PM10 Concentrations in a Provincial City of Inland Greece in the Times of Austerity and Their Relationship with Meteorological and Socioeconomic Conditions

In this paper, the factors that determine the particulate matter concentrations with diameter less than 10 mu m (PM10) are investigated for the provincial city of Ioannina, NW Greece. The analysis reveals that even in a generally medium-sized city as Ioannina (120,000 habitants), PM10 levels exceed the European Union's standards (mean daily PM10<50 g/m(3)) quite often during the cold period of the year. The diurnal and intra-annual patterns of PM10 indicate that road traffic and residential heating are the main contributors of PM10 in the city, while residential heating is the main contributor during the cold period of the year, leading to very high concentrations (80 mu g/m(3)) around 10 p.m. The inter-annual variation over the study period 2010-2012 and 2014-2017, constrained by the availability of quality surface PM10 measurements, shows that apart from meteorological parameters (e.g., wind speed, rain, and daily minimum temperature), which are significantly correlated with PM10, social-economic factors also determine the levels of atmospheric particulate matter. Indeed, during the years of deep austerity, in the middle of the study period, the number of days with poor and very poor conditions, defined according to the European Air Quality Index, has increased. This resulted from a decrease of consumption of conventional fuels for residential heating (e.g., oil) and the strengthened use of alternative and cheaper solutions such as wood or pellet burning, which emit more particulate matter.

Automated summary

This paper investigates the factors influencing PM10 concentrations in the provincial city of Ioannina, NW Greece, finding that road traffic and residential heating are the main contributors, while social-economic factors also play a role. The study reveals that during times of deep austerity, there is an increase in poor air quality days due to changes in fuel consumption for residential heating.