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Variability of Air Quality and Bioclimatic Conditions in an Urban Area: A Case Study of Lublin, Poland

Mateusz Dobek
Mateusz Dobek
, 
Sylwester Wereski
Sylwester Wereski
 e 
Agnieszka Krzyżewska
Agnieszka Krzyżewska
   | 07 set 2023
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Pubblicato online: 07 set 2023
Pagine: 175 - 193
Ricevuto: 18 apr 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/quageo-2023-0030
© 2023 Mateusz Dobek et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1.

Location of measurement points.
Location of measurement points.

Fig. 2.

Frequency of occurrence of thermal stress classes (UTCI) at 12 UTC. EHS – extreme heat stress; ESC – extreme cold stress; MHS – moderate heat stress; MSC – moderate cold stress; NTS – no thermal stress; SCS – strong cold stress; SHS – strong heat stress; SlCS – slight cold stress; VSCS – very strong cold stress; VSHS – very strong heat stress.
Frequency of occurrence of thermal stress classes (UTCI) at 12 UTC. EHS – extreme heat stress; ESC – extreme cold stress; MHS – moderate heat stress; MSC – moderate cold stress; NTS – no thermal stress; SCS – strong cold stress; SHS – strong heat stress; SlCS – slight cold stress; VSCS – very strong cold stress; VSHS – very strong heat stress.

Fig. 3.

Monthly values of the 5th, 25th, 75th and 95th percentiles of selected air pollutants in Lublin (2015–2021).
Monthly values of the 5th, 25th, 75th and 95th percentiles of selected air pollutants in Lublin (2015–2021).

Fig. 4.

Frequency of occurrence of air quality classes according to CAQI during the day.
Frequency of occurrence of air quality classes according to CAQI during the day.

Fig. 5.

Frequency of occurrence of air quality classes (CAQI) during the day, determined by NO2, O3, PM10 and PM2.5.
Frequency of occurrence of air quality classes (CAQI) during the day, determined by NO2, O3, PM10 and PM2.5.

Fig. 6.

Frequency of occurrence of classes of medium (MC), high (HC) and very high (VHC) CAQI air quality during particular types of UTCI thermal stress. EHS – extreme heat stress; ESC – extreme cold stress; MHS – moderate heat stress; MSC – moderate cold stress; NTS – no thermal stress; SCS – strong cold stress; SHS – strong heat stress; SlCS – slight cold stress; VSCS –very strong cold stress; VSHS – very strong heat stress.
Frequency of occurrence of classes of medium (MC), high (HC) and very high (VHC) CAQI air quality during particular types of UTCI thermal stress. EHS – extreme heat stress; ESC – extreme cold stress; MHS – moderate heat stress; MSC – moderate cold stress; NTS – no thermal stress; SCS – strong cold stress; SHS – strong heat stress; SlCS – slight cold stress; VSCS –very strong cold stress; VSHS – very strong heat stress.

Fig. 7.

Course of the CAQI and UTCI indices during the cold wave in Lublin during 6–11 January 2017.
Course of the CAQI and UTCI indices during the cold wave in Lublin during 6–11 January 2017.

Fig. 8.

Course of the CAQI and UTCI indices during the heat wave in Lublin during 4–15 August 2015.
Course of the CAQI and UTCI indices during the heat wave in Lublin during 4–15 August 2015.

Scale of the estimation of air quality according to the CAQI calculation grid (van den Elshout et al. 2014).

Index Grid City background
Core pollutants Pollutants
NO2 PM10 O3 PM2.5 CO SO2
[μg · rn 1
very low class (VLC) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
25 50 25 60 15 5000 50
low class (LC) 25 50 25 60 15 5000 50
50 100 50 120 30 7500 100
medium class (MC) 50 100 50 120 30 7500 100
75 200 90 180 55 10,000 350
high class (HC) 75 200 90 180 55 10,000 350
100 400 180 240 110 20,000 500
very high class (VHC) >100 >400 >180 >240 >110 >20,000 >500

Scale of assessment of thermal stress of the organism according to UTCI, and ways of counteracting unfavourable biothermal conditions from a given class (Błażejczyk et al. 2013).

