Seasonal variation of ozone and black carbon observed at Paknajol, an urban site in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

Abstract. The Kathmandu Valley in South Asia is considered as one of the global "hot spots" in terms of urban air pollution. It is facing severe air quality problems as a result of rapid urbanization and land use change, socioeconomic transformation and high population growth. In this paper, we present the first full year (February 2013–January 2014) analysis of simultaneous measurements of two short-lived climate forcers/pollutants (SLCF/P), i.e. ozone (O3) and equivalent black carbon (hereinafter noted as BC) and aerosol number concentration at Paknajol, in the center of the Kathmandu metropolitan city. The diurnal behavior of equivalent black carbon (BC) and aerosol number concentration indicated that local pollution sources represent the major contributions to air pollution in this city. In addition to photochemistry, the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and wind play important roles in determining O3 variability, as suggested by the analysis of seasonal diurnal cycle and correlation with meteorological parameters and aerosol properties. Especially during pre-monsoon, high values of O3 were found during the afternoon/evening; this could be related to mixing and entrainment processes between upper residual layers and the PBL. The high O3 concentrations, in particular during pre-monsoon, appeared well related to the impact of major open vegetation fires occurring at regional scale. On a synoptic-scale perspective, westerly and regional atmospheric circulations appeared to be especially conducive for the occurrence of the high BC and O3 values. The very high values of SLCF/P, detected during the whole measurement period, indicated persisting adverse air quality conditions, dangerous for the health of over 3 million residents of the Kathmandu Valley, and the environment. Consequently, all of this information may be useful for implementing control measures to mitigate the occurrence of acute pollution levels in the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding area.

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Seasonal variation of ozone and black carbon observed at Paknajol, an urban site in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-15-13957-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (24) ◽

pp. 13957-13971 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

D. Putero ◽

P. Cristofanelli ◽

A. Marinoni ◽

B. Adhikary ◽

R. Duchi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Black Carbon ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Number Concentration ◽

Urban Site ◽

Kathmandu Valley ◽

Rapid Urbanization ◽

Aerosol Number Concentration ◽

The Impact

Abstract. The Kathmandu Valley in south Asia is considered as one of the global "hot spots" in terms of urban air pollution. It is facing severe air quality problems as a result of rapid urbanization and land use change, socioeconomic transformation, and high population growth. In this paper, we present the first full year (February 2013–January 2014) analysis of simultaneous measurements of two short-lived climate forcers/pollutants (SLCF/P), i.e., ozone (O3) and equivalent black carbon (hereinafter noted as BC) and aerosol number concentration at Paknajol, in the city center of Kathmandu. The diurnal behavior of equivalent BC and aerosol number concentration indicated that local pollution sources represent the major contributions to air pollution in this city. In addition to photochemistry, the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and wind play important roles in determining O3 variability, as suggested by the analysis of seasonal changes of the diurnal cycles and the correlation with meteorological parameters and aerosol properties. Especially during pre-monsoon, high values of O3 were found during the afternoon/evening. This could be related to mixing and entrainment processes between upper residual layers and the PBL. The high O3 concentrations, in particular during pre-monsoon, appeared well related to the impact of major open vegetation fires occurring at the regional scale. On a synoptic-scale perspective, westerly and regional atmospheric circulations appeared to be especially conducive for the occurrence of the high BC and O3 values. The very high values of SLCF/P, detected during the whole measurement period, indicated persisting adverse air quality conditions, dangerous for the health of over 3 million residents of the Kathmandu Valley, and the environment. Consequently, all of this information may be useful for implementing control measures to mitigate the occurrence of acute pollution levels in the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding area.

