Modelling Coarse Particulate Matter PM10 Concentration in the Tricity Area using GIS

Environmental pollution is an issue of global concern, with Particulate Matter (PM) poisoning being a prime cause of lung cancer. This has led the European Commission to establish strict daily and annual PM concentration limits. The monitoring of air quality in major cities is the responsibility of European Member States. The Tricity, a 414.81 km(2) area in northern Poland, is monitored by a network of only 9 stations operated by the non-profit ARMAAG foundation. The stations provide hourly pollution and meteorological measurements in key areas of the Tricity, however the information regarding air quality in areas devoid of actual measurement stations must be obtained from other sources. The aim of the presented work is to relate the hourly PM10 concentrations in the Tricity area to other available data of various scale and resolution in order to provide a possibly accurate representation of air quality in the entire Tricity area.