Abstract
Outdoor air pollution is responsible for more than 4 million premature deaths worldwide and its contribution is particularly severe in industrial contaminated sites, where epidemiological studies highlight often mortality rate larger than the national average. In the framework of the CISAS project, this study investigates spatial and temporal variability of air pollution across three industrial contaminated sites in southern Italy, classified as “High Risk Area of Environmental Crisis”: Crotone, Milazzo and Priolo. The environmental analysis employed three investigation approaches: - meteorological characterization of the sites with analyses of local air mass circulation; - statistical evaluation of the continuous measurements of gaseous pollutants and PM concentration; - determination of mass concentration and detailed speciation of the chemical components of atmospheric particulate matter during intensive field campaigns. Continuous trace gases and aerosol measurements (including NOx, SO2, O3, NMHC, PM10 and PM2.5) over the period 2016-2018 were analysed, and specific intensive field experiments (2016-2017), representative of winter and summer conditions, were carried out in order to determine PM10 and PM2.5 chemical composition. The analyses of PM components (ions, elemental composition, trace organic pollutants, organic carbon, and elemental carbon) show concentrations typical of rural and urban areas. The results concerning gaseous pollutants and PM concentration showed a general compliance of the concentrations of some regulated species with the limits set by the EU Ambient Air Quality (AAQ) Directive. However, in particular in the industrial areas of Milazzo and Priolo, the analysis here reported highlights the need for a stringent regulation on NMHC ambient concentration and composition, further investigation of fine particle composition and atmospheric processing, and a deeper understanding of the role of anthropogenic emissions on ozone formation, also considering the World Health Organization (WHO) limits.
Highlights
Air pollutants are substances able to harm human health, vegetation, animals, and cultural heritage
Such analyses are based on data made available by the Regional Environmental Protection Agencies of Sicily and Calabria
At the three AERCA sites of Crotone, Milazzo and Priolo, during all the considered periods, the measurements of particulate matter (PM) mass concentration and of the main gaseous regulated pollutants, except O3, indicate air quality compliance with the Ambient Air Quality (AAQ) Directive, which is designed for urban areas and does not consider specific markers for contaminated sites
Summary
Air pollutants are substances able to harm human health, vegetation, animals, and cultural heritage. The potential impact of atmospheric compounds on humans and the environment is based on toxicological, epidemiological, and exposure studies. Air pollutants include gas phase species, like nitrogen oxides and ozone, as well as chemical species that compose particulate matter in the atmosphere, including metals and black carbon. The toxicological mechanisms through which air pollutant harm human health, as well as the health outcomes can be very different. Air pollutants enter the human body though inhalation and digestion (Kampa and Castanas, 2008). Epidemiological studies highlight a causal link between shortterm and long-term exposure to air pollutants and different health outcomes, including nausea, difficulties in breathing, asthma, allergy, pre-term birth, reduced-activity of the immune system, stroke, nervous system damages, pulmonary and cardiovascular morbidity, and mortality (Kampa and Castanas, 2008 and references therein)
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