Climatological trajectory analysis of air pollution from Istanbul to its surroundings

Abstract

Megacities’ pollution problems are rising day by day because of population growth, transportation, traffic and industrial activities. Istanbul is one of the largest cities in Europe. Dense population and vehicle traffic, irregular urbanization and industrialization are the important problems of Istanbul that contribute to the air pollution. In the first part of this research, trans-boundary pollutant transport originating from Istanbul was assessed in terms of meteorology and trajectory approach. NCEP/NCAR (National Centers for Environmental Predictions/National Centers for Atmospheric Research) reanalysis data (NNRP-NCEP NCAR Reanalysis Project -2.5°, 6-hourly) for the 30-year period from 1961 to 1990 was used for a comprehensive climatological trajectory evaluation. The second part of the research contains a case study for a selected episode (22- 25 July 2002) using MM5 model. Results show that, Istanbul is a regional air pollution source for its surroundings. Air pollutant may be transport from Istanbul to the surrounding area throughout the year as a result of the main wind directions. Although climatological trajectory approach gives general knowledge about air transport, it is impossible to predict daily air parcel movements based on it.|Keywords: Air Pollution, Air Modeling, Trajectory Analysis