Air quality in urban areas. Pollutants, issues related to the monitoring of concentrations of gaseous pollutants and aerosols

Abstract

Despite the latest global developments (new materials and less polluting technologies) and in spite of the treaties signed at world level (the Kyoto Protocol 1997 and the Doha-2012 amendment, the Paris Treaty 2015) regarding global climate change, the implementation of these measures to reduce pollution, protect the environment and strictly respect them, leave it to be desired. Climate change caused by global pollution, in large industrial regions and in major cities of the world, has led to and continues to lead to a decline in the air quality we breathe in Europe and in the world. The degree of urban and industrial agglomeration of the cities, contributes significantly to the increase of local pollution by mixing all the pollutants present in the air, this mixture of pollutants is favoured by street canyons and implicitly by the significantly lower dispersion of pollutants in atmosphere. Monitoring air quality in the urban environment and measuring as accurately as possible the concentrations of air pollutants, through the presence of as many sensors and monitoring stations in the monitored area as possible, as well as the implementation of analysis and interpretation hardware and software solutions of the data gathered in real time by these monitoring stations, is very important for the future of large urban agglomerations.