant levels are unhealthy, and comply with E.U. air quality monitoring regulations. This paper gives an overview of the tools used by AASQAs, and more particularly by Atmo Hauts-de-France, to monitor and forecast air quality. The year-round continuous monitoring of air pollutant levels at fixed sites is supplemented by short-term measurements made with fully-equipped vehicles or trailers and by modelling tools that forecast air quality and estimate pollutant levels where there are no measurements. AASQAs study pollutants which ambient concentrations are regulated by European air quality standards as well as other pollutants which are not regulated in this way. This work also discusses some of the meteorological factors, that affect air quality in the region Hauts-de-France, which is heavily impacted by particulate matter pollution.


Author(s):  
Han Cao ◽  
Bingxiao Li ◽  
Tianlun Gu ◽  
Xiaohui Liu ◽  
Kai Meng ◽  
...  

Evidence regarding the effects of environmental factors on COVID-19 transmission is mixed. We aimed to explore the associations of air pollutants and meteorological factors with COVID-19 confirmed cases during the outbreak period throughout China. The number of COVID-19 confirmed cases, air pollutant concentrations, and meteorological factors in China from January 25 to February 29, 2020, (36 days) were extracted from authoritative electronic databases. The associations were estimated for a single-day lag as well as moving averages lag using generalized additive mixed models. Region-specific analyses and meta-analysis were conducted in 5 selected regions from the north to south of China with diverse air pollution levels and weather conditions and sufficient sample size. Nonlinear concentration–response analyses were performed. An increase of each interquartile range in PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, O3, and CO at lag4 corresponded to 1.40 (1.37–1.43), 1.35 (1.32–1.37), 1.01 (1.00–1.02), 1.08 (1.07–1.10), 1.28 (1.27–1.29), and 1.26 (1.24–1.28) ORs of daily new cases, respectively. For 1°C, 1%, and 1 m/s increase in temperature, relative humidity, and wind velocity, the ORs were 0.97 (0.97–0.98), 0.96 (0.96–0.97), and 0.94 (0.92–0.95), respectively. The estimates of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and all meteorological factors remained significantly after meta-analysis for the five selected regions. The concentration–response relationships showed that higher concentrations of air pollutants and lower meteorological factors were associated with daily new cases increasing. Higher air pollutant concentrations and lower temperature, relative humidity and wind velocity may favor COVID-19 transmission. Controlling ambient air pollution, especially for PM2.5, PM10, NO2, may be an important component of reducing risk of COVID-19 infection. In addition, as winter months are arriving in China, the meteorological factors may play a negative role in prevention. Therefore, it is significant to implement the public health control measures persistently in case another possible pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2139 (1) ◽  
pp. 012002
Author(s):  
L A Manco-Perdomo ◽  
L A Pérez-Padilla ◽  
C A Zafra-Mejía

Abstract The objective of this paper is to show an intervention analysis with autoregressive integrated moving average models for time series of air pollutants in a Latin American megacity. The interventions considered in this study correspond to public regulations for the control of urban air quality. The study period comprised 10 years. Information from 10 monitoring stations distributed throughout the megacity was used. Modelling showed that setting maximum emission limits for different pollution sources and improving fuel were the most appropriate regulatory interventions to reduce air pollutant concentrations. Modelling results also suggested that these interventions began to be effective between the first 4 days-15 days after their publication. The models developed on a monthly timescale had a short autoregressive memory. The air pollutant concentrations at a given time were influenced by the concentrations of up to three months immediately preceding. Moving average term of the models showed fluctuations in time of the air pollutant concentrations (3 months - 14 months). Within the framework of the applications of physics for the air pollution control, this study is relevant for the following findings: the usefulness of autoregressive integrated moving average models to temporal simulate air pollutants, and for its suitable performance to detect and quantify regulatory interventions.


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