Temporal evolution of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in the city of Volos, Greece

The goal of this work is the analysis of air quality levels in the area of Volos, a city of average size on the eastern seaboard of Central Greece. For this purpose, concentration measurements of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and nitrogen dioxide, for a 4-year period (2001-2004) are analyzed. Air pollution data were obtained by a monitoring station, fully automated, which was established by the Hellenic Ministry of the Environment, Physical Planning, and Public Works, in order to measure air pollution levels in Volos, a medium-sized city, which faces the effects of industrialization. The main conclusions from the statistical analysis of the 4-year measurements of hourly SO(2), NO(2), and NO concentrations in the city of Volos, showed that the mean seasonal variation of the examined air pollutant concentration presents a minimum during the warm period of the year and a maximum during the cold period. Although the local geomorphology and meteorology encourage particularly the accumulation of air pollutants, the analysis shows that the SO(2) and NO(2) concentration levels remain lower than corresponding thresholds for human health protection set by the European Union, in this urban measuring site, during the examined period. The application of harmonic analysis revealed the difference between the annual variation of the SO(2) and NO(x) concentrations. Regarding NO(x), the variation is mainly due to the first harmonic term (anthropogenic factor), while the SO(2) variation is interpreted by the two harmonic terms, which represent the anthropogenic and meteorological factors, respectively.