Megacities as hot spots of air pollution in the East Mediterranean

Maria Kanakidou*, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, Tayfun Kindap, Ulas Im, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Evangelos Gerasopoulos, Eirini Dermitzaki, Alper Unal, Mustafa Koçak, Kostas Markakis, Dimitris Melas, Georgios Kouvarakis, Ahmed F. Youssef, Andreas Richter, Nikolaos Hatzianastassiou, Andreas Hilboll, Felix Ebojie, Folkard Wittrock, Christian von Savigny, John P. BurrowsAnnette Ladstaetter-Weissenmayer, Hani Moubasher

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

233 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the actual knowledge on the atmospheric pollution sources, transport, transformation and levels in the East Mediterranean. It focuses both on the background atmosphere and on the similarities and differences between the urban areas that exhibited important urbanization the past years: the two megacities Istanbul, Cairo and the Athens extended area. Ground-based observations are combined with satellite data and atmospheric modeling. The overall evaluation pointed out that long and regional range transport of natural and anthropogenic pollution sources have about similar importance with local sources for the background air pollution levels in the area.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1223-1235
Number of pages13
JournalAtmospheric Environment
Volume45
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2011

Keywords

  • Air pollution
  • Anthropogenic impact
  • East Mediterranean
  • Megacities
  • Transport

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