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The Air Quality of a Mediterranean Urban Environment Area and Its Relation to Major Meteorological Parameters

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Abstract

The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the most basic features of the air quality of a Mediterranean urban environment area. The impact of meteorology on the air quality is also examined. Observational surface concentrations of the most important air pollutants, recorded at two measuring stations in Patras, Greece, are used. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) meteorological model was employed to produce a series of surface and upper air data and local circulation and ventilation indices. These modeled data along with selected surface meteorological observational data comprise a substantial data set that was used to assess the effect of meteorology on the air quality. Mostly during the summer period, a significant proportion of the particulate matter is transported from sources away from the measuring sites. The synoptic setting of winter and summer seasons represented primarily by the local ventilation and recirculation, the wind, the boundary layer height, and the precipitation has a very strong impact in the overall formation of the air quality status.

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Acknowledgments

This work is financed by the European Territorial Cooperation Programme Greece-Italy 2007-2013 project CESAPO, co-financed by the European Union (ERDF) and by National Funds of Greece and Italy.

The weather data were kindly provided by Dr. K. Lagouvardos and Dr. V. Kontroni of the Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development of the National Observatory of Athens.

Some of the results presented in this research paper have been produced using the EGI and HellasGrid infrastructures. The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by the Scientific Computing Center at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki throughout the progress of this research work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Patras, 26500, Patras, Greece

    Athanasios Karagiannidis, Anastasia Poupkou & Athanassios Argiriou

  2. Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Campus, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Theodoros Giannaros, Christos Giannaros & Dimitrios Melas

Authors
  1. Athanasios Karagiannidis
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  2. Anastasia Poupkou
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  3. Theodoros Giannaros
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  4. Christos Giannaros
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  5. Dimitrios Melas
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  6. Athanassios Argiriou
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Correspondence to Athanasios Karagiannidis.

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Karagiannidis, A., Poupkou, A., Giannaros, T. et al. The Air Quality of a Mediterranean Urban Environment Area and Its Relation to Major Meteorological Parameters. Water Air Soil Pollut 226, 2239 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-014-2239-8

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