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The contribution of shipping to air pollution in the Mediterranean region – a model evaluation study

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-8344 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lea Fink ◽

Volker Matthias ◽

Matthias Karl ◽

Ronny Petrik ◽

Elisa Majamäki ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Mediterranean Coast ◽

Emission Model ◽

Ship Emissions ◽

Scale Models ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

The Impact

Shipping has major contribution to emissions of air pollutants like NOx and SO2 and the global maritime transport volumes are projected to increase significantly. The Mediterranean Sea is a region with dense ship traffic. Air quality observations in many cities along the Mediterranean coast indicate high levels of NO2 and particulate matter with significant contributions from ship emissions. To quantify the current impact of shipping on air pollution, models for ship emissions and atmospheric transport can be applied, but model predictions may differ from observational data. To determine how well regional scale chemistry transport models simulate pollutant concentrations, the model outputs from several regional scale models were compared against each other and to measured data. In the framework of the EU H2020 project SCIPPER, ship emission model STEAM and the regional scale models CMAQ and CHIMERE model were applied on a modelling domain covering the Mediterranean Sea. Modeling results were compared to air quality observations at coastal locations. The impact of shipping in the Mediterranean Sea was extracted from the model excluding shipping emissions.&#160;

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European atmosphere in 2050, a regional air quality and climate perspective under CMIP5 scenarios

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-13-7451-2013 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 13 (15) ◽

pp. 7451-7471 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

A. Colette ◽

B. Bessagnet ◽

R. Vautard ◽

S. Szopa ◽

S. Rao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

External Factors ◽

Pollutant Emissions ◽

Reference Scenario ◽

Regional Air Quality ◽

The Impact

Abstract. To quantify changes in air pollution over Europe at the 2050 horizon, we designed a comprehensive modelling system that captures the external factors considered to be most relevant, and that relies on up-to-date and consistent sets of air pollution and climate policy scenarios. Global and regional climate as well as global chemistry simulations are based on the recent representative concentration pathways (RCP) produced for the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) whereas regional air quality modelling is based on the updated emissions scenarios produced in the framework of the Global Energy Assessment. We explored two diverse scenarios: a reference scenario where climate policies are absent and a mitigation scenario which limits global temperature rise to within 2 °C by the end of this century. This first assessment of projected air quality and climate at the regional scale based on CMIP5 (5th Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) climate simulations is in line with the existing literature using CMIP3. The discrepancy between air quality simulations obtained with a climate model or with meteorological reanalyses is pointed out. Sensitivity simulations show that the main factor driving future air quality projections is air pollutant emissions, rather than climate change or intercontinental transport of pollution. Whereas the well documented "climate penalty" that weights upon ozone (increase of ozone pollution with global warming) over Europe is confirmed, other features appear less robust compared to the literature, such as the impact of climate on PM2.5. The quantitative disentangling of external factors shows that, while several published studies focused on the climate penalty bearing upon ozone, the contribution of the global ozone burden is somewhat overlooked in the literature.

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European atmosphere in 2050, a regional air quality and climate perspective under CMIP5 scenarios

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions ◽

10.5194/acpd-13-6455-2013 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 6455-6499 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

A. Colette ◽

B. Bessagnet ◽

R. Vautard ◽

S. Szopa ◽

S. Rao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Climate Model ◽

Regional Climate ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Pollutant Emissions ◽

Reference Scenario ◽

Regional Air Quality ◽

The Impact

Abstract. To quantify changes in air pollution in Europe at the 2050 horizon, we designed a comprehensive modelling system that captures the external factors considered to be most relevant and relies on up-to-date and consistent sets of air pollution and climate policy scenarios. Global and regional climate as well as global chemistry simulations are based on the recent Representative Concentrations Pathways (RCP) produced for the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of IPCC whereas regional air quality modelling is based on the updated emissions scenarios produced in the framework of the Global Energy Assessment. We explored two diverse scenarios: a reference scenario where climate policies are absent and a mitigation scenario which limits global temperature rise to within 2 °C by the end of this century. This first assessment of projected air quality and climate at the regional scale based on CMIP5 (5th Climate Model Intercomparison Project) climate simulations is in line with the existing literature using CMIP3. The discrepancy between air quality simulations obtained with a climate model or with meteorological reanalyses is pointed out. Sensitivity simulations show that the main factor driving future air quality projections is air pollutant emissions, rather than climate change or long range transport. Whereas the well documented "climate penalty" bearing upon ozone over Europe is confirmed, other features appear less robust compared to the literature: such as the impact of climate on PM2.5. The quantitative disentangling of each contributing factor shows that the magnitude of the ozone climate penalty has been overstated in the past while on the contrary the contribution of the global ozone burden is overlooked in the literature.

