Title: Frequency distribution of particulate matter (PM₁₀) in urban environments

Authors: George M. Giavis, Harry D. Kambezidis, Spyridon P. Lykoudis

Addresses: Atmospheric Research Team, Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, National Observatory of Athens, P.O. Box 20048, Athens GR-11810, Greece; Department of Physics, University of Patras, Patras GR-26500, Greece. ' Atmospheric Research Team, Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, National Observatory of Athens, P.O. Box 20048, Athens GR-11810, Greece. ' Atmospheric Research Team, Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, I. Metaxa & V. Pavlou, P. Pendeli, Athens GR-15236, Greece

Abstract: Hourly measurements of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 µm (PM₁₀) were recorded in Athens, Greece and Manchester, UK, for a period of one year. The lognormal, gamma and Weibull distributions were selected to fit the concentration frequency distribution of the measured PM₁₀ data. Moreover, the statistics of Mean Bias Error (MBE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and index of agreement (d) were employed as criteria to judge the goodness of fit of the above three distributions. The results showed that the lognormal distribution is the most appropriate to represent the PM₁₀ distribution, while the Weibull distribution is unsuitable for this case.

Keywords: PM₁₀ concentration; lognormal distribution; Weibull distribution; Athens; Manchester; Greece; UK; United Kingdom; air pollution; air quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2009.021819

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2009 Vol.36 No.1/2/3, pp.99 - 109

Published online: 05 Dec 2008 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article