European Environment Research Articles

La amenaza proveniente de los combatientes yihadistas retornados a España. ¿Motivo de preocupación?

The fall of the caliphate proclaimed in June 2014 by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi from the Great Mosque of Mosul has brought with it the return to Europe of thousands of foreign terrorist fighters, many of them accompanied by women and children. And, in this sense, Spain has not been an exception. There is no doubt that, within the subjects who have returned to Spain and to other countries in Europe and the West, there is a significant number of them who do so considering their experience in the caliphate in terms of trauma and nightmare. However, there are also those who return for convenience, trying to hide from the police forces of their country horrendous crimes committed during their stay in conflict zones. With regard to Spain, the returned foreign fighters have so far only been sentenced for crimes of integration into a terrorist organization, or transfer to a foreign country for terrorist purposes. Contrary to other countries, in the case of Spain there has not yet been any conviction of a subject returned for serious crimes (murder, torture, injury, etc.) committed in Syrian or Iraqi territory. Therefore, the aim of this article is to expose how other countries of the European cultural environment have been able to collect the relevant evidence to prosecute and sentence their subjects displaced to conflict zones for committing serious crimes.

External cost of pollutant emissions in Turkey

External costs that occur in the use of energy resources are one of the most important criteria in determining energy and environmental policies. For this purpose, it is important to know the external costs of any energy sources. The purpose of this study is to calculate external costs due to air pollutants in Turkey for the years 2000 and 2019. The air pollutants namely ammonia, nonmethane volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and sulphur dioxide have been taken into consideration in the evaluation for the impact categories-human health damage, loss of biodiversity, crop losses, and buildings damaged. These pollutant emissions data were obtained from the European Environmental Agency database. Then, these pollutant emissions data were used in the monetization calculations for the years 2000 and 2019. According to the evaluation, air pollutant emissions’ total external costs in Turkey were 25135,72 Million Euros and 24654,42 Million Euros for the years 2000 and 2019 respectively.

A social and philosophical analysis of the values of European education

The modern European education system is strongly influenced by the global trends of civilizational development. In the axiological dimension, there is a balancing act between the dynamic trends of innovativeness and traditional elements of the authenticity of the educational environment. The socio-philosophical value segment in education is at the stage of searching for optimal synergetic interactions at local and global levels. The scientific exploration aims to comprehend the peculiarities of social value elements of the European educational space and to renew a separate axiological cluster of the socio-educational paradigm of modernity. The article aims to structure theoretically outlook and practically dynamic socio-philosophical value concepts and their correlation in the European educational environment. The study used general scientific and scientific-pedagogical methods with the involvement of synergetic methodological principles. The results of the study indicate axiological gaps between traditionality and innovation in the European educational system and the need for the alignment of value constants. A promising direction of research is the formation of a progressive value paradigm, in which the system of values will meet the requirements of the time and become a guide to social development in general. So, in the modern educational system two types of values are relevant: dynamic, practically oriented - mobility, inclusiveness, innovativeness; fundamental, theoretical, and ideological - humanization, tolerance, identity.

Development of a High-Density Genetic Map for Muscadine Grape Using a Mapping Population from Selfing of the Perfect-Flowered Vine ‘Dixie’

Intraspecific diversity of the immune grape Muscadinia rotundifolia Michaux. can serve as a rich source of valuable resistance loci to the most widespread pathogens and pests of grapevine. While only one Run1/Rpg1 resistance locus has been introgressed from M. rotundifolia to the Vitis vinifera gene pool, a number of other genes conferring resistance to powdery mildew and downy mildew have been identified in various Muscadinia cultivars. A larger introduction of Muscadinia varieties to the European continent would greatly facilitate experiments of interspecific crosses as well as stimulate biotechnological efforts to overcome the main barrier to F1 fertility caused by the differences in chromosome number. For the successful introduction of Muscadinia into the new European environment, it is necessary to overcome the difficulties associated with the physiological characteristics of the species, such as insufficient cold tolerance and very late fruit ripening. To facilitate the further discovery of valuable loci in Muscadinia and their transfer to grapevine breeding programs, we constructed a high-density linkage map using an S1 mapping population obtained from the self-pollination of M. rotundifolia cv. Dixie maintained on the southern coast of Crimea. Using ddRADseq, 3730 SNPs were ordered across 20 linkage groups spanning 2753.6 cM of the total map length. No segregation in resistance to diseases and pests was observed among the 'Dixie' S1 population, suggesting the presence of homozygous non-segregating resistant loci in the genetic background of 'Dixie'. Markers with high segregation distortion showed a bias towards chromosomal intervals on linkage groups 10 and 20, where loci affecting the survival of 'Dixie' S1 progeny may be localized. QTLs with significant additive and dominance effects were discovered on LG14 and LG18, affecting the morphological traits associated with the vigor of growth and adaptability of young Muscadinia vines in the conditions of Crimea.

