Assessment of long-term measurements of particulate matter and gaseous pollutants in South-East Mediterranean

- Long-term monitoring data of urban air quality in South-East Mediterranean is assessed.
- Background concentrations of CO, NOx and PM10 are deduced.
- Multi-scale contributions (beyond local sources) are identified and analysed.
- SEM results show mineral dust and sea spray as main sources of airborne particles.
- Improved local mitigation policies do not reflect reduction in pollutants' concentrations.

This work examines long-term measurements of major criteria pollutants concentrations in an urban station in South-Eastern Mediterranean, in Nicosia - Cyprus, which is susceptible both to transboundary air pollution transport from Sahara-dust events as well as to evaporative transport of sea-sprays. The work investigates in particular the role of such multi-scale contributions in the urban air quality measurements, which are important considerations in the assessment of the effectiveness of any mitigation policies implemented by regulatory authorities. Attention is drawn in the regional-scale component of the particulate matter concentrations (PM10; ≤10 μm in diameter) and its contribution in the local measurements. Hourly averaged data of CO, NOx and PM10 concentrations as well as of meteorological parameters were collected from the Air Quality Monitoring Station (AQMS) of the University of Cyprus over a period of more than 5 years (2008-13) and were analysed. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was used to identify chemical characteristics of PM10 and to attribute it to possible sources. A total of 321 days over the entire period were found to exceed the daily limit value of 50 μg/m3 for PM10 concentrations which corresponds to ∼19% of the actual monitored time. Numerical simulations using the Dust REgional Atmospheric Model from Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC/DREAM) gave a strong indication that PM10 exceedances were associated with the high regional background dust concentrations during westerly winds. It was also found that despite the implementation of tighter regulations for vehicular and industrial emissions in Europe, the monthly average concentration values of criteria pollutants do not exhibit any falling trend.