Complex assessment of atmospheric air quality in the city of Gelendzhik
Atmospheric air quality is determined by the concentrations of some gaseous pollutants and mass concentrations of aerosol particles in different size ranges. A wide range of atmospheric pollutants in both gaseous and aerosol phases was studied in the vicinity of Gelendzhik simultaneously in several sites of the region and at altitudes of up to 2200 m in July 2009. No such complex experiment was conducted there before. The following characteristics of the atmospheric aerosol were studied in the partical size range 3 nm - 32 μm: elemental composition of particles (23 chemical elements) and concentrations of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (14 compounds), unsaturated hydrocarbons, total protein, biotoxins, and culturable microorganisms. The concentration fields of different air pollutants and the integrated air pollution index were constructed using mathematical models of pollutant propagation and data on the hydrometeorological conditions during the period of measurements. The sources of aerosols in the region were revealed by studying the chemical composition of the airborne particles. The data obtained allowed us to estimate air pollutants and to calculate air quality indexes for the Gelendzhik area. The daily average concentrations of all the pollutants were compared to the daily average maximum permissible concentrations. All these concentrations were less than appropriate values of daily average maximum permissible concentrations.The integrated air pollution index did not exceed 1. Consequently, the atmosphere in the vicinity of Gelendzhik did not contain any significant pollutants in that period.