Correlations of PM10 concentrations in urban areas with vehicle fleet development, rain precipitation and diesel fuel sales

Abstract

Although in many developed countries the green transition towards sustainable mobility is going faster and faster towards low or zero emission vehicles, road traffic is so far one of the key PM10 pollution source in urban areas. This research compares and analyses correlations between PM10 pollution trends in urban areas and the following parameters: vehicles fleet, rain precipitations and diesel fuel sales. The city of Rome has been selected as pilot area, analysing data gathered by its PM10 monitoring network between 2006 and 2017. Statistical correlations have been computed between all trends giving particular regard to the replicability of methods and strategies to other cities. The obtained results showed an integrated analysis of correlations between PM10 concentrations and vehicle fleet development, rain precipitation, diesel fuel sales, highlighting in which months the rain has a higher effect on PM10 concentrations; the differences between rain precipitation amounts and the number of rainy days per month; the possibility to forecast data using the statistical correlations analysis; the effects of vehicle fleet and diesel fuel sales on the PM10 concentrations.