The Air Silesia Project

The issue of cross-border air pollution has been addressed in depth by the project ‘Air Silesia’; the project is unique in terms of the scope of information analyzed and because it evaluates data from both sides of the border using the same methodology. This project collected digital spatial data providing detailed information on all types of air pollution sources plus meteorological and air quality data. In addition to data from the national monitoring networks, data were also gathered by temporary measurements at other locations; the data also covered pollutants that are not generally measured. Besides ground-level measurements, aerial measurements were also carried out. The collected data was used to develop a forecasting algorithm for pollutant concentrations, for air pollution modelling and for the evaluation of cross-border air pollution (Czech Republic/Poland).

The project has revealed several key facts that influence air pollution in Ostrava:

• analysis of samples taken during the project show higher concentrations of PM10 and benzo(a)pyrene in the Polish part of the region
• the largest area with the highest levels of air pollution in the region is located approximately between the Czech-Polish border and the city of Rybnik (PL); pollution from this area has a significant effect on border areas of the Czech Republic
• the prevailing wind direction is from the Czech Republic to Poland; however, Polish sources produce more PM10 emissions, which are carried to the Czech Republic in very high concentrations in the most common situations of worsened diffusion conditions; with regard to PM10 concentrations, the effect of Polish sources on the Czech Republic and vice versa is comparable.

[art_yt id=”CgYN84_ZKMA” wvideo=”640″ hvideo=”360″ position=”center” urlvideo=”https://youtu.be/CgYN84_ZKMA” namevideo=”” desc=”” durationmin=”” durationsec=”” upld=”” tmburl=”https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ogk1RAO-Z6w/maxresdefault.jpg” thumbnailwidth=”1280″ thumbnailheight=”720″]