PM10 and the air quality stress index in an industrial city of Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

The contribution of PM₁₀ to the daily Air Quality Stress Index (AQSI) was examined in a heavily affected industrial city of Eastern Mediterranean (Aspropyrgos, Greece). For this purpose, hourly values of four pollutants (SO₂, NO₂, O₃, and PM₁₀) were analyzed between 2012 and 2020, revealing that the main contributor to AQSI levels came from PM₁₀ (between 17% and 90% to the daily AQSI), with a moderate annual variability and a spring peak. Excluding PM₁₀, the AQSI always remained below the threshold of 0.8. To identify the atmospheric source of PM₁₀ peaks, the Flextra - Air mass trajectories model was applied to 47 cases when the upper thresholds were exceeded. The empirical results of the model show that dust transport episodes, mainly from Sahara Desert, contribute to the daily levels of PM10 and, for generalization, to AQSI.