Monitoring with the use of passive samplers a useful source of information for the mapping and modelling of urban atmosphere pollution

Abstract

Due to human activities, increasing numbers of harmful substances are emitted into the atmosphere; they are recognised as potentially dangerous to living organisms, mainly because of their toxicity. Among others, compounds from the BTEX group, e.g. benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes, are considered as such toxic substances. They are present in the air above urbanised as well as rural areas due to their transport in the atmosphere. In order to estimate the human population exposure to the analytes from the BTEX group in the air, it is necessary to monitor the concentration levels of these compounds. The environmental data obtained can be processed further to allow modelling of pollution transport in the atmosphere, and pollution mapping. In this study, literature data on the monitoring of the BTEX concentrations by means of passive dosimetry, and mapping of air pollution from BTEX are presented.