Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
4 Particulate Matter in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
5 Source Contribution in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin . . . .............................. 224
5.1 Sahara Dust . . .......................................................................... 226
5.2 Road Dust Resuspension .............................................................. 227
5.3 Forest Fires . . . . ........................................................................ 228
5.4 Shipping Emissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
5.5 Secondary Aerosol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
6 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . ............................................................ 234
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
1
Introduction
During the last decades, the Mediterranean basin has experienced a rapid growth in
urbanization, vehicle number and use and industrialisation with this being reflected
in pollutant emissions to the atmosphere. The air quality limits established by the
EU to protect human health are often exceeded. Thus, urban areas have received
special attention for their high air pollutant concentrations and the associated
degradation of the air quality and public health [
1
].
The Mediterranean region is divided into three basins. The Western Basin
extends from the Iberian Peninsula at the west to the Apennine mountain chain at
the east, and from southern France to the northern African coast in the north-south
direction. The Central Basin includes the watershed of the Adriatic Sea from the
Apennines to the Balkans, and at the south includes the Ionic Sea from the east coast
of Tunisia, south of Sicily, across the Libyan Gulf, to an imaginary line extending
north-south from the Balkan Peninsula to the Libyan coast. The Eastern Basin
extends west from this line to the Israeli and Lebanon coasts and includes the
Aegean Sea [
2
]. The European territory of the Eastern Mediterranean includes two
large urban centres: the Greater Athens area (GAA) (
>
4 million) and the Greater
>
Thessaloniki area (GTA) (
1.5 million) in Greece.
The Eastern Mediterranean Basin, EMB, is characterised as an air pollution
hotspot, located at a crossroad of air masses coming from Europe, Asia and Africa.
Many different types of aerosols can be encountered within the basin; desert dust
transported mainly from the Sahara desert polluted aerosols emitted by urban and
industrial activities of continental and Eastern Europe, biomass burning aerosols
often produced by seasonal forest fires, marine aerosols and ship emissions
originated from the highly busy shipping routes of the Mediterranean Sea. In
addition the general climatic conditions in the Eastern Mediterranean such as the
low precipitation rate, the high radiation intensity and the high temperature favour
the accumulation of air pollutants and the formation of secondary aerosols.
In this chapter the air quality of the EMB is examined in terms of particulate
pollution while the characteristic emissions of the basin are explored to further
understand the source categories affecting the region.
