Air quality assement for Suceava County, Romania

Abstract

According to the Air Quality Framework Directive, air pollutant concentration levels have to be assessed and reported annually by each European Union member state, taking into consideration European air quality standards. Plans and programmes should be implemented in zones and agglomerations where pollutant concentrations exceed the limit and target values. The main purpose of this research study is to analyse the concentrations of pollutants in the atmosphere, their spatial and temporal trends and to draw an overall picture of air quality in Suceava County. The study uses an hourly database for SO2, NO2, CO, PM10 and O3 pollutants, from 2009-2020, from 4 air quality monitoring stations in Suceava County. Pollutant levels were statistically and graphically / cartographically modeled for the entire 2009-2020 interval on the distributive-spatial and regime, temporal component. Inter-station differences and similarities were analyzed causally. The results showed that PM10 air pollution is the biggest challenge for the Suceava city, the highest multi-year average of 31.86 µg/m3 is recorded at the SV2 station in the Burdujeni district although it does not exceed the limit value for the protection of human health (40 µg/m3). Average daily PM10 levels place Suceava County in quality class III (good). SO2 pollution in Suceava County is limited, with average hourly concentrations well below the hourly limit for the protection of human health throughout the period analysed. Based on diurnal average levels, statistical calculations for SO2 and NO2 show that at all four stations in the county, air quality was excellent. The ozone is measured only at three stations: EM3, SV1, SV2. In Suceava county, the multi-year average ozone concentration was 49.61 μg/m3. According to the daily average level of O3, the study area falls into quality class II, very good.  The average CO levels indicate an excelent air quality.