Assessment of widespread air pollution in the megacity using geographic information systems

Abstract

Approaches for assessing atmospheric conditions in megacities are proposed using an example of St. Petersburg. An article provides results of field observations on atmospheric air quality conducted with a mobile laboratory of Saint-Petersburg Mining University. Temporal distribution was analysed for concentrations of key pollutants: oxides of nitrogen, ammonia, and carbon; sulphur dioxide; hydrogen sulphide; methane; total hydrocarbons. The given framework for interpreting the data on atmospheric monitoring exploits spatial distribution of pollutant concentrations. The proposed ways for solving the problem of atmospheric pollution in certain megacity districts are based on geographic information systems allowing modelling widespread air contamination.