Abstract
Pollution of the air by gases and particulate matter is a problem of everyday life. Particulate matter (PM) is one of the hazardous pollutants causing deterioration of the environment and thus quality of life of the population. Long-term exposure to effects of increased concentrations of gaseous pollutants can also cause deterioration of the environment and human health. Particulate matter and gases production by the road transport is a burning issue, particularly for larger urban areas. Many factors influence the air quality what determines its development and changes. Air pollution monitoring was focused on a possible change in the concentrations of pollutants after the change of the crossroad - three-arm crossroad to the roundabout. The subject of this paper is monitoring particulate matter (PM1, PM2.5, PM10) and gases (nitrogen oxides NO, NO2, NOx) in the vicinity of crossroads in the urban area and an evaluation of fraction ratios PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 with regard to construction of crossroad, meteorological conditions and traffic volume. The roundabout has specific construction and routing traffic, what can influence on production and dispersion of traffic related emissions. The obtained results indicate a decrease in particulate matter concentrations at the roundabout over a three-arm crossroad and an increase in nitrogen oxides concentrations at the roundabout compared to the three-arm crossroad. According to the data obtained and analyzed, the PM10 particulate matter concentrations at the roundabout could be reduced by up to 50% over the three-arm crossroad.
Highlights
The dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere is a difficult process that is not subordinated only to spreading rates of different sources producing this pollution
The traffic volume was measured as the primary source of air pollution at the measuring place and meteorological parameters as secondary factors affecting concentrations of pollutants
There may be primary sources of pollutants, such as the road transport, industry, agriculture, local heating, etc., and on the other hand there are secondary factors such as meteorological parameters, shape and segmentation of landscape relief, various artificial barriers in the country - buildings, noise barriers, etc. It was dealt with possible change in concentrations of pollutants - particulate matter of three fractions of PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 and nitrogen oxides NO, NO2 and NOx from the road transport in terms of different types of crossroads
Summary
The dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere is a difficult process that is not subordinated only to spreading rates of different sources producing this pollution. There are other physical factors during the spreading of produced emissions, which determine the dispersion of pollutants into the surrounding environment. They are mainly meteorological parameters, the stability of the atmosphere and segmentation of the surrounding terrain [1,2]. Several studies have been devoted to the spread of pollution in the vicinity of roads, which have confirmed, to some extent, various levels of concentration of pollution considering the distance of the monitoring place from an anticipated source [3,4]. It is confirmed that the greater distance from the road = lower the concentrations of pollutants. The road traffic is one of the main sources of particulate matter, which produces particles in urban but in the rural environment, as well [9,10,11]
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