Examining European Talent Development Environments: Athlete, Parent and Coach Perceptions

ABSTRACT Talent Development Environments (TDEs) aim to provide the appropriate conditions for youth athletes to realise their full sporting potential. How TDEs are designed and operated is therefore of great importance for the development of elite athletes. Stakeholders are vital in this process, yet their perspectives are poorly understood. This study assessed the quality of TDEs across 5 European countries, comparing athlete, parent and coach perceptions. A total of 571 athletes (Mean age = 15.2 ± 1.5 years), 759 parents and 134 coaches were recruited from TDEs across 27 sports. Participants completed the Talent Development Environment Questionnaire-5 or adapted versions. Overall, perceptions of European TDEs were positive. Coaches reported higher perceptions of TDE quality compared to athletes and parents, athletes reported marginally higher perceptions compared to parents. Across stakeholders, Long-Term Development was highest rated, followed by Communication. Support Network was lowest rated. Stakeholder perceptions varied most for the Holistic Quality Preparation subscale, highlighting perceived differences in TDE support for rounded athlete development. From an organisational perspective, identified strengths and weaknesses provide direction to coach and parent education. Practically, TDE leaders should consider how they can refine stakeholder coordination through integrating stakeholder perceptions as valuable feedback into their environment, especially for intangible factors.

Grey Model Analysis of Vehicle Population, Road Transport Energy Consumption and Vehicular Emissions

This study employs the grey models to explore Nigeria’s road transport energy consumption, vehicle population and vehicular emissions. The vehicular emissions were evaluated using the European Environment Agency Tier 1 Approach, based on the fuel consumption. A baseline scenario, based on historical data and three other alternative scenarios were developed. The study considered fuel quality, vehicle technology and survival rates as the key drivers of scenario formulation. Results show that vehicle population increases by about 3.58 % annually from 12.9 million units in 2018 to 38.5 million in 2050. Analysis of the alternative pathways reveals that their adoption would significantly reduce road transport energy consumption and air pollutant emissions.

Wardens of Civilisation: The Political Ecology of Australian Far‐Right Civilisationism

AbstractThe notion of a superior “civilisation” has been a hallmark of the politics of Western institutions and fringe white supremacists alike. Known ideologically as “civilisationism”, it has occupied a prominent position in the ideology of the Australian far‐right. Paying tribute to their settler‐colonial origins, the far‐right has consistently promoted “white civilisation”, even inspiring terrorist attacks. Despite this propensity for violence, far‐right civilisationism remains largely unexplored. Through investigating a dataset of Australian far‐right content, this paper reveals civilisationism as a significant part of their ideology, an ideology which relies on the idealisation of European technologies and environments to render Indigenous land and people uncivilised. A critical narrative analysis of the data illustrates the ways that these ecological factors are drawn into narrative to articulate Australian far‐right civilisationism, an ideology inseparable from the political ecology of European history and colonialism, that today represents a particularly virulent version of its legacy.

Cadmium dietary exposure assessment in the adult population and pre-school children in the Republic of Serbia

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic metal, present in all matrices of the environment and a common food contaminant. Human exposure to it may elicit many diverse health impairments. The aim of this study was to assess the dietary exposure to Cd for the adult population and preschool children in Serbia using probabilistic methodology. We measured Cd in 11,227 food samples belonging to 50 food items on the Serbian market. Cd was detected in 90% of the tested food items, and in 30.8% of the overall tested samples. The food item that contributed the most to total dietary Cd intake was potatoes (median Cd concentration of 7 ng/g) in adults, and fruit and vegetable juices in children (median Cd concentration of 19 ng/g). Weekly Cd intake shown as 50th and 95th percentiles were 2.54 and 4.74 µg/kg bw in the adult population, and 3.29 and 4.93 µg/kg bw in children. The results of this study are rather preliminary and should be considered as an indication of the need for further, more refined research, which would contribute to a more realistic risk assessment as a high-priority approach, especially in the case of vulnerable subpopulations such as children. Abbreviations: AT SDR: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry; EEA: European Environment Agency; EFSA: European Food Safety Authority; FAO/WHO: Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization; HI: hazard index; IARC: International Agency for Research on Cancer; JECFA: Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives; LOD: limit of detection; Cd: cadmium; TWI: tolerable weekly intake; UNEP: United Nations Environment Program; WI: weekly intake

