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Atmosphere
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Air Quality in Hungary
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Air Quality in Hungary

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Air Quality".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 8391

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Zita Ferenczi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Hungarian Meteorological Service, Kitaibel 1, H-1024 Budapest, Hungary
Interests: air quality; tropospheric ozone; PM; air quality modelling
Prof. Dr. László Bozó

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Hungarian Meteorological Service, Kitaibel 1, H-1024 Budapest, Hungary
Interests: long-range atmospheric transport models; trace elements; environmental impacts of air pollution
Dr. Anikó Angyal

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory for Heritage Science, Institute for Nuclear Research (ATOMKI), H-4026 Debrecen, Hungary
Interests: air pollution; aerosols; elemental analysis; source apportionment; PMF

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Air quality is still a very important issue for public health, the economy and the environment worldwide, and in Hungary as well. Despite the mitigation efforts of the government and authorities, improving air quality remains a major challenge in Hungary. Urban air quality is influenced by a large number of different factors. It depends mainly on the emission rates of air pollutants, which is in turn affected by the location and contributions of the different emission sources. Additional factors, such as meteorology and topography (i.e., mountainous areas and basins), can also contribute to enhancing air pollution phenomena and creating pollution events like summer or winter smog formation.

Air quality in the background where the ambient level of pollution is not affected by local sources of pollution is also a challenging research area. Hungary has a well-functioning background monitoring network and there are profile measurements of several trace gases. The aim of the profile measurement is primarily scientific.

The assessment of the impacts of air quality in Hungary requires a multi-disciplinary approach, combining air quality models, field measurements, epidemiological studies, integrated assessment models and other state of the art techniques. This Special Issue welcomes any original work related to the subject of air quality in Hungary that makes use of features from measurements to mathematical models.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to collect all the scientific results on air quality research in Hungary.

Dr. Zita Ferenczi
Prof. Dr. László Bozó
Dr. Anikó Angyal
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Hungary
  • air pollution
  • emission
  • long-range atmospheric transport
  • deposition
  • air quality modelling
  • episode situation
  • aerosols
  • tropospheric ozone
  • greenhouse gases

