Air quality in Rijeka, Croatia

Abstract

In this paper, the hourly mean ambient concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), sulfur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3), benzene (C6H6) and particulate matter (PM10) measured over the last 4.5 years at the two urban sites in Rijeka are analyzed. The first site is located in the center of the town, whereas the other is located in the southeastern part, closer to the industrial zone of Rijeka. The site in the center of Rijeka is subject to heavy vehicular traffic, thus exhibiting substantially higher NO2, CO and PM10 concentrations; however, the other site is characterized by much higher SO2 concentration. The diurnal and annual variations in pollutant concentrations reflect the effects of both human activity and periodic variations in meteorological conditions, whereas average weekly variations differ as per the anthropogenic emissions. Finally, in accordance with the trend of decreasing pollutant concentrations since the mid-1980s, SO2 concentrations decreased at both the sites, whereas NO2 concentration decreased at the site closer to the industrial area of Rijeka.