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INVESTIGATION OF AEROSOL NUMBER CONCENTRATION IN JONAVA TOWN/AEROZOLIŲ SKAITINĖS KONCENTRACIJOS TYRIMAI JONAVOJE/ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ЧИСЛОВОЙ КОНЦЕНТРАЦИИ АЭРОЗОЛЯ В ГОРОДЕ ЙОНАВЕ

Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management ◽

10.3846/1648-6897.2009.17.51-59 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 51-59 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Raminta Vyzienė ◽

Aloyzas Girgždys

Keyword(s):

Particulate Matter ◽

Air Quality ◽

Wind Speed ◽

Mass Concentration ◽

Number Concentration ◽

Urban Site ◽

The South ◽

Aerosol Number Concentration ◽

Concentration Measurements ◽

Pm10 Mass

Though some authors declare that aerosol number concentration might be a better indicator of health effects of the particulates than the mass method, there is lack of aerosol number investigation studies. Most of air quality studies so far have been based on aerosol mass concentration measurements. Lithuanian National Air Quality Monitoring Network does not carry out aerosol number concentration measurements. Nonetheless, detailed particulate matter mass concentration investigation studies are made periodically in the biggest Lithuanian cities by various scientific organizations. Jonava seems to be overpassed even there. This is the reason for choosing the investigation object. In Jonava town persistent measurements of aerosol number concentration were performed since 21 till 29 of November in the year 2006. The pollutants were measured with an optical particle counter AZ‐5. The fluctuations of 24 hours, diurnal aerosol number concentration were analysed. The weather was favorable for pollutant accumulation and stood quite stable during the experimental period. The variation of aerosol number concentration was compared with other pollutants and wind speed changes. The increase of aerosol number concentration was detected with the decrease of wind speed and vice versa. The biggest concentration was detected when the wind blew from the South, there green territories are located. The increase of particulate concentration was not observed with the South‐eastern wind directions coming from a fertilizer plant. The correlation between aerosol number concentration and nitrogen compounds was found. The tendency for high aerosol number concentrations was not observed during the rush hours as well as weekend effect could not be detected, indicating about low impact of local transportation. Comparison between particulate matter (PM10) mass and aerosol number concentrations was performed. The linear tendency between aerosol number and mass concentration was found. The increase of PM10 mass concentration was found to be 1,6 μg/m3 for each additional 1000 aerosol particle cm−3. While comparing aerosol number concentration fluctuations in Jonava and Preila locations, the results exhibited great variability on both monitoring sites. Aerosol number concentration was higher in Preila in February, March and April. Meanwhile, in summer months the aerosol number concentration increased on the urban site. These urban and rural differences were influenced by geographical and meteorological site peculiarities and air mass transport. Santrauka Nors kai kurie autoriai teigia, kad aerozolių skaitinė koncentracija gali būti geresnis indikatorius, vertinant kietųjų dalelių įtaką sveikatai nei masinė koncentracija, aerozolio skaitinės koncentracijos tyrimų trūksta. Daugelis oro kokybės tyrimų remiasi kietųjų dalelių masinės koncentracijos matavimais. Didžiuosiuose Lietuvos miestuose masinės kietųjų dalelių koncentracijos tyrimai atliekami periodiškai įvairių mokslinių organizacijų. Kietųjų dalelių tyrimų Jonavoje trūkumas lėmė tyrimo objekto pasirinkimą. Aerozolių skaitinė koncentracija nenutrūkstamai buvo matuojama