Title: Air quality assessment in Bologna by an urban dispersion model

Authors: Linda Passoni, Vanes Poluzzi, Marco Deserti, Enrico Minguzzi, Michele Stortini, Giovanni Bonafe, Stefano Zauli Sajani

Addresses: Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione Ambientale dell'Emilia Romagna (ARPA-ER), Department of Bologna, Via Triachini 17, 40138 Bologna, Italy. ' Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione Ambientale dell'Emilia Romagna (ARPA-ER), Department of Bologna, Via Triachini 17, 40138 Bologna, Italy. ' ARPA-ER, Hydrometeorological Service, Viale Silvani 6, 40122 Bologna, Italy. ' ARPA-ER, Hydrometeorological Service, Viale Silvani 6, 40122 Bologna, Italy. ' ARPA-ER, Hydrometeorological Service, Viale Silvani 6, 40122 Bologna, Italy. ' ARPA-ER, Hydrometeorological Service, Viale Silvani 6, 40122 Bologna, Italy. ' ARPA-ER, Environmental Epidemiology Service, Via Fontanelli 23, 41100 Modena, Italy

Abstract: An urban dispersion model (ADMS–Urban) was run to calculate PM10 and NO2 concentration during a one-year period, on a district of Bologna, Italy. Moreover, the exposure of 333 children was estimated using model outputs corrected with observations. The model was able to correctly simulate the long-term statistical properties of roadside observed concentrations (such as annual mean and frequency distribution), but it failed in reproducing instantaneous values. The proposed methodology is of easy implementation, and it could be useful to identify areas with high pollutant levels, to estimate population exposure and to evaluate the benefit of pollution reduction policies.

Keywords: air quality assessment; children exposure; urban air quality; dispersion models; Italy; air pollution; population exposure; pollution reduction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2009.026887

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2009 Vol.4 No.1/2, pp.112 - 125

Published online: 28 Jun 2009 *

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