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Abstract

This paper presents the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) measured in all four seasons in suspended particulate matter (SPM) collected with a high-volume sampler on one measuring site in the northern part of Zagreb. About 30 samples of SPM were analysed for each season, including workdays and weekends and there were no differences amongst them. The concentrations of all PAHs were highest in winter and lowest in summer. The spring PAH concentrations were lower than the autumn ones, as the spring had more sunny and warm days. The profiles of PAH/BaP at the measurement sites showed that the main source of PAHs in spring and summer was traffic while a substantial amount of autumn and winter PAHs, besides traffic, came from heating.

Estimating Individual-Level Exposure to Airborne Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons throughout the Gestational Period Based on Personal, Indoor, and Outdoor Monitoring

“…In tropical cities such as Bangkok, Thailand, the median ambient level was 8.08 ng/m 3 (Ruchirawa et al 2002). At the same time, the Krakow B( a )P levels are higher than those in Los Angeles, California, (0.065 ng/m 3 ), Houston, Texas, (0.025 ng/m 3 ), and Elizabeth, New Jersey (0.14 ng/m 3 ) (Naumova et al 2002); Beauharnois, Quebec, Canada (0.177 ng/m 3 ) (Sanderson and Farant 2004); Zagreb, Croatia (winter mean, 5.12 ± 3.46 ng/m 3 ) (Sisovic et al 2002), Grenoble, France (summer mean, 0.07 ± 0.02 ng/m 3 ; winter mean, 1.02 ± 0.87 ng/m 3 ) (Nielsen et al 1996; Tao et al 2006); and New York City (0.49 ± 0.65 ng/m 3 ) (Choi et al 2006). However, such international comparisons have limited health inferential value, not only because of the differences in PAH profiles, monitoring methodologies, monitoring durations, laboratory techniques, and instrument measurement errors, but also because of uncertainties in personal behavior choices and time spent in various microenvironmental settings.…”