Short-term field research on air pollution within the boundaries of the large city in the Baltic region

Abstract

Air quality in urban and suburban areas is strongly affected by the level of local urbanization, climatic conditions and industrial activity. Monitoring the main air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and particulate matter may help control the most polluted areas of the site and take measures to reduce pollution. Uncontrolled emissions from other chemical pollutants, including volatile organic compounds and odorous contamination sources like ammonia, may cause both a chronic human disease and damage to flora and fauna. The conducted field research is aimed at determining air pollution within the areas of the large city (residential territory, recreation territory and the areas close to intense transport streets) polluted with the gaseous pollutants of varying nature (CO, NO2, ozone, sulfur dioxide, VOC and NH3) as well as particulate matter in different seasons of the year. Studies on Vilnius district air quality were carried out in 17 urban locations (sites) and based on two-phase measurements. The first phase was initiated in 2016–2017 and the second one took place in 2019–2020. It was observed that in the areas close to intense transport streets, the concentration of pollutants can increase more than 3 times, thus reaching up to 36.0 µg/m3 of PM10 (particulate matter) and up to 48.0 µg/m3 of nitrogen dioxide. During the summer period, ammonia concentrations can increase up to 3 times, reaching up to 11.0 µg/m3 from farming and/or industrial activities.