ISSS608 2018-19 T1 Assign HyderAli Task 1 Insights
Air Pollution in Sofia City
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To investigate the PM10 composition between 2013 and 2018 with measurements data from 6 Air Quality stations of Sofia, we proceed to consolidate the daily and hourly data from the following sets of data. The consolidated data consists of 39,715 measurements from the 6 stations; BG0040A - 8393, BG0050A - 8378, BG0052A - 8280, BG0073A - 7743, BG0079A - 6004 and BG0054A - 917.
| EEA Data - Official Air Quality Measurements | EEA Metadata | Meteorological Measurements |
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| Country Code Namespace Air Quality Network Air Quality Station Air Quality Station EOI Code Sampling Point Sampling Process Sample Air Pollutant Averaging Time Concentration Unit of Measurement Datetime Begin Datetime End Validity Verification |
Country Code Namespace Air Quality Network Air Quality Station Air Quality Nat Code Air Quality Station EOI Code Air Quality Station Area Sampling Point Sampling Process Sample Building Distance Equivalence Demonstrated Inlet Height Kerp Distance Measurement Equipment Measurement Type Measurement Method Air Pollutant Code Air Pollutant Air Quality Station Type Projection Longitude Lattitude Altitude |
Year Month Day TASMAX TASAVG TASMIN DPMAX DPAVG DPMIN RHMAX RHAVG RHMIN sfcWindMAX sfcWindAVG sfcWindMIN PSLMAX PSLAVG PSLMIN PRCPMAX PRCPAVG PRCPMIN VISIB |
Characterize the past and most recent situation with respect to air quality measures in Sofia City. What does a typical day look like for Sofia city? Do you see any trends of possible interest in this investigation? What anomalies do you find in the official air quality dataset? How do these affect your analysis of potential problems to the environment? Your submission for this questions should contain no more than 10 images and 1000 words.
Time-series between 2013 to 2018
The time-series data between 2013 and 2018 contains a mixture of both daily and hourly measurements across the 6 stations, with no data between Jan-17 to Oct-17. The daily average PM10 concentration is highly fluctuating with an average concentration of 42.1μg/m3, below the limit value of 50μg/m3. The highest peak was recorded on 22-Dec-2013 with an average concentration of 354.4 μg/m3, with other peaks towards the end of the year. Moreover the overall trend was decreasing over the years between 2013 and 2018; could the decreasing trend be representative of the efforts made by the citizens/government of Sofia City in meeting their long-term objectives of cleaner air?
A typical day on 14-Sep-2018
Sampling the hourly data on one of the least polluted days, on 14-Sep-2018, the hourly average PM10 concentration averages to approximately 21.27μg/m3; rising above the average line in the morning (between 4am to 9am) and then falling below the average line during the later part of the day (between 10am to 5pm).
Does Sofia's Air Quality Get Worse in Winter?
PM10 pollutant levels were highest and above the 50-limit during November, December and January periods. The average concentration levels across the years were 74.13, 70.32 and 50.64 μg/m3 respectively. The intensity of the pollutant levels is also obvious from the heatmap calendars during the December and January periods. A possible cause of high pollution levels during the winter periods could be due to a temperature inversion;low temperatures and stagnant air during cold seasons have a way of creating a build-up of particulate matter near the ground whereby cold air is trapped near the ground by a layer of warm air which then acts like a lid and thus holding these substances down.
