Monitoring of criteria air pollutants in Bursa, Turkey

Abstract

The concentrations of criteria air pollutants such as CO, NOx (NO + NO2), SO2 and PM were measured in the period of May 2001 and April 2003 in the city of Bursa, Turkey. The average concentrations for this period were 1115 +/- 1600 mu g/m(3), 29 +/- 50 mu g/m(3), 51 +/- 24 mu g/m(3), 79 +/- 65 mu g/m(3), 40 +/- 35 mu g/m(3), 98 +/- 220 mu g/m(3), for CO, NO, NO2, NOx, SO2 and PM, respectively. Temporal changes in concentrations were analyzed using meteorological factors. Correlations among pollutant concentrations and meteorological parameters showed weak relations nearly in all data. Lower concentrations were observed in the summer months while higher concentrations were measured in the winter months. The increase in winter concentrations was probably due to residential heating. Pollutants were associated with each other in order to have information about their origin. NOx/SO2 ratio was also examined to bring out the source origin contributing on air pollution (i.e., traffic or stationary).