Author(s)

N. Moussiopoulos

Abstract

Invited Paper Photochemical air pollution in Athens N. Moussiopoulos Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Environmental Engineering, Aristotle University Thessaloniki, 54006 Thessaloniki, Greece ABSTRACT Elevated anthropogenic emission levels in conjunction with unfavourable topographical and meteorological conditions caused in the last decades an alarming increase of ozone levels in Athens. An analysis of available emission data shows that at some of the measuring stations the ozone con- centrations exceed the EC health protection threshold values. The same analysis reveals a considerable spatial variation of the photosmog charac- teristics in the Athens basin. This proves that air pollution levels in Athens are largely affected by local wind circulation systems. The most frequent of these systems is dominated by the phenomenon of the sea breeze. This phenomenon is widely considered to favour the occurence of photochemical air pollution episodes. Simulations of the me

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