Establishing Correlation between Cruise Ship Activities and Ambient PM Concentrations in the Kotor Bay Area Using a Low-Cost Sensor Network

The analysis of cruise ships is focusing on port areas where they may represent a significant source of anthropogenic emissions. In order to determine the correlation between cruise ship activities (hoteling and maneuvering) in ports with the ambient concentration of pollutants associated with marine diesel fuel combustion, the low-cost sensors are finding their market share due to lower prices compared to the referent ones. In this study, a network of four low-cost PM sensors was used to determine the correlation between ambient PM2.5 and PM10 mass concentrations with cruise ship activities in the Kotor Bay area during 27 days in the peak summer season, with a 10-min resolution. Recorded data and the Openair model were used to investigate the potential relationship between cruise ship operations and temporal fluctuations in PM concentrations in the ambient air. Additionally, an Tier 3 methodology developed through the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme of the European Environmental Agency (EMEP/EEA) was applied in order to estimate the total cruise ship PM emissions. The study has shown that weather conditions play a significant role in local PM concentrations, so that, with predominant ENE wind directions, the west side of the Bay experienced on average higher concentrations of both PM2.5 and PM10. Rain precipitation and higher winds tend to decrease rapidly ambient PM concentrations. Higher PM levels are associated mainly with lower wind speeds and the inflows from neighboring berths/anchorages. During the maneuvering (arrival and departure) of cruise ships, higher spikes in PM values were detected, being more visible for PM10 than PM2.5. A significant correlation between daily average PM concentrations and cruise ships’ daily estimated PM emission was not found. As a result, higher temporal resolution demonstrated a stronger correlation.

PHARMACEUTICAL WASTE – A NEW THREAT TO LAKE ECOSYSTEMS

According to the Basel Convention (1998), pharmaceutical waste is waste from medical care in hospitals, medical centers and clinics, waste from the production and preparation of pharmaceutical products, waste pharmaceuticals, drugs and medicines, wastes from the production, formulation and use of biocides and phytopharmaceuticals. They belong to the so-called Yellow List, and are all, without exception, regarded hazardous. A review of the results of studies on pharmaceutical wastes in water bodies (rivers and lakes) in Russia and abroad has been produced. Medicines are an integral part of medical practice. They serve the preservation of the health of the population and, as a result, enhance the quality and prolong the duration of life. On the other hand, pharmaceutical industry waste is increasingly affecting wildlife, as unused medicines are often discarded or disposed of improperly. At the beginning of the 21st century, the European Environment Agency (EEA) designated the impact of active pharmaceutical ingredients on the environment as a new environmental problem. The main pathways by which drugs reach the environment have been charted. Meanwhile, Russia has no system to regulate maximum permissible concentrations of drugs in water bodies. The purpose of this study is to work out a methodology for calculating maximum permissible concentrations of drugs in water bodies of fishery importance. An adequate correlation has been established between maximum permissible concentrations of harmful substances in water bodies of fishery importance (MPCf) and their average lethal concentrations for daphnia. Indicative MPCf values have been calculated for 12 pharmaceutical products.

EVALUATION OF THE IMPACT OF NOISE ON HUMAN PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH

Scientific and technical progress gives man unprecedented opportunities, but at the same time he faces problems of no less magnitude. Harmful effects of the environment on public health, after air pollution, noise is on the second place. Noise creates discomfort and has a negative impact on human health. According to the available data, which are based on international studies, the "noise pollution" characteristic of big cities reduces the life expectancy of citizens by 10-12 years. Therefore, it is necessary to protect the population from the harmful effects of noise. Many countries, including Georgia, take various measures to reduce the noise level, which includes legal prohibitions. In medicine, the method of treatment called "sound therapy" is gaining more and more popularity, which have a positive effect on the human body and can be used both for the prevention and treatment of diseases, and for rehabilitation. According to the European Environment Agency data, as a harmful environmental impact on public health, after air pollution, noise is in second place. The study and assessment of the impact of noise on human physical and mental health is the most important issue of health and environmental medicine.

