PM10 air quality variations in an urbanized and industrialized harbor

In this paper we investigate the PM10 pollution episodes associated with meteorological situations in an urban and industrialized coastal site of the southern part of the North Sea, representative of a typical harbor for trade. in a first part, the spatio-temporal variability of PM10, SO2, NOx and O-3 concentrations at the urban scale suggests that both regional air masses and local emissions affect harbor's pollution. In a second part, hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) performed on meteorological data and PM10 concentrations reveals two main air quality (AQ) regimes. The first one is related to low PM10 levels, which occur under low-pressure conditions due to meteorological conditions favoring a good dispersion of pollutants. The second one is characterized by higher PM10 concentrations appearing under high-pressure conditions. The highest polluted days are characterized by the highest temperatures and hardly any rain. These pollution episodes predominantly occur during sea breeze days, but also as the result of occasional industrial releases. The HCA proved to be an appropriate method to define AQ regimes and to identify meteorological conditions favoring or not PM pollution episodes in Dunkerque conurbation. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.