The Growing Influence of Transportation Sector on PM10 Pollution in Warsaw metropolitan area (2019-2021)

Air quality in urban areas is currently one of the most severe problems. High exposure to air pollution is due to high population density and higher pollutant concentrations than outside urban areas. A pollutant that exceeds limit concentrations in urban areas in Poland is PM10. The transport sector's contribution to air pollution throughout Warsaw (the capital of Poland) for PM10 particulate matter is 19%.

A modelling study carried out in Warsaw shows that the transportation sector is one of the important sources of pollution. We will present PM10 concentrations in Warsaw metropolitan area from 2019-2021. Based on the scenarios calculated with the "brute-force" approach, the contributions of line sources from transport, automobiles, railroads and airports were assessed.

The transportation sector's share in total emissions of PM10 is increasing annually. Over 3 years, the transportation sector's share in the Warsaw district increased by 5%. The largest share occurred in the two districts located in the centre and north of the city, an increase of 6 and 7%. Invariably, the lowest share of the territory of districts on the outskirts of the town is about 4%. In the 2019-2021 period, the transport sector's share increased in the Warsaw district by 4% and in districts adjacent to the city border by 3 %. In the districts located farther from the city centre, the increase in the share of emissions from the transport sector ranged from 1.5% to 0.5%.