Air quality and meteorological patterns of an early spring heatwave event in an industrialized area of Attica, Greece

Abstract

Heatwaves-excessively hot ambient conditions that are considered a serious threat to human health-are often associated with poor air quality. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of an early heatwave episode in an industrialized plain in the eastern Mediterranean region (Thriasio, Greece) on human thermal discomfort and urban air quality. The heatwave occurred in mid (15-20) May 2020, shortly after some of the restrictions that were improsed to halt the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 in Greece were lifted (on 4 May). The discomfort index (DI) and the daily air quality index (DAQI) were calculated on an hourly basis throughout spring 2020 (March, April, May) using data from two stations that measure meteorological parameters and air pollutant concentrations in the Thriasio Plain. The analysis showed that the air temperature increased during 7-17 May to levels that were more than 10 °C above the monthly average value (25.8 °C). The maximum measured air temperature was 38 °C (on 17 May). The results showed a high level of thermal discomfort. The DI exceeded the threshold of 24 °C for several hours during 13-20 May. Increased air pollution levels were also identified. The average DAQI was estimated as 0.83 ± 0.1 and 1.14 ± 0.2 at two monitoring stations in the region of interest during the heatwave. Particulate matter (diameter < 10 μm) appeared to contribute significantly to the poor air quality. Significant correlations between the air temperature, DI, and AQSI were also identified.

A Statistical Procedure for Analyzing the Behavior of Air Pollutants during Temperature Extreme Events: The Case Study of Emilia-Romagna Region (Northern Italy)

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“…Observed climate trends show that temperatures are increasing, particularly extreme temperatures, with heat waves (HWs) becoming more frequent, more intense, and longer lasting [3,[17][18][19][20]. In literature, many studies are focused on the effects of HWs and air pollution on human health, particularly on the increase in mortality and morbidity, whilst few studies investigate the link between HWs and air pollution [2,[21][22][23][24].…”

PM10 and the air quality stress index in an industrial city of Eastern Mediterranean

“…Also, during the last few years, early-summer heat waves occurred in Greece, being accompanied with intense dust transport episodes. Those weather condition downgraded air quality (Trianti et al, 2017;Mavrakis et al, 2021) and alarmed authorities.…”

Automatic generation of traditional patterns and aesthetic quality evaluation technology

“…In 2004, Microsoft Asia Research Institute and the Department of Automation of Tsinghua University jointly published the rst paper on image quality evaluation, and proposed a new method to automatically distinguish between professional photographers and ordinary users' photos [8]. After that, most of the image aesthetic quality evaluation work is to design various visual features to adapt to the human evaluation of the image aesthetic quality [9]. Based on this, Abbas M S. et al proposed a content-based image aesthetic quality evaluation [10].…”