Abstract
A particulate air pollution episode of relatively long duration was recorded in the industrial basin of Western Macedonia, Greece, during November of 2009. A case study of the meteorological aspects of this episode is presented in this paper, based on the combined utilization of PM10 concentration measurements, surface and lower atmosphere parameters and simulations. An Omega blocking pattern which gradually transformed to a high-over-low pattern prevailed over central and southern Europe during the episode’s period. The absence of significant convection in the middle and lower troposphere combined with a weak horizontal wind field near the surface and the reduced mixing height, resulted in the pollutants’ trapping and the increased PM10 concentrations. The change of the synoptic setting marked the end of the episode.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Flocas H, Kelessis A, Helmis C, Petrakakis M, Zoumakis M, Pappas K (2009) Synoptic and local scale atmospheric circulation associated with air pollution episodes in an urban Mediterranean area. Theor Appl Climatol 95:265–277. doi:10.1007/s00704-008-0005-9
Hurley P, Blockley A, Rayner K (2001) Verification of a prognostic meteorological and air pollution model for year-long predictions in the Kwinana region of Western Australia. Atmos Environ 35:1871–1880. doi:10.1016/S1352-2310(00)00486-6
Hurley P, Physick W, Luhar A (2005) TAPM – a practical approach to prognostic meteorological and air pollution modeling. Environ Model Softw 20:737–752. doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2004.04.006
Huschke RE (1959) Glossary of meteorology. American Meteorological Society, Boston
Kallos G, Kassomenos P, Pielke RA (1993) Synoptic and mesoscale weather conditions during air pollution episodes in Athens, Greece. Bound-Lay Meteorol 62:163–184. doi:10.1007/BF00705553
Karacostas Th, Kontogianni P, Roupa P, Lysitsa E, Brikas D, Mitas C (2006) Study of the characteristics of omega blocking episodes over the major area of south-east Europe. In: Proceedings of eighth Panhellenic conference of meteorology, climatology and atmospheric physics, Hellenic Meteorological Society, Athens, pp 233–242
Triantafyllou AG (2001) PM10 pollution episodes as a function of synoptic climatology in a mountainous industrial area. Environ Pollut 112(3):91–500. doi:10.1016/S0269-7491(00)00131-7
Triantafyllou AG (2003) Levels and trend of suspended particles around large lignite power stations. Environ Monit Assess 89:15–34. doi:10.1023/A:1025829907390
Triantafyllou AG, Skordas S, Diamantopoulos Ch, Mattheos S (2011) EAP/WMAQIS: the new dynamic atmospheric quality information system and its application in western Macedonia, Hellas. In: 16th International symposium on environmental pollution and its impact on life in the Mediterranean region, Ioannina, Greece, organized by MESAEP
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Greek Public Power Corporation for providing the data.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Karagiannidis, A.F., Triantafyllou, A.G., Karacostas, T. (2013). The Meteorological Setting of a Particulate Air Pollution Episode During November 2009, in Western Macedonia Industrial Area, Greece. In: Helmis, C., Nastos, P. (eds) Advances in Meteorology, Climatology and Atmospheric Physics. Springer Atmospheric Sciences. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29172-2_23
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29172-2_23
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-29171-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-29172-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)