AIR QUALITY MONITORING IN DIFFERENT FUNCTIONAL URBAN AREAS

ABSTRACT

The production of particulate matter and harmful gases from different sources is a problem in the cities. An important role in air pollution is played by industry and road transport. Traffic volume continues to grow and road transport has the greatest impact on the atmosphere in the vicinity of the urban roads. Due to the dominant use of combustion engines, exhaust gases contain large amounts of gaseous pollutants as well as particulate matter. They particularly include a large amount of the finest PM fractions, which can remain in the air for a long time, easily enter respiratory tracks, and damage human health. The other part includes particulate matter produced by the abrasion of different parts of roads and vehicle fleets, from resuspension road dust which concerns matter of larger aerodynamic diameters. A proposal for an air quality monitoring network was created in Žilina. The layout of the measuring stations was based on the basic idea of covering typical Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) in the city of Žilina. Selected measurement sites are always a combination of several sources of air pollution.

Keywords: air pollution, particulate matter, gas emissions, traffic volume, urban areas