Air Quality Management

The paper discusses the role of wind speed and mixing-layer height in shaping the levels of pollutant concentrations in the air of Krakow (Southern Poland). The hourly averaged measurements of concentrations of selected air pollutants and wind speed values from the period of 2014-2015, recorded at two of the air quality monitoring stations within Krakow (both industrial and urban background) were used for this purpose. Temporal variability of mixing-layer height in the area of the monitoring stations was determined using numerical modelling with the CALMET model and the measurements derived from, i.a., two upper air stations. It was found that wind speed and mixing-layer height are in at least moderate agreement with the concentration values for some pollutants. For PM10, PM2.5, NO2, NOx, CO and C6H6 correlation coefficient is of negative value, which indicates that the low wind speed and low mixing-layer height may be the dominant reason for elevated concentrations of these substances in the air, especially in the winter months. Moderate but positive correlation was found between O3 concentrations and analysed meteorological parameters, proving that the availability of appropriate precursors and their inflow from the neighbouring areas have an important role in the formation of tropospheric ozone. On the other hand, in case of SO2, a weak both positive and negative correlation coefficient was obtained, depending on the period and location of the station concerned.

La Gestión de la Calidad del Aire (GCA) se instituye como una respuesta del Estado para prevenir y controlar las emisiones de contaminantes al aire, mediante el diseño e implementación de instrumentos y políticas para mejorar la calidad del aire y proteger la salud de la población. En México, la GCA de los gobiernos locales no ha resultado lo suficientemente efectiva para reducir los niveles de contaminación por debajo de los estándares nacionales e internacionales, debido a que sus modelos de gestión han prestado escasa atención a los factores institucionales, sociales, económicos y políticos que pueden incidir en la efectividad de la política de calidad del aire. En esta investigación se propone un marco de análisis del modelo de GCA del Estado de Baja California (BC), bajo un enfoque de Gobernanza Estratégica, para conocer cómo se diseña e implementa la política de calidad del aire del Estado, así como identificar los factores y actores sociales y gubernamentales que intervienen en este proceso, para finalmente evaluar el nivel de Gobernanza en que se encuentra este modelo de GCA. Los resultados de la investigación muestran que el modelo de GCA de BC ha superado el enfoque tradicional de la gestión pública, pero aun no alcanza un nivel de Gobernanza para definir una agenda estratégica para la GCA, incorporar a los actores involucrados para la implementación de esta agenda y establecer los mecanismos de monitoreo y evaluación del desempeño de las estrategias implementadas.

The Air Quality Management (AQM) was established as a response of the State to prevent and control emissions of air pollutants, through the design and implementation of tools and policies to improve air quality and protect the inhabitants’ health. In Mexico, the AQM at local governments has not been sufficiently effective in reducing air pollution levels under national and international standards, because their AQM model have paid little attention to institutional, social, economic and political factors, that may affect the effectiveness of air quality policies. In this research, an analysis framework for the Baja California(BC) AQM model is proposed, with a Strategic Governance approach, to know how the State air quality policy is designed and implemented, and to identify the social and governmental factors/actors involved in this process and, finally to assess the governance level of this AQM model. The research findings show that the BC’s AQM model has overcome the traditional public management approach, but it has not yet reached a level of governance to define a strategic agenda for AQM, to incorporate the stakeholders to implement this agenda and to establish the mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the performance of the strategies implemented.

En Málaga y en el área metropolitana de Málaga, igual que en otras aglomeraciones urbanas, su superan los límites de ciertos gases contaminantes (evolución temporal de años anteriores) establecidos por la Unión Europea de protección de la salud, lo que requiere que se adopten medidas para mejorar la calidad del aire en todos los niveles,
desde los legisladores hasta el tejido empresarial, pasando por los ciudadanos corrientes.

Legislation changes in Poland concerning the protective zones (created around industrial plants particularly harmful to the environment) were presented in the paper. Conditions connected with forming, developing and partial elimination of the protective zone existing around the "Katowice" steelworks and the coke plant Przyjaźń in Dąbrowa Górnicza (Poland) since 1978 were characterized as well.
English title: Elimination of the protective zone of the Katowice steelworks and the coke plant Przyjaźń in Dąbrowa Górnicza.

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are useful alternative techniques in modelling the complex vehicular exhaust emission (VEE) dispersion phenomena. This paper describes a step-by-step procedure to model the nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) dispersion phenomena using the ANN technique. The ANN-based NO 2 models are developed at two air-quality-control regions (AQCRs), one, representing, a traffic intersection (AQCR1) and the other, an arterial road (AQCR2) in the Delhi city. The models are unique in the sense that they are developed for 'heterogeneous 1 ' traffic conditions and tropical meteorology. The inputs to the model consist of 10 meteorological and 6 traffic characteristic variables. Two-year data, from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 1998 has been used for model training and data from 1 January to 31 December 1999, for model testing and evaluation purposes. The results show satisfactory performance of the ANN-based NO 2 models on the evaluation data set at both the AQCRs (d = 0.76 for AQCR1, and d = 0. 59 for AQCR2).

Air quality in the Agglomeration of Krakow is determined by many factors, which include, among others, unfavorable location and the resulting meteorological conditions unfavorable for self-cleaning of ambient air. The paper presents a few examples illustrating the impact of selected meteorological factors on some pollutant concentrations in the air in Krakow. Among these, special attention was paid to the ambient air temperature (indirectly influencing the level of air emissions from the municipal sector in the winter season) as well as the wind speed and the mixing layer height. On the basis performed analyzes were to draw conclusions on meteorological restrictions on the possibilities of improving air quality in Krakow.

This paper presents the results of the PM2.5 and PM10 mass concentration measurements in an urban air and results obtained from the additional chemical analysis concerning carbon and sulfur content of the collected dust samples. Dust samples were collected at the measuring point located on the roof of five-storey building at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, Poland (the center of the urban area of the city). In the scope of this study the relations between the carbon and sulfur content within the collected dust samples were determined in the function of the dust fraction content and selected meteorological factors. As a result of the study the hypothesis identifying the main sources of dust emissions determining the air quality in Krakow were faced.

The work presents emission factors of main air pollutants for installations of ArcelorMittal Poland S.A. Unit in Krakow (Poland) in comparison with analogous characteristic emissions for iron and steel industry in West Europe. In the comparison four installations (to coke, sinter, pig iron and steel production) were taken into consideration. The emission rates from ArcelorMittal Poland S.A. Unit in Krakow were estimated on the basis of the emission levels and production data from 2004, when took place the most significant production of liquid steel during last several years. As a result of the analysis, most the emission factors (with the exception of dust emission) determined for these installations were included in the ranges of the emission rates accomplished in this kind of plants situated in the other European Union countries.