AN EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS OF PM10 PARTICULATE MATTER RELATIONSHIPS WITH WEATHER DATA AND SPATIAL VARIATION

The main aim of the paper was to explore the interrelationships between PM10 time series and various weather parameters i.e. air temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed, recorded hourly at six automated monitoring stations located in Oltenia South-West region of Romania. Significant correlations (p<0.001) were observed between PM10 concentrations and air temperature, PM10 and atmospheric pressure, and PM(10)and wind speed at all stations. These associations were not dependent on monitoring location, and provided reliable PM10 concentrations tendencies according to weather parameter's change. PM10 concentrations increased with temperature abatement, increased with atmospheric pressure rising, and decreased with wind speed enhancement. A case study performed in Targoviste city is presented to supplement the knowledge on PM10 spatial variation. Resulted thematic maps with isolines showed high levels of PM10 particles in the western and northwest parts of the city, which are correlated with intense heavy traffic and neighboring active industries from northwest. Geo-referenced PM10 quantitative knowledge facilitates the selection of control strategies for reducing exposure risks for the inner-city residents.