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 3963 KiB  
Article
Detailed Carbon Isotope Study of PM2.5 Aerosols at Urban Background, Suburban Background and Regional Background Sites in Hungary
by István Major, Mihály Molnár, István Futó, Virág Gergely, Sándor Bán, Attila Machon, Imre Salma and Tamás Varga
Atmosphere 2022, 13(5), 716; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/atmos13050716 - 30 Apr 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1369
Abstract
The aim of this study was to estimate and refine the potential sources of carbon in the atmospheric PM2.5 fraction aerosol at three sampling sites in Hungary. Quantification of total, organic and elemental carbon (TC, OC and EC, respectively), as well as [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to estimate and refine the potential sources of carbon in the atmospheric PM2.5 fraction aerosol at three sampling sites in Hungary. Quantification of total, organic and elemental carbon (TC, OC and EC, respectively), as well as radiocarbon (14C) and stable carbon isotope analyses were performed on exposed filters collected at an urban background site, a suburban background site of the capital of Hungary, Budapest from October 2017 to July 2018. Results were also collected from the rural regional background site of K-puszta. Compared to TC concentrations from other regions of Europe, the ratio of the lowest and highest values at all sites in Hungary are lower than these European locations, probably due to the specific meteorological conditions prevailing in the Carpathian Basin over the observation period. The concentration of OC was constantly higher than that of EC and a seasonal variation with higher values in the heating period (October–March) and lower values in the non-heating vegetation period (April–September) could be observed for both EC and OC fractions. Using 14C, the seasonal mean fraction of contemporary carbon (fC) within the TC varied between 0.50 and 0.78 at the sites, suggesting that modern sources were remarkable during the year, regardless of the heating or vegetation period. At the two urban sites, assuming constant industrial emission during the year, the fossil fuel combustion sources were responsible for the seasonal variation of EC, while modern carbon emissions from biomass-burning and biogenic sources influenced the OC concentration. The higher EC/TC ratios at these sites were associated with lower fC and δ13C values, which can be explained by soot emission from transportation. The notably high EC/TC ratios in the spring were likely caused by the reduced concentration of OC instead of increased EC concentrations. This could probably be caused by the ending of winter biomass burning, which emits a huge amount of OC into the atmosphere. On the contrary, the rural K-puszta site showed some differences relative to the sites in Budapest. No correlation could be revealed between the EC/TC ratio, fC and δ13C results, suggesting that the structure of sources was very stagnant and balanced in each season. In autumn, however, some less depleted values were observed, and agricultural corn-stalk burning after harvesting in the southern and eastern directions from Hungary can be suggested as the main source. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Quality in Hungary)
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18 pages, 1843 KiB  
Article
Case Studies of Aerosol Pollution in Different Public Transport Vehicles in Hungarian Cities
by Enikő Papp, Anikó Angyal, Enikő Furu, Zoltán Szoboszlai, Zsófia Török and Zsófia Kertész
Atmosphere 2022, 13(5), 692; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/atmos13050692 - 26 Apr 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1581
Abstract
In this case study, aerosol pollution and passenger exposure were investigated while travelling on different public transport vehicles in Hungary. Two sampling campaigns were carried out: one in autumn 2012 and the other in spring 2014. Concentration, elemental composition and the size distribution [...] Read more.
In this case study, aerosol pollution and passenger exposure were investigated while travelling on different public transport vehicles in Hungary. Two sampling campaigns were carried out: one in autumn 2012 and the other in spring 2014. Concentration, elemental composition and the size distribution of aerosol samples were determined in order to characterize the atmospheric particulate matter (APM) pollution inside the vehicles. The concentration of the PMcoarse fraction inside the different vehicles varied between 29 and 354 μg m−3, while the PM2.5 concentrations were found to be between 12 and 192 μg m−3. This was significantly (2–19 times) higher than the outdoor concentration values. The main sources of the increased exposure were the resuspended mineral and road dust, including salt and fertilizers, and the direct exhaust of the vehicles. Rail abrasion and disinfectant and cleaning materials also contributed considerably to the aerosol pollution inside the vehicles. Moreover, organic fibrous particles were found in great number on the samples by single particle analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Quality in Hungary)
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16 pages, 5220 KiB  
Article
Particle Number Concentration: A Case Study for Air Quality Monitoring
by Wanda Thén and Imre Salma
Atmosphere 2022, 13(4), 570; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/atmos13040570 - 01 Apr 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2486
Abstract
Particle matter is one of the criteria air pollutants which have the most considerable effect on human health in cities. Its legislation and regulation are mostly based on mass. We showed here that the total number of particles and the particle number concentrations [...] Read more.
Particle matter is one of the criteria air pollutants which have the most considerable effect on human health in cities. Its legislation and regulation are mostly based on mass. We showed here that the total number of particles and the particle number concentrations in different size fractions seem to be efficient quantities for air quality monitoring in urbanized areas. Particle number concentration (N) measurements were realized in Budapest, Hungary, for nine full measurements years between 2008 and 2021. The datasets were complemented by meteorological data and concentrations of criteria air pollutants. The annual medians of N were approximately 9 × 103 cm−3. Their time trends and diurnal variations were similar to other large continental European cities. The main sources of N are vehicle road traffic and atmospheric new aerosol particle formation (NPF) and consecutive growth events. The latter process is usually regional, so it appears to be better assessible for contribution quantification than mass concentration. It is demonstrated that the relative occurrence frequency of NPF was considerable, and its annual mean was around 20%. NPF events increased the contribution of ultrafine (UF < 100 nm) particles with respect to the regional particle numbers by 12% and 37% in the city center and in the near-city background, respectively. The pre-existing UF concentrations were doubled on the NPF event days. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Quality in Hungary)
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21 pages, 5776 KiB  
Article
Characterization of Aerosol Pollution in Two Hungarian Cities in Winter 2009–2010
by Enikő Furu, Anikó Angyal, Zoltán Szoboszlai, Enikő Papp, Zsófia Török and Zsófia Kertész
Atmosphere 2022, 13(4), 554; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/atmos13040554 - 30 Mar 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1659
Abstract
In this study, atmospheric particulate matter (APM) pollution was compared in urban background sites of two cities in Hungary—namely the capital Budapest and Debrecen—by analyzing daily aerosol samples collected between 8 December 2009 and 18 March 2010. Concentration, elemental composition, including BC, and [...] Read more.
In this study, atmospheric particulate matter (APM) pollution was compared in urban background sites of two cities in Hungary—namely the capital Budapest and Debrecen—by analyzing daily aerosol samples collected between 8 December 2009 and 18 March 2010. Concentration, elemental composition, including BC, and sources of fine (PM2.5) and coarse (PM2.5–10) aerosol pollution, as well as their variation due to meteorological conditions and anthropogenic activities, were determined for both cities. The average PM2.5 concentrations were 22 μg/m3 and 17 μg/m3 in Budapest and Debrecen, respectively. In the case of PM10, the mean concentration was 32 μg/m3 in Budapest and 23 μg/m3 in Debrecen. The concentration of the coarse fraction decreased significantly over the weekends compared to working days. The number of exceedances of the WHO recommended limit value for PM2.5 (15 μg/m3) were 67 in Budapest and 46 in Debrecen, which corresponds to 73% and 50% of the sampling days, respectively. At the time of the exceedances the daily average temperature was below freezing. The average PM2.5/PM10 ratio was 70% and 75% for the two sites, indicating the dominance of the fine fraction aerosol particles during the study period. Elements of natural origin (Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Ba) and chlorine were found to be dominant in the coarse fraction, while elements of anthropogenic origin (S, K, Cu, Zn, Pb) were characteristic to the fine fraction. Similar concentrations were measured in the two cities in the case of S which originates from regional transport and K which serves as a tracer for biomass combustion. Traffic-related elements were present in 2–3 times higher concentrations in Budapest. The episodic peaks in the Cl time series could be attributed to salting after snowfalls. The following sources of APM pollution were identified by using the EPA Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) 5.0 receptor model: soil, traffic, road dust, secondary sulfate, biomass burning, and de-icing of streets. On polluted days when the PM2.5 concentration exceeded the 25 μg/m3 value the contribution of secondary sulfate, domestic heating, and traffic increased significantly compared to the average. On weekends and holidays the contribution of soil and traffic decreased. The main pollution sources and their contributions were similar to the ones in other cities in the region. Comparing our findings to results from winter 2015 it can be concluded that while the PM2.5 pollution level remained almost the same, a significant increase in the contribution of biomass burning was observed in both cities from 2010 to 2015, indicating a change of heating habits. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Quality in Hungary)
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