Air quality data for Catania: analysis and investigation casestudy 2012-2013

This paper focuses on the principal atmospheric pollutants monitored in Catania (Italy) according to European Directive 50/2008. A couple of years, 2012 and 2013 have been considered as a study period. The monitoring system of Catania is made up of five stations that control the presence of the air pollutants in the most important anthropic areas of the urban territory. First of all the mechanisms of formation of the main pollutants have been summarized in order to identify the main causes and effects in urban environment. The raw data have been collected and validated according the UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 by the Ecologic and Environmental research unit of the municipality of Catania. The trend of all pollutants during the two cited years have been investigated and the results highlight that the most principal polluting gas is NO2 confirming the trend of the previous years. A further analysis of what the principal causes of pollution in Catania could be, has been conducted in order to evaluate possible actions to reduce the atmospheric pollution. As a result it has been demonstrated that the principal cause of the atmospheric pollutant emissions is connected to private urban mobility. The experimental results demostrated that the principal cause of the atmospheric pollutant emissions is connected to private urban mobility. A development of realistic mathematical model will be the object of future research works. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.