UTCI [°C] Stress category Physiological responses
>46 extreme heat stress (EHS)

Increase in rectal temperature (Tre) time gradient

Steep decrease in total net heat loss

Averaged sweat rate >650 g · h−1, steep increase
38.1–46.0 very strong heat stress (VSHS)

Core to skin temperature gradient <1 K (at 30 min)

Increase in Tre at 30 min
32.1–38.0 strong heat stress (SHS)

Dynamic thermal sensation (DTS) at 120 min >+2

Averaged sweat rate >200 g · h−1

Increase in Tre at 120 min

Latent heat loss >40 W at 30 min

Instantaneous change in skin temperature >0 K · min−1
26.1–32.0 moderate heat stress (MHS)

Change of slopes in sweat rate, Tre and skin temperature: mean (Tskm), face (Tskfc) and hand (Tskhn)

Occurrence of sweating at 30 min

Steep increase in skin wettedness
9.1–26.0 no thermal stress (NTS)

Averaged sweat rate >100 g · h−1

DTS at 120 min <1

DTS between -0.5 and +0.5 (averaged value)

Latent heat loss >40 W, averaged over time

Plateau in Tre time gradient
0.1–9.0 slight cold stress (SlCS)

DTS at 120 min <–1

Local minimum of Tskhn (use gloves)
-12.9 to 0.0 moderate cold stress (MCS)

DTS at 120 min <–2

Skin blood flow at 120 min lower than at 30 min (vasoconstriction) – Averaged Tskfc

Decrease in Tskhn

Tre time gradient <0 K · h−1

30 min face skin temperature <15°C (pain)

Tmsk time gradient <–1 K · h−1 (for reference)
-26.9 to -13.0 strong cold stress (SCS)

Averaged Tskfc <7°C (numbness)

Tre time gradient <-0.1 K · h−1

Tre decreases from 30 min to 120 min

Increase in core to skin temperature gradient
-39.9 to -27.0 very strong cold stress (VSCS)

120 min Tskfc <0°C (frostbite)

Steeper decrease in Tre

30 min Tskfc <7°C (numbness)

Occurrence of shivering

Tre time gradient <-0.2 K · h−1

Averaged Tskfc <0°C (frostbite).

– 120 min Tskfc <-5°C (high risk of frostbite)
<-40.0 extreme cold stress (ECS)

Tre time gradient <–0.3 K · h−1

30 min Tskfc <0°C (frostbite)

Acceptable levels of selected substances in the air (Journal of Laws 2021.845, WHO 2006, 2021).

Pollutant Unit Averaging time AQG level (WMO 2005 recommendation) AQG level (WMO 2021 recommendation) Dz.U.2021.845
PM2.5 μg · m−3 Annual 10 5 20c
24-h 25 15a –
PM10 Annual 20 15 40c
24-h 50 45a 50c
O3 Peak season 60b
8-h 100 100a 120d
No2 Annual 40 10 40c
24-h – 25a –
SO2 Annual – 20
24-h 20 40a 125
CO mg · m–3 24-h – 4a –

Mean annual concentration values (μg o m−3) of selected air pollutants in Lublin (2015–2021).

Pollutants 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2015–2021
SO2 3.6 3.8 5.2 4.8 4.8 4.3 5.0 4.5
NO2 23.3 21.7 21.7 21.5 19.5 17.2 17.0 20.3
CO 300 400 400 400 300 300 300 400
O3 45.1 37.4 48.0 48.8 50.6 43.1 37.6 44.4
PM2.5 28.1 26.6 22.0 24.5 20.3 18.7 23.9 23.4
PM10 36.4 30.8 32.5 33.6 26.5 22.3 28.9 30.1
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