Atmospheric particulate matter in Tarnów City (Southern Poland) – short time investigation of a space-time variability in the winter of 2019

Abstract

Tarnów is a city where air pollution is a major problem during the wintertime. An acceptable level of PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations are exceeded very often. The main reason of this situation is individual housing and their heat system based on ineffective old units based on hard coal and sometimes even people use waste as a fuel. The city has two air quality monitoring stations and a private network for measurements of particulate matter. However, there is still a lack of information on air quality in some areas of the city. For obtaining full information on the air quality in Tarnów, readings from the monitoring station and field measurements were carried out. The obtained information allowed to determine which areas of the city are most exposed to the occurrence of smog in the heating season. So far, air quality measurements in Tarnów have not been conducted at the same time for so many collections.The most polluted air occurs in Krzyż District but air quality should be improved in all city. The best air quality has been observed for locations where heat is available from municipal heating plant e.g. Słoneczna Str. Presented research work shows that air quality in Tarnów City is very unhealthy because of particulate matter pollution. In the winter time the main problem is too high concentration of PM2.5, but also PM10 concentration. Those parameters are very frequently exceeded. The worst air quality occurs in the evenings (8 p.m.), but in the mornings (8 a. m.) air quality is highly polluted too. When air quality in Tarnów City is bad situation concerns all localisations. The similar situation is observed when air quality is good or acceptable. The main conclusion is that for locations where heat is available from heat plant is not generated individually by domestic sources, the situation is the most comfortable. Our investigation covered short period, but it is preliminary study and this important issue will be continued in the future.