Impacts of Built-Up Area Geometry on PM10 Levels: A Case Study in Brno, Czech Republic

Abstract

This paper presents a statistical comparison of parallel hourly measurements of particulate matter smaller than 10 μm (PM10) from two monitoring stations that are located 560 m from each other in the northern part of Brno City. One monitoring station is located in a park, the other in a built-up area. The authors’ aim is to describe the influence of a built-up area geometry and nearby traffic intensity on modeling of PM10 pollution levels in the respective part of Brno. Furthermore, the purpose of this study is also to examine the influence of meteorological factors on the pollution levels; above all, to assess the influence of wind speed and direction, temperature change, and humidity change. In order to evaluate the obtained data, the following methods of mathematical statistics were applied: descriptive statistics, regression analysis, analysis of variance, and robust statistical tests. According to the results of the Passing–Bablok test, it can be stated that the parallel measurements of PM10 are significantly different. A regression model for PM10 pollution prediction was created and tested in terms of applicability; subsequently, it was used in order to compare measurements from both stations. It shows that in addition to the monitored meteorological factors, pollution levels are influenced mainly by traffic intensity and the geometry of the monitored built-up area.