Influence of Traffic Flow and Meteorological Conditions on Air Pollution – A Case Study

Abstract

In this paper, the influence of traffic flow volume and meteorological conditions on carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), ozone (O3) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) concertation is determined based on the measurements conducted at a selected location over a 784-hour period. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were applied to the data set. Regression analysis was also used to determine trends in pollutant concentrations as a function of traffic flow and meteorological parameters. Analysis of the obtained data indicates a statistically significant relationship between traffic volume and meteorological parameters on the one hand and pollutants on the other. However, increase in the value of certain input variables does not necessarily result in the increase in pollutant concentration. CO and O3 showed a significant dependence on the number of vehicles, while for SO2 the influence of commercial vehicles was greater than that of passenger cars. The relationship between the number of vehicles and PM was not evident at the study site.

Keywords

• traffic flow
• meteorological parameters
• carbon monoxide
• particulate matter
• ozone
• sulphur dioxide