Search results for "Air Quality Index"
showing 10 items of 124 documents
<title>Monitoring and analysis of air quality in Riga</title>
1995
Riga, the capital of Latvia is a city with nearly 900,000 inhabitants and various highly concentrated industries. Air pollution in Riga is a serious problem affecting health and damaging valuable buildings of historical importance, as acid rain and smog take their toll. Therefore the Air Quality Management System with significant assistance from Swedish Government and persistent efforts from Riga City Council was arranged in Riga. It contains INDIC AIRVIRO system which simulates and evaluates air pollution levels at various locations. It then processes the data in order to predict air quality based on a number of criteria and parameters, measured by OPSIS differential absorption instruments…
Enhanced transport-related air pollution prediction through a novel metamodel approach
2017
Abstract This research proposes a novel approach to improve the ability to forecast low frequency extreme events of transport-related pollution in urban areas using a limited input data set. The approach is based on the idea of a self-managing model, able to adapt to unexpected changes in pollution level. In more detail, for a given combination of variables, it selects the most suitable prediction model within a set of alternative air quality models, estimated for a wider range of locations and conditions. In this study, the new approach is tested for the prediction of nitrogen dioxide concentration in the United Kingdom (UK), specifically in an air quality monitoring site of the Greater Ma…
Changes in air pollution during COVID-19 lockdown in Spain: a multi-city study
2021
Highlights • Variations in air quality in terms of CO, SO2, PM10, O3 and NO2 levels were studied • The lockdown of Spain was not able to reduce severe air pollution in all its forms • Significant reductions of NO2 levels were achieved in most cities • Increases of O3 pollution levels were found in several cities
An aggregate AQI: comparing different standardizations and introducing a variability index
2012
Many studies demonstrate a strong relationship between air pollution and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. For this reason, assessing air pollution, and conveying information about its possible adverse health effects, may encourage population and policy makers to reduce those activities increasing pollution levels. In this paper a relative index of variability, to be associated with the aggregate Air Quality Index (AQI) among pollutants proposed by Ruggieri and Plaia (2011), is developed in order to better investigate air pollution conditions for the whole area of a city/region. The most widely-used and up to date pollution indices, based mainly on AQI computed by the US Environmenta…
A city-level analysis of air pollution, climate and COVID-19 early spread during the Spanish lockdown
2020
AbstractThe COVID-19 outbreak has escalated into the worse pandemic of the present century. The fast spread of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has caused devastating health and economic crises all over the world, with Spain being one of the worst affected countries in terms of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths per inhabitant. In this situation, the Spanish Government declared the lockdown of the country. The variations of air pollution in terms of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels in seven cities of Spain are analyzed here considering the effect of meteorology during the national lockdown. The possible associations of PM2.5pollution and climate with COVID-19 accumulated cases were als…
Three Hours Ahead Prevision of SO2 Pollutant Concentration Using an Elman Neural based Forecaster
2008
Abstract Indoor air quality near the industrial site is tightly joined to pollutant concentration level, since outdoor pollution heavily influences air quality and, consequently, inhabitants health. A pollution management system is essential for health protection. Automatic air quality management systems have became an important research issue with strong implications for inhabitants’ health. In this paper an automatic forecaster based on neural networks for SO 2 concentration prevision is proposed. The analyzed area covers different small towns near the industrial site of Priolo, in the south of the world. Among these towns, Melilli was the first town in Italy that was evacuated for high l…
Air quality indices: a review
2010
National directives on air quality oblige nations to monitor and report on their air quality, allowing the public to be informed on the ambient pollution levels. The last is the reason for the always increasing interest, demonstrated by the number of publications on this topic in recent years, in air quality/pollution indices: since the concentration of individual pollutants can be confusing, concentration measurements are conveniently transformed in terms of an air quality index. In this way, complex situations are summarized in a single figure, letting comparisons in time and space be possible. In this paper we will give an overview about the Air Quality/Pollution Indices proposed in lite…
The impact of landfills on the air quality of towns: A simple heuristic model for the city of Palermo
2009
In this study, the landfill of Palermo, is investigated as a potential source of the unusual methane concentrations found in the urban context. The source for these pollution episodes is identified by means of a simple heuristic method. A cross-correlation analysis between wind data and methane concentration levels is also used to confirm the hypotheses formulated. Doppler Sound Detection And Ranging (SODAR) measurements are used to investigate the air masses dynamics at the landfill, in order to better support the adopted assumptions. This interpretative method can be adopted in the first assessment stages of the environmental site performance in order to single out the candidate pollution…
Absorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by pinus bark: analytical method and use for environmental pollution monitoring in the Palermo area (S…
2007
Abstract In the light of using biomaterial as pollutants sorbents for the environmental biomonitoring, we report here the results of the absorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by pine bark. Quantitative analysis of 19 different polycyclic aromatic compounds was performed, after Soxhlet extraction in dichloromethane, by means GC–MS technique. Pinus was chosen due to its wide distribution in the Mediterranean area. The passive absorption of PAH by pine bark in the metropolitan areas allowed us to evaluate the air quality of Palermo. The obtained results showed a very high range of PAHs concentrations, from 33 μg/kg (bark dry weight), as ΣPAHs, at the control site to 1015 μg/kg …
Solution to Urban Air Pollution – Carbon Free Transport
2016
Abstract The analysis of the results of long-term air quality monitoring in Riga is presented, which shows that in city centre throughout the measurement time (2004-2014) according to the guidelines defined by the European Union directives and Latvian laws the limits of small particles PM10 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) are exceeded. From the nature of appearance of pollution and from the research of morphology and composition of fine dust particles it was concluded that in the city centre where the monitoring was performed the main air pollutants are caused by internal combustion engine vehicles. The measures to reduce air pollution performed by two Action Programs (2004-2009; 2011-2015) of t…