Jonavoje lapkričio 21– 29 dienomis optiniu dalelių skaičiuotuvu AZ-5. Vėliau gauti duomenys buvo analizuojami, stebimi valandiniai ir paros skaitinės koncentracijos kitimai per visą matavimo laikotarpį. Buvo tiriama sąsaja tarp skaitinės aerozolių koncentracijos ir kitų teršalų bei vėjo greičio. Nustatyta priklausomybė tarp aerozolių skaitinės koncentracijos ir azoto junginių, taip pat vėjo greičio. Oro sąlygos teršalų kaupimuisi matavimo laikotarpiu buvo palankios, viso eksperimento metu gana pastovios, todėl staigūs aerozolių koncentracijos pokyčiai negali būti siejami su netikėtais oro sąlygų pokyčiais. Vis tik aerozolių skaitinės koncentracijos padidėjimas nustatytas mažėjant vėjo greičiui, ir atvirkščiai. Didžiausios koncentracijos užfiksuotos pučiant pietų vėjui iš periferijos. Gi pučiant rytų vėjui, nešančiam oro mases nuo trąšų fabriko, koncentracijos netgi sumažėjo. Aerozolių skaitinės koncentracijos padidėjimo neužfiksuota rytinių ir vakarinių transporto pikų metu. Nebuvo nustatytas ir „savaitgalio efektas“. Tai byloja apie nežymią vietos transporto įtaką matavimo rezultatams. Tarp aerozolių masinės ir skaitinės koncentracijų rasta tiesinė priklausomybė. Nustatyta, kad aerozolių skaitinei koncentracijai padidėjus 1000 dalelių/cm3, aerozolių masinė koncentracija padidėja 1,6 μm/m3 Lyginant kietųjų dalelių (PM10) masinės koncentracijos kitimą miesto ir kaimo vietovėse, pastebėta didelis rezultatų skirtumas. Aerozolių skaitinė koncentracija buvo žymiai didesnė Preiloje vasario – balandžio mėnesiais, palyginti nei Jonavoje. Vasarą kietųjų dalelių masinė koncentracija buvo didesnė miesto aplinkoje. Šiuos kietųjų dalelių koncentracijų skirtumus kaimo ir miesto aplinkoje lemia geografiniai bei meteorologiniai vietovių skirtumai. Įvertinus tyrimo duomenis paaiškėjo, kad kietųjų dalelių koncentracijų kaitą eksperimento metu Jonavoje labiausiai lėmė tolimieji oro teršalai. Vietinių taršos šaltinių įtaka kietųjų dalelių koncentracijų pasiskirstymui eksperimento metu nebuvo esminė. Резюме По мнению некоторых авторов, числовая концентрация аэрозоля может быть лучшим индикатором воздействия твердых частиц на здоровье людей, чем массовый метод, однако она недостаточно исследована. Большинство исследований качества воздуха пока основано на измерении массовой концентрации макрочастиц. В больших городах Литвы исследования массовой концентрации твердых частиц осуществляются различными научными организациями периодически. В Йонаве таких исследований было недостаточно. Постоянные измерения концентрации числа аэрозоля в городе были выполнены с 21 по 29 октября 2006 г. Загрязнители были измерены фотоэлектрическим счетчиком аэрозольных частиц АЗ-5. Суточные и часовые колебания числовой концентрации аэрозоля были проанализированы. Исследовалась связь между числовой концентрацией аэрозолей и других загрязнителей и скоростью ветра. Была найдена корреляция между числовой концентрацией аэрозоля, соединениями азота и скоростью ветра. Увеличение числовой концентрации аэрозоля было установлено с уменьшением скорости ветра и наоборот. Высокая числовая концентрация аэрозолей не нaблюдaлась в часы «пик» утром и вечером. В этом же отношении не был установлен эффект конца недели из-за небольшого воздействия местного транспорта на результаты измерений. Была установлена линейная зависимость между числовой и массовой концентрацией аэрозоля. С увеличением числовой концентрации на 1000 частиц аэрозоля на 1 см3 массовая концентрация PM10 увеличивается на 1,6 μм/м3 . Сравнение колебаний числовой концентрации аэрозоля в Йонаве и Прейле выявило большую изменчивость результатов. Числовая концентрация аэрозоля в Прейле была выше в феврале, марте и апреле, а в летние месяцы она увеличивалась на городском участке. Эти городские и сельские различия объясняются особенностями географических и метеорологических участков и движением транспорта.

