Complex Assessment of Atmospheric Air Quality in the City of Gelendzhik

The atmospheric air quality is determined by the concentrations of some gaseous pollutants and mass concentrations of aerosol particles of different sizes. A wide range of atmospheric pollutants in both gaseous and aerosol phases was studied in the vicinity of Gelendzhik in July 2009, simultaneously at several land sites, in the water area of the bay, and at altitudes of up to 2200m. No such complex experiments were carried out in that region before. The following characteristics of the atmospheric aerosol (3 nm-32 m in size) were studied: elemental composition of particles (23 chemical elements) and concentrations of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (14 compounds), unsaturated hydrocarbons, total protein, biotoxins, and culturable microorganisms. The concentration fields of different air pollutants and the complex air pollution index were constructed using mathematical models of pollutant propagation and data on the hydrometeorological conditions during the period of measurements. The sources of aerosols in the region were detected from the study of the chemical composition of airborne particles. The results allowed us to estimate air pollutants and to calculate the complex air pollution index for the Gelendzhik area. The daily average concentrations of all the pollutants were compared to the daily average maximum permissible concentrations. All these concentrations were less than daily average maximum permissible concentrations. The complex air pollution index did not exceed 1. Hence, the air in the vicinity of Gelendzhik did not contain any significant pollutants in the period under study.