Evaluation of the adverse weather conditions associated to some significant European marine renewable energy projects

The aim of the present work is to provide a general picture of the adverse weather conditions corresponding to the sites from the European coastal environment where various offshore projects are developed. In the first part of the work, the ERA5 wind and wave data (24 values per day) are processed in order to obtain the time series that cover the 10-year time interval from January 2011 to December 2020. By using some particular criteria that define the operability limit of several installation equipment (as for example the floating barges) it was possible to define several case studies. From the preliminary analysis of the wind conditions (at 10 m height above the sea level) it was noticed that the sites located in the northern regions (ocean environment) indicate higher values of the wind speeds, that can go up to 8.3 m/s compared to the value of 6 m/s indicated for the Gloria drilling platform in the Black Sea. As expected, the adverse weather patterns are directly related to the local marine conditions, being required restrictions higher than 80% in the case of the operations that are limited by the occurrences of the waves with significant wave heights higher than 1.25 m, compared to only 3.3% that define the north-western part of the Mediterranean Sea (Mistral project). The number of available windows requiring a much longer time interval (ex: 96 h) is higher in the case of Mistral and Gloria sites, being counted at least 48 opportunity events for the waves with significant wave heights below 0.5 m. Finally, it is important to mention that the analysis of the adverse weather conditions represents an important element for the marine renewable energy sector, especially as regards the enclosed basins, such as the Mediterranean or the Black seas, where offshore wind projects are expected to be implemented.

Health Experts’ voice for Healthier Choice – a call for Zero Air Pollution in the Western Balkans

Abstract In 2019, the European Environment Agency has shown that the fine particulate matter PM2.5 caused more than 25 000 premature deaths in six Western Balkans countries alone, namely Albania 4 000, Bosnia and Herzegovina 5 900, Kosovo* 2 800, Montenegro 900, North Macedonia 3 400 and Serbia 11 400. In the same year, more than 2 200 lives were lost due to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3) pollution. Air pollution and climate change are major health problems in the region. Health experts in the Western Balkans region have joined forces to highlight the importance of air quality actions and achieving zero air pollution as a prevention intervention for public health. We brought together a call for the Western Balkans policy-makers to invite them to commit to full alignment of all national air quality standards with the World Health Organization guidelines, to establish regional intersectoral cooperation to accelerate the moving to zero pollution, to including health authorities, public health institutes, and medical societies, patient representative and all health care experts and providers; to end direct or indirect public subsidies of polluting processes, especially fossil fuel activities such as coal power plants; to finalise the process of the ratification of the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution and its protocols; to support modelling to establish economy-wide emission reduction commitments for the five main pollutants; to develop and implement Air Quality Strategies; to increase the uptake of Best Available Technologies (BAT) in accordance with the Industrial Emissions Directive; to establish an adequate air quality monitoring system, and to including through accreditation of air quality monitoring networks. Public health experts from the WB, united in the regional call, highlight the urgent need for improvements in air quality in the region together with a zero air pollution objective and a timeline to reach it.

The Surface Water Chemistry (SWatCh) database: a standardized global database of water chemistry to facilitate large-sample hydrological research