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Functional ANOVA approaches for detecting changes in air pollution during the COVID-19 pandemic

Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment ◽

10.1007/s00477-021-02071-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Christian Acal ◽

Ana M. Aguilera ◽

Annalina Sarra ◽

Adelia Evangelista ◽

Tonio Di Battista ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Functional Data ◽

Central Italy ◽

Principal Component ◽

Functional Principal Component Analysis ◽

Area Of Interest ◽

Pm 10 ◽

The Impact ◽

Monitoring Stations

AbstractFaced with novel coronavirus outbreak, the most hard-hit countries adopted a lockdown strategy to contrast the spread of virus. Many studies have already documented that the COVID-19 control actions have resulted in improved air quality locally and around the world. Following these lines of research, we focus on air quality changes in the urban territory of Chieti-Pescara (Central Italy), identified as an area of criticality in terms of air pollution. Concentrations of $$\hbox {NO}_{{2}}$$ NO 2 , $$\hbox {PM}_{{10}}$$ PM 10 , $$\hbox {PM}_{2.5}$$ PM 2.5 and benzene are used to evaluate air pollution changes in this Region. Data were measured by several monitoring stations over two specific periods: from 1st February to 10 th March 2020 (before lockdown period) and from 11st March 2020 to 18 th April 2020 (during lockdown period). The impact of lockdown on air quality is assessed through functional data analysis. Our work makes an important contribution to the analysis of variance for functional data (FANOVA). Specifically, a novel approach based on multivariate functional principal component analysis is introduced to tackle the multivariate FANOVA problem for independent measures, which is reduced to test multivariate homogeneity on the vectors of the most explicative principal components scores. Results of the present study suggest that the level of each pollutant changed during the confinement. Additionally, the differences in the mean functions of all pollutants according to the location and type of monitoring stations (background vs traffic), are ascribable to the $$\hbox {PM}_{{10}}$$ PM 10 and benzene concentrations for pre-lockdown and during-lockdown tenure, respectively. FANOVA has proven to be beneficial to monitoring the evolution of air quality in both periods of time. This can help environmental protection agencies in drawing a more holistic picture of air quality status in the area of interest.

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The interplay between environmental exposures and COVID-19 risks in the health of children

Environmental Health ◽

10.1186/s12940-021-00716-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Peter D. Sly ◽

Brittany A. Trottier ◽

Catherine M. Bulka ◽

Stephania A. Cormier ◽

Julius Fobil ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Disease Severity ◽

Research Effort ◽

Severe Disease ◽

Environmental Exposures ◽

Research Strategy ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Research Questions ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background An unusual feature of SARS-Cov-2 infection and the COVID-19 pandemic is that children are less severely affected than adults. This is especially paradoxical given the epidemiological links between poor air quality and increased COVID-19 severity in adults and that children are generally more vulnerable than adults to the adverse consequences of air pollution. Objectives To identify gaps in knowledge about the factors that protect children from severe SARS-Cov-2 infection even in the face of air pollution, and to develop a transdisciplinary research strategy to address these gaps. Methods An international group of researchers interested in children’s environmental health was invited to identify knowledge gaps and to develop research questions to close these gaps. Discussion Key research questions identified include: what are the effects of SAR-Cov-2 infection during pregnancy on the developing fetus and child; what is the impact of age at infection and genetic susceptibility on disease severity; why do some children with COVID-19 infection develop toxic shock and Kawasaki-like symptoms; what are the impacts of toxic environmental exposures including poor air quality, chemical and metal exposures on innate immunity, especially in the respiratory epithelium; what is the possible role of a “dirty” environment in conveying protection – an example of the “hygiene hypothesis”; and what are the long term health effects of SARS-Cov-2 infection in early life. Conclusion A concerted research effort by a multidisciplinary team of scientists is needed to understand the links between environmental exposures, especially air pollution and COVID-19. We call for specific research funding to encourage basic and clinical research to understand if/why exposure to environmental factors is associated with more severe disease, why children appear to be protected, and how innate immune responses may be involved. Lessons learned about SARS-Cov-2 infection in our children will help us to understand and reduce disease severity in adults, the opposite of the usual scenario.

