An assessment of pollutant emissions due to air traffic at Nikola Tesla International Airport, Belgrade, and the link between local air quality and weather types

Abstract

The assessment of local air pollution due to air traffic is an important issue from the standpoint of human health. An advanced approach using a landing and take-off cycle method is employed to assess emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC), and sulphur oxides (SOx). Emissions of both volatile and non-volatile particulate matter are estimated using the new First-Order Approximation methodology. As synoptic situations (weather) determine the transport of pollutants in the air as well as their scavenging, the weather type for each day is classified for the study period (2008–2015). Due to a significant increase in air traffic at Nikola Tesla International Airport, Belgrade, in the last eight years, emissions of all considered pollutants have also increased. Emissions of NOx and CO were the highest (totals for eight years were 2976.03 and 2875.66 tons, respectively). An analysis of weather types showed that the most frequent were warm, dry, anticyclones (AWD) and cyclones (low-pressure systems) including the passage of a cold front (CCF). The frequency of occurrence of AWDs and CCFs was 28.3% and 21.6%, respectively. An AWD is very unfavourable from the viewpoint of local air pollution, especially during the cold part of year, due to a shallow temperature inversion and fog formation in the morning confining the pollutants to the emission location for a longer time span. CCFs are also adverse due to the prevailing westerly and north-westerly winds that transport pollutants toward the city.