Abstract. Openly accessible global-scale surface water chemistry datasets are urgently needed to detect widespread trends and problems, to help identify their possible solutions, and to determine critical spatial data gaps where more monitoring is required. Existing datasets are limited with respect to availability, sample size and/or sampling frequency, and geographic scope. These limitations inhibit researchers from tackling emerging transboundary water chemistry issues – for example, the detection and understanding of delayed recovery from freshwater acidification. Here, we begin to address these limitations by compiling the global Surface Water Chemistry (SWatCh) database, available on Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6484939; Rotteveel and Heubach, 2021). We collect, clean, standardize, and aggregate open-access data provided by six national and international programs and research groups (United Nations Environment Programme; Hartmann et al., 2019; Environment and Climate Change Canada; the United States of America National Water Quality Monitoring Council; the European Environment Agency; and the United States National Science Foundation McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research Network) in order to compile a database containing information on sites, methods, and samples, and a geospatial information system (GIS) shapefile of site locations. We remove poor-quality data (e.g., values flagged as “suspect” or “rejected”), standardize variable naming conventions and units, and perform other data cleaning steps required for statistical analysis. The database contains water chemistry data for streams, rivers, canals, ponds, lakes, and reservoirs across seven continents, 24 variables, 33 722 sites, and over 5 million samples collected between 1960 and 2022. Similar to prior research, we identify critical spatial data gaps on the African and Asian continents, highlighting the need for more data collection and sharing initiatives in these areas, especially considering that freshwater ecosystems in these environs are predicted to be among the most heavily impacted by climate change. We identify the main challenges associated with compiling global databases – limited data availability, dissimilar sample collection and analysis methodology, and reporting ambiguity – and provide recommended solutions. By addressing these challenges and consolidating data from various sources into one standardized, openly available, high-quality, and transboundary database, SWatCh allows users to conduct powerful and robust statistical analyses of global surface water chemistry.

To Be, or Not to Be: The Role of Self-Perception in European Countries’ Performance Assessment

Performance evaluation is commonly based on objective indicators which do not explicitly consider the role of perceptions. Especially when evaluating countries’ performance, citizens’ perceptions can influence public debate and socio-economic narratives. Since these may influence policy making and countries’ performance, perceptions should not be ignored. The objective of this article is to investigate the presence of discrepancies between objective performance and self-perception (subjective performance) among European Union countries. The aim is to raise awareness of the importance of recognizing biases in performance perception as factors that may hamper European debate, countries’ relations and, thus, the political and social sustainability of the European project. The article considers five spending areas that may influence the public opinion’s assessment about countries’ performance (education, environmental protection, health, public order and safety and social protection) and compares objective and subjective indicators for 28 EU countries from 2007 to 2017 using the distance-to-frontier score methodology. The results indicate that the discrepancies are significant, with a generalized tendency toward overestimation, especially among some Central and Northern European countries. The opposite occurred in Greece and some Eastern European countries. These results represent a starting point for grasping an undervalued aspect of the complexity of the European socio-economic environment.

ESTIMATING STUDY FOR CALCULATING ELECTRICAL DIESEL GENERATORS EMISSIONS IN THE CENTER OF KUT CITY

Diesel generators which are used in the living quarters when electricity is cut off, is a significant source of emissions of polluted air.This paper presents an estimating study for emissions from electric diesel generators in the center of Kut city. This study includes statistics for the types of electric diesel generators, their power, fuel consumption and sites of these generators. Emissions are calculated by using modern methods which are used by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and European Environmental Protection Agency, and also different sources of research. Two main methods are adopted in calculating the emissions; the first one considers the fuel consumption while the second considers the average rated power of these generators, load factor and operating hours. Calculations consider two seasons: winter and summer, also operating hours in the day and night are considered during summer.The estimating results show the emissions are nearly 25-68 ton from carbon monoxide CO, 189-515 ton from nitrogen oxides NOx, 10428-28335 ton from carbon dioxide CO2,8-21 ton from volatile organic compounds VOC,66-180 ton from sulfur oxides SOx and 23-64 ton from particulate matter PM.

Benefits of future clean air policies in Europe: Proposed analyses of the mortality impacts of PM2.5 and NO2.

Benefits of future clean air policies in Europe: Proposed analyses of the mortality impacts of PM2.5 and NO2.

2011-2020 trends of urban and regional ammonia in and around Barcelona, NE Spain.