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Scalable kernel-based SVM classification algorithm on imbalance air quality data for proficient healthcare

Complex & Intelligent Systems ◽

10.1007/s40747-021-00435-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Shwet Ketu ◽

Pramod Kumar Mishra

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Class Imbalance ◽

Imbalanced Data ◽

Classification Algorithm ◽

Quality Data ◽

Pollution Level ◽

Classification Problems ◽

Chi Square ◽

The Impact

AbstractIn the last decade, we have seen drastic changes in the air pollution level, which has become a critical environmental issue. It should be handled carefully towards making the solutions for proficient healthcare. Reducing the impact of air pollution on human health is possible only if the data is correctly classified. In numerous classification problems, we are facing the class imbalance issue. Learning from imbalanced data is always a challenging task for researchers, and from time to time, possible solutions have been developed by researchers. In this paper, we are focused on dealing with the imbalanced class distribution in a way that the classification algorithm will not compromise its performance. The proposed algorithm is based on the concept of the adjusting kernel scaling (AKS) method to deal with the multi-class imbalanced dataset. The kernel function's selection has been evaluated with the help of weighting criteria and the chi-square test. All the experimental evaluation has been performed on sensor-based Indian Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) dataset. The proposed algorithm with the highest accuracy of 99.66% wins the race among all the classification algorithms i.e. Adaboost (59.72%), Multi-Layer Perceptron (95.71%), GaussianNB (80.87%), and SVM (96.92). The results of the proposed algorithm are also better than the existing literature methods. It is also clear from these results that our proposed algorithm is efficient for dealing with class imbalance problems along with enhanced performance. Thus, accurate classification of air quality through our proposed algorithm will be useful for improving the existing preventive policies and will also help in enhancing the capabilities of effective emergency response in the worst pollution situation.

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Gender Differences in Association between Air Pollution and Daily Mortality in the Capital of the Green Lungs of Poland–Population-Based Study with 2,953,000 Person-Years of Follow-Up

Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.3390/jcm9082351 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (8) ◽

pp. 2351

Author(s):

Łukasz Kuźma ◽

Krzysztof Struniawski ◽

Szymon Pogorzelski ◽

Hanna Bachórzewska-Gajewska ◽

Sławomir Dobrzycki

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Gender Differences ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

World Health ◽

The European Union ◽

Daily Mortality ◽

Male Population ◽

The Impact

(1) Introduction: air pollution is considered to be one of the main risk factors for public health. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), air pollution contributes to the premature deaths of approximately 500,000 citizens of the European Union (EU), including almost 5000 inhabitants of Poland every year. (2) Purpose: to assess the gender differences in the impact of air pollution on the mortality in the population of the city of Bialystok—the capital of the Green Lungs of Poland. (3) Materials and Methods: based on the data from the Central Statistical Office, the number—and causes of death—of Białystok residents in the period 2008–2017 were analyzed. The study utilized the data recorded by the Provincial Inspectorate for Environmental Protection station and the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management during the analysis period. Time series regression with Poisson distribution was used in statistical analysis. (4) Results: A total of 34,005 deaths had been recorded, in which women accounted for 47.5%. The proportion of cardiovascular-related deaths was 48% (n = 16,370). An increase of SO2 concentration by 1-µg/m3 (relative risk (RR) 1.07, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.12; p = 0.005) and a 10 °C decrease of temperature (RR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01–1.05; p = 0.005) were related to an increase in the number of daily deaths. No gender differences in the impact of air pollution on mortality were observed. In the analysis of the subgroup of cardiovascular deaths, the main pollutant that was found to have an effect on daily mortality was particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5); the RR for 10-µg/m3 increase of PM2.5 was 1.07 (95% CI 1.02–1.12; p = 0.01), and this effect was noted only in the male population. (5) Conclusions: air quality and atmospheric conditions had an impact on the mortality of Bialystok residents. The main air pollutant that influenced the mortality rate was SO2, and there were no gender differences in the impact of this pollutant. In the male population, an increased exposure to PM2.5 concentration was associated with significantly higher cardiovascular mortality. These findings suggest that improving air quality, in particular, even with lower SO2 levels than currently allowed by the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, may benefit public health. Further studies on this topic are needed, but our results bring questions whether the recommendations concerning acceptable concentrations of air pollutants should be stricter, or is there a safe concentration of SO2 in the air at all.

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