ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Comparison of Measured and Modelled
Traffic-Related Air Pollution
in Urban Street Canyons
1 1 | Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences,
Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania |
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Submission date: 2018-06-13
Final revision date: 2018-07-18
Acceptance date: 2018-07-24
Online publication date: 2019-03-24
Publication date: 2019-05-28
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2019;28(5):3115–3123
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
Atmospherical pollution controlPollution preventionOthersMonitoringInorganic pollutantsSpectrophotometricEnvironmental management
ABSTRACT
The level of hazardous traffic pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), significantly increases
in street canyons, which is a relevant determinant of assessing human exposure and health risks
and deteriorates quality of urban air. The aim of the present study was to measure air pollution of NO2
by passive samplers in five street canyon sites with different traffic and building characteristics during
two-week measurement periods in each season and to compare measured NO2 concentrations with
models using the Airviro street canyon model. The data of meteorological parameters, street canyon
orientation and urban background air pollution were taken into account. The study results showed that
the highest measured and modelled concentrations of NO2 in street canyons were determined during
spring and summer, and modelled values were higher than those measured with passive samplers, while
during winter and autumn the results were vice versa. The greatest difference between measured and
modelled concentrations of NO2 was determined in winter, while the highest degree of agreement was
assessed in summer. We found a strong positive correlation between the measurements and modelling
results. The research demonstrates the importance of considering the urban micro environments such as
street canyons for the effective assessment of human exposure to transport-related emissions.
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