Evaluation of air quality in Suceava, Romania

Abstract

<p>In cities the chemical parameters of the urban atmosphere are being influenced, mainly negatively, by the daily human activities. The urban agglomeration of Suceava (from the NE of Romania) amounted to 116404 inhabitants as per the census from 2011. Their quality of life depends directly on the quality of the air inhaled, and this is being affected by the variable emissions of the transport and industrial sectors and by the household activities. The Municipality of Suceava is an important commercial center and, at the same time, a tourist city.</p><p>The general objective of the study consists in the evaluation of the air quality of Suceava Municipality, on the basis of the hourly data from the stations SV1 (urban background) and SV2 (industrial background) from the interval January 2009 - October 2019, on the basis of five chemical indicators: NO2, SO2, CO, O3 and PM10. The main objectives are: i) the identification of the fluctuations in time of the daily or hourly average concentrations of these emissions with the outlining of their daily or annual regime; ii) the comparison of the air quality in the neighbourhoods with residential function from the central and central-southern areas (Zamca, Marasesti, George Enescu, Areni, Obcini and so on) with the one from the industrial platform vicinity, and iii) the releasing of some accurate evaluations based on data from monitoring, which to classify in different levels of quality the air breathed in by humans.</p><p>Results. In Suceava the concentrations of NO2 (with hourly indices of quality evaluated as being excellent in 96,51% of cases at SV1 and 93,51% of cases at SV2), SO2 (with hourly indices of quality evaluated as being excellent in 99,79% of cases at SV1 and 99,03% of cases at SV2) and CO (with indices of excellent quality of the air in 99,78% of the hours of observations at SV1 and 97,32% at SV2) are not capable to raise real problems from the perspective of their impact on human health. In the case of O3, in 1,67% of the hours of observations from SV1 the concentration of this gas exceeded the target value for the protection of human health (120 μg/mc). The situation is not alarming due to the reduce percentage held by these situations and to the limitation of the areal to a single monitoring point. In the case of PM10 the concentration does not raise problems at SV1 station where the proportion of time with exceedings of the daily limit value for human health protection is on average 1,3 days/year<sup>-1</sup>, but at SV2 the daily limit values are being exceeded in 35 day/year<sup>1</sup>. The interval October - March, with thermal inversions, persistent fog and low stratiform clouds, is the critical one related to this pollutant.</p><p>Conclusions. On the background of the industrial decline that followed after 1989, the quality of the air from the atmosphere of Suceava has increased. The problem of the particles in the areal of the industrial platform and Burdujeni neighbourhood stays a current one. </p>

One Century of Pasture Dynamics in a Hilly Area of Eastern Europe, as Revealed by the Land-Use Change Approach

“…We cannot make accurate statements regarding the conversion method. We can only support the hypothesis that, depending on the hydrological regime specific to each sector of floodplains or the intensity of droughts [31,55], there were years when these surfaces became free of excess moisture, naturally becoming meadows that were used as pastures or even as cropland. This type of land conversion was certainly not permanent (as the maps show), depending on the hydrological regime, in a direct relationship with the fertility of the alluvial soils.…”

“…After 1960, the croplands from steep hillslopes were converted to pastures. From 1945 to 1960, there was a dry period [31,55] during which many reservoirs emptied, a situation recognizable on the 1960 topographic maps. This situation probably favored the conversion of the wetlands to pastures, but at this point, we cannot estimate which was the main driver: the climate or the human intervention through drainage work.…”

“…Climatically, Ias , i county is a dry area with average multiannual temperatures of 9.4 • C. However, there is an altitude-induced variability of mean temperature between the lowland Prut and its tributaries floodplains (30 to 80 m asl), the Siret floodplain (200 m asl), and the low hills (100-200 m asl) or high hills (200-600 m asl), of around 1 • C [28]. Similarly, rainfall values vary between 560 mm (Ias , i) and 790 mm (Bârnova), and these variations are highly dependent on the elevation and the geographical position [29][30][31].…”

Thermo-Hydrometric Arguments in the Demonstration of Foehnal Circulation in Cotnari, Romania

“…Taking into account the average altitude gap of 232 m between Humosu and Cotnari-Belcești weather stations, the average thermal difference of 2.5 ° C between them and the average thermal gradient value of 0.46 ° C / 100 m specific to the Moldavian Plain [10 ], we can assign the additional thermal difference that exceeds by 1.3 -1.5 ° C the value of the vertical average thermal gradient (which is 1 ° C / 232 m) of the foehnal air circulation. In terms of hygrometric changes, the effects of the foehn are transposed by decreases of almost 8 -9% of the average humidity values between the Humosu and Cotnari -Belcești weather stations, under the conditions in which the vertical vertical gradient specific to the Moldavian Plain (0.5% / 100 m - [10] it would indicate for the same territory value decreases for this element of only 1% (Fig. 7).…”