Source apportionment study Skopje urban area – Presentation
Source Apportionment Study for Skopje urban area – Full Study
Main goal of Source Apportionment (SA) study for Skopje Agglomeration was to derive information about pollution sources and the amount they contribute to ambient air pollution levels, as essential tool in design of air quality policies as required explicitly or implicitly for the implementation of the Air Quality Directives (Directive 2008/50/EC and Directive 2004/107/EC).
The Source Apportionment Study for Skopje Agglomeration was prepared by AMBICON UGD Lab, as a part of Tackling Air Pollution in the City of Skopje Project, implemented by UNDP-Skopje and SIDA- Sweden’s government agency for development cooperation, and supported by Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning and City of Skopje.
The project preparations and field works set up were started during the late October 2020 and officially commenced from start of January
2021, and included following activities:
- Selection of representative receptors/monitoring sites
- Sampling + Chemical speciation
- Construction of multivariate receptor model for all receptors.
Considering the SA study goals, current data availability, as much as the project document requirements, in total five (5) specific receptors/sampling points were selected and set within Skopje agglomeration.
2 of the sites were set as permanent (full year coverage) and other 3 as indicative (14 days per season coverage).
Karposh permanent monitoring site (our code MP1-AQP), was selected as a representative for urban background, with no direct exposure
to significant sources.
Novo Lisiche permanent monitoring site (our code MP2 -AQP), was selected as a representative for urban site exposed to mixture of sources in the area (traffic, residential heating, and mixed industrial sources).
With respect to the “indicative measuring sites” the following locations were selected for monitoring/measuring activities:
Gorce Petrov (Hrom) – indicative site. Primary school “Dimitar Pop Georgiev – Berovski” in Gorce Petrov was selected as an indicative site under possible influx of pollution along the Vardar and Treska rivers valleys (our code MP3-AQT). • The site is located in urban area with
low speed streets and mostly individual housing.
Gorce Petrov (Volkovo) – indicative site. Primary school “Joakim Krcovski” in Volkovo was selected as a indicative site under possible influx of pollution along the Lepenec river valley (our code MP4-AQT). The site located in rural area, few hundred meters from the ring road around Skopje open to Lepenec river valley to the north.
Gazi Baba – indicative site. Gazi Baba indicative monitoring site (our code MP5-AQT), was selected as a representative for specific industrial
exposure. The site is located in a forest, close to major still processing industrial area.
For both locations, 7 main factors were identified for having largest share on PM 2,5 mass of suspended particles i.e.: energy production, industry, traffic, domestic heating, waste management, construction sites and agriculture.
Biomass burning during summer months present no share at all. But, during winter season (November-March), burning biomass was main pollution source on both locations, having average share between 17,41 и 45,07 μg/m³ for Novo Lisiche and 12,16 и 30,42 μg/m³ for Karpos. Traffic is main pollution source for Novo Lisice, having steady share of 4,82 и 17,21 μg/m³ all year long, and with significantly smaller share in Karpos, having 0,86 до 8,69 μg/m³.
Secondary aerosols have largest influence during coldest and warmest months, interrelated with high levels of gas precursors during winter period, and photo-chemical processes as a result of high temperatures during summer months.
Yet, there are other significant pollution sources, such are diesel and heavy-fuel oil, mineral dust that originate from construction activities, re-suspension from city streets and wind erosion from the area without vegetation cover, that need and must be resolved in near future.
The video from the presentation can be seen on the following link. The main event begins at the 30th minute.
