Urban Air Pollution: Monitoring And Control Strategies (nato Science Partnership Subseries: 2)

This book presents the proceedings of a NATO Advanced Research Workshop which was also financially supported by the National Research Council of Italy. The Workshop was held from October 9 to 15, 1994, at the Centro Ettore Maiorana in Erice, Italy. Over 40 researchers from a wide variety of fields attended the Workshop, which brought to attention the ongoing research on various phenomena related to urban air pollution. The presence of high levels of atmospheric pollutants in the air of several urban centres of developed and developing countries causes a great concern among authorities and public opinion. Some 20% of the European population live in cities of more than 500,000 inhabitants and about 40% in cities of more than 50,000. Since exceedance of the Air Quality Guidelines has been observed to occur worldwide, a great effort has been addressed to the control of primary pollutants, but many problems related to secondary pollutants such as nitrogen containing species (nitrogen oxides, nitric and nitrous acid, ni trates) and photochemical oxidants (ozone, PAN and others) are far from being solved. The importance of atmospheric chemistry in understanding the processes occurring in urban atmospheres has been well recognised, thus there is a strong need to exchange experiences and results from urban centres in different Countries. Indeed, atmospheric pollution is very much dependent on the type of emissions which are very different according to the economic development of the urban centre under consideration. Front Matter....Pages I-X Urban atmospheric pollution: review of the state-of-the-art....Pages 1-19 Atmospheric Chemistry Relevant to Urban Pollution....Pages 21-39 Laboratory studies for understanding atmospheric chemical processes....Pages 41-56 Studies of photochemical ozone formation in toluene/NO x /air systems by empirical and numerical simulations....Pages 57-67 Laboratory Studies of Elementary Reactions....Pages 69-76 Design and planning of field campaigns....Pages 77-99 Diffusion Denuders: tools for simultaneous sampling of NO 2 and PAN and for the determination of reactivity of marble surfaces....Pages 101-113 A New Approach to Designing of Air Quality Monitoring Networks in Urban Areas....Pages 115-123 The Monitoring System for Urban Air Pollution in Belarus....Pages 125-130 Recent Developments in Atmosphere Pollution Control....Pages 131-143 Complex Analysis of the atmosphere contamination in industrial centers of Belarus....Pages 145-149 Monitoring and Modeling Methods for Developing Air Pollution Control Strategies: A Case Study in the Northwest Czech Republic....Pages 151-166 Some results of mobile measurements of the influence of the town Sofia on air pollution in the surrounding area....Pages 167-175 Non-methane hydrocarbon measurements in a road tunnel in Budapest....Pages 177-186 Applications of Highly-Resolved Size-Spectra for Source Attribution, Growth, and Deposition of Urban Aerosol Particles Bearing Various Elements....Pages 187-197 Use of Scanning Electron Microscopy for Particle Characterization and in Support of Receptor Modelling....Pages 199-212 Vehicular Contributions to Primary Airborne Particulate Matter and Urban Air Quality....Pages 213-223 Receptor Methods for VOC Source Apportionment in Urban Environments....Pages 225-234 Air pollution Characteristics of a Region of Sofia and Data from Field Experiments (1992-1993)....Pages 235-242 Evaluation of the air quality in Budapest based on the data of a monitoring network and measurement campaigns....Pages 243-250 Air Pollution Monitoring in the Industrial Centers of Belarus....Pages 251-259 Input-output modeling data relationship for computer simulation of photochemical oxidants: some relevant examples in urban-industrial areas....Pages 261-275 Advanced observation methodologies of urban atmospheric boundary layers....Pages 277-294 Use of proper variables to describe some aspects of urban pollution....Pages 295-315 Air Pollution Modelling and its Interactions with Experimental Studies — The Situation in Southern Europe....Pages 317-328 Neural Network Modelling: Perspectives of Application for Monitoring and Forecasting Physical-Chemical Variables in the Boundary Layer....Pages 329-340 Air Pollution in the Mediterranean: Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling....Pages 341-356 System Approach to Air Quality Monitoring — Identification of Main Problems....Pages 357-365 Development of smog warning systems in large industrial metropolises based on the example of Upper Silesian Industrial Region....Pages 367-375 The state of the energy system and pollution control policy on the background of Poland....Pages 377-389 Urban Air Pollution Monitoring in Lithuania....Pages 391-399 The partecipation of the Hungarian Metereological Service in the meteorological establishment of the smog alarm of Budapest....Pages 401-410 Space-Time Statistical Structure of the Pollution Field over Sofia, Bulgaria....Pages 411-422 Towards the Assessment of Air Quality and its Possible Health Impacts in European Cities....Pages 423-439 Urban Air Quality Measurement: Organizational principles and Procedure Aspects....Pages 441-448 Exposure Assessment Methodologies for Humans and Ecosystems....Pages 449-466 Air Pollution Warning System — Critical Points of Decision Algorithm....Pages 467-476 Back Matter....Pages 477-478 The presence of high levels of atmospheric pollutants in the air of several urban centres of developed and developing countries has caused great concern among authorities and public opinion. The book provides a comprehensive review of the field of urban pollution. Further, it offers insights into specific issues such as the use of receptor modeling for volatile organic compounds, the role and the mechanism of the formation of nitrous acid in urban atmospheres, and the evaluation of the dynamics of the boundary layer. It is an invaluable source of information for anyone interested in environmental pollution and management of the urban atmosphere, in particular for people in government or research institutions concerned with environmental protection, monitoring and impact assessment. Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop ""Monitoring and Control Strategies for Urban Air Pollution"", held in Erice, Italy, October 9-15, 1994