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Air quality models as a tool for prediction of harmful atmospheric pollutants: current state in Croatia

The main purpose of this article is to give a short insight into AQM (Air Quality Models) as a tool for predictions of pollutant concentrations and to present current state and use of such models in the Republic of Croatia. Air pollution is contamination of the environment which can cause damage to human health and quality of life by changing natural characteristics of the atmosphere. Term „pollution“ refers to emission of pollutants in the atmosphere from both natural and anthropogenic sources such as volcanic eruptions, seismic activities, geothermal activities and those caused by direct or indirect human activity like motor vehicles, agriculture and industry [1]. Most of Europe’s population lives in urban areas. According to European Environment Agency (EEA), PM, NO2 and O3 are considered as pollutants with biggest impact on human health which are mainly caused by human activities. For those pollutants, levels of concentrations were above latest WHO’s (World Health Organization) global air quality guidelines. Furthermore, sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitric oxides (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide (CO), and ammonia (NH3) are also considered as pollutants with high harmful impact on human health and environment [2, 3]. Therefore, AQMs, also known as dispersion models, are used for estimating air pollutant concentrations in various time intervals and locations. They estimate concentrations by defining several parameters such as wind, turbulence, topography, and deposition which describe transport, diffusion, and chemical reactions between pollutants in the atmosphere. Depending on type (Gaussian, Lagrange, Eulerian or box model) they are constantly being developed and used by governments across the world to predict concentrations on local, regional, and global scale in order to monitor emissions, forecast air quality, and assess risks of pollution. The Republic of Croatia as a Member State of The European Union (EU) is obliged to issue annual reports of air quality, once a year for the previous calendar year. Air quality monitoring is carried through the national and local level permanent monitoring stations spread across cities and counties which gathers data that is later used in AQMs [3, 4]. To this day, there are not many recorded articles that describe the use of AQMs for prediction of pollutant concentrations in Croatia.

air quality models ; atmospheric pollutants ; air pollution ; dispersion models

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