Author(s)

SYED MUSTAFAIN HAIDER, RICHARD HODGKINS, DAVE RYVES, HELEN GLANVILLE

Abstract

This study investigates how local meteorological variability influences multi-pollutant air pollution behaviour at the town scale by using Loughborough, a medium-sized UK town, as a case study. For this research, Loughborough University campus is being used as an analogue for the wider town, which is supported by daily hourly air quality and meteorological measurements. This study applied a weather-dependent analytical framework to identify meteorological regimes to assess the severity of pollution and its persistence relative to prevailing weather conditions. Supervised machine learning methods were used to assess the influence of meteorological conditions on observed pollution patterns. The results show that air pollution severity was found to be broadly similar across different weather regimes, while differences were found in its persistence. Unventilated (stable) high-pressure regimes were observed to be associated with longer pollution spells, due to weak atmospheric mixing and low wind speeds. However, dynamic and ventilated weather regimes were found to be associated with lower pollution persistence, although they were not always pollution-free. Overall findings of the study revealed that meteorology regulates how the pollution behaves and persists in the atmosphere rather than fully determining its presence.

Keywords

weather regimes, urban air pollution, pollution persistence, meteorological influence, exposure risk