A study on the atmospheric concentrations of primary and secondary air pollutants in the Athens basin performed by DOAS and DIAL measuring techniques

Abstract

In this work an analysis of continuous Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) measurements of primary and secondary air pollutants (SO2, NO2 and O3) in the Athens basin is performed combined with Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) vertical ozone measurements obtained inside the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) and the lower free troposphere. The measurements took place during the period May 2005–February 2007, at the National Technical University of Athens Campus (200m above sea level (asl.), 37.96°N, 23.78°E). The SO2 and NO2 DOAS measurements showed maximum 1-hour mean values (around 20μg/m3 and 74μg/m3, respectively) in winter and did not exceed the current European Union (EU) air quality standards (European Council Directive 2008/50/EC), in contrast to ozone, which shows its maximum (around 128μg/m3) in summer and frequently exceeds the EU standard for human health protection (120μg/m3). If the measurements are classified according to the two most frequent flow-patterns of the air masses in the Athens basin (northern–southern circulation), it is observed that in general the atmospheric concentrations of all measured pollutants including ozone are higher when the southern circulation occurs, in comparison to the corresponding values under the northern circulation. The vertical ozone profiles obtained by DIAL were also higher under the southern circulation. During the summer months a mean difference (between the southern-northern circulations) of the order of 15–20μg/m3, maximized at the 0.9–1.1km and 1.7–1.8km height, was observed within the PBL. It was also observed that the summer surface ozone levels remained relatively high (around 80–110μg/m3) even during strong northerly winds, verifying the high levels of rural surface ozone in the surrounding area reported by previous studies.