It is well established that in environments where NH3 abundance is limiting in secondary PM2.5 generation, a reduction of NH3 emissions can result in an important contribution to air quality control. However, as deduced from open data published by the European Environmental Agency, the availability of measurements of NH3 concentrations is very scarce, with very few countries in Europe reporting data consistently for extensive periods, this being especially true for urban background sites. In this framework, simultaneous multi-site measurements were carried out in NE (Northeast) Spain from 2011 to 2020, using diffusion tubes. The highest NH3 concentrations were recorded at the traffic site (5.3μgm-3 on average), followed by those measured at the urban background site (2.1μgm-3). Mean concentrations at the mountain site were 1.6μgm-3, while the lowest concentrations were recorded at the regional site (0.9μgm-3). This comparison highlights traffic emissions as an important source of NH3. A statistically significant time trend of this pollutant was observed at the urban background site, increasing by 9.4% per year. A season-separated analysis also revealed a significant increasing trend at the mountain site during summer periods, probably related with increasing emissions from agricultural/livestock activities. These increases in NH3 concentrations were hypothesized to be responsible for the lack of a decreasing trend of NO3- concentrations at the monitoring sites, in spite of a markedly reduction of NO2 during the period, especially at the urban background. Thus, this would in turn affect the effectiveness of current action plans to abate fine aerosols, largely made up of secondary compounds. Actions to reduce NH3 concentrations at urban backgrounds are challenging though, as predicting NH3 is subjected to a high uncertainty and complexity due to its dependence on a variety of factors. This complexity was clearly indicated by the application of a decision tree algorithm to find the parameters better predicting NH3 at the urban background under study. O3, NO, NO2, CO, SO2 and OM+EC concentrations, together with meteorological indicators, were used as independent variables, obtaining no combination of parameters evidently able to predict significant differences in NH3 concentrations, with a coefficient of determination between real and predicted measurements lower than 0.50. This emphasizes the need for highly temporally and spatially resolved NH3 measurements for an accurate design of abatement actions.

The Contribution of Romanian Agriculture to Global Warming and the Impact of Climate Change on Vegetable Crops

Abstract Climate change represents the most serious threat to the environment, with negative effects on agricultural productivity, both in the vegetable and livestock sectors. The article proposes an analysis of the agricultural sector in Romania from the perspective of the contribution to global warming and the impact of climate change on the plant sector. Data from the National Institute of Statistics, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the National Meteorological Agency, the European Union and the European Environment Agency were used for the analysis. The analyzed data show that Romania’s agriculture is not intensive in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the type of emissions being related to the way of soil management within the agricultural holdings, the number of animals in the holdings and the use of biomass in agricultural practices. Given that Romania’s agriculture is dependent on climatic conditions, food security and the well-being of the population largely depends on how farmers, especially those with subsistence farms, will adapt to climate change. Reducing the risks and effects of global warming requires an integrated strategy that includes climate change adaptation measures, complemented by climate change mitigation measures.

Comparison of S5P/TROPOMI Inferred NO2 Surface Concentrations with In Situ Measurements over Central Europe

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the surface concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) inferred from the Sentinel-5 Precursor Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (S5P/TROPOMI) NO2 tropospheric column densities over Central Europe for two time periods, summer 2019 and winter 2019–2020. Simulations of the NO2 tropospheric vertical column densities and surface concentrations from the Long-Term Ozone Simulation–European Operational Smog (LOTOS-EUROS) chemical transport model are also applied in the methodology. More than two hundred in situ air quality monitoring stations, reporting to the European Environment Agency (EEA) air quality database, are used to carry out comparisons with the model simulations and the spaceborne inferred surface concentrations. Stations are separated into seven types (urban traffic, suburban traffic, urban background, suburban background, rural background, suburban industrial and rural industrial) in order to examine the strengths and shortcomings of the different air quality markers, namely the NO2 vertical column densities and NO2 surface concentrations. S5P/TROPOMI NO2 surface concentrations are inferred by multiplying the fraction of the satellite and model NO2 vertical column densities with the model surface concentrations. The estimated inferred TROPOMI NO2 surface concentrations are examined further with the altering of three influencing factors: the model vertical leveling scheme, the versions of the TROPOMI NO2 data and the air mass factors applied to the satellite and model NO2 vertical column densities. Overall, the inferred TROPOMI NO2 surface concentrations show a better correlation with the in situ measurements for both time periods and all station types, especially for the industrial stations (R > 0.6) in winter. The calculated correlation for background stations is moderate for both periods (R~0.5 in summer and R > 0.5 in winter), whereas for traffic stations it improves in the winter (from 0.20 to 0.50). After the implementation of the air mass factors from the local model, the bias is significantly reduced for most of the station types, especially in winter for the background stations, ranging from +0.49% for the urban background to +10.37% for the rural background stations. The mean relative bias in winter between the inferred S5P/TROPOMI NO2 surface concentrations and the ground-based measurements for industrial stations is about −15%, whereas for traffic urban stations it is approximately −25%. In summer, biases are generally higher for all station types, especially for the traffic stations (~−75%), ranging from −54% to −30% for the background and industrial stations.