Close to the city of Lucca in Tuscany (Italy), the small rural town of Capannori (43°52' N, 10°34' E) lies within a critical area both affected by a variety of emission sources (highway, local roads massively travelled by heavy-duty vehicles, combustion plants for paper transformation, agricultural waste burning including biomass burning) and winter weather conditions unfavourable to pollutant dispersion (low wind regime, stable atmospheric conditions, shallow thermal inversions, etc.). Capannori therefore represents a particularly meaningful case study where to address a comprehensive air pollution monitoring by deploying appropriate devices. In this framework, CNR-Ibimet, Tuscany Region Environmental Protection Agency (ARPAT) and epidemiologists of the Pisa University agreed an initiative to create an environmental "living lab" aimed at assessing the impacts due to anthropogenic activities on air quality and thus on population exposure. The air quality analysis was carried out by means of a monitoring network comprising innovative low-cost stations (named AIRQino) equipped with sensors for collecting air pollution (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, O3, CO) and meteorological parameters (air temperature and relative humidity). Data reliability from low-cost stations was confirmed after validation against more than oneyear observations from a reference air quality station managed by ARPAT. The preliminary results suggested that the highest air pollution impacts are mainly due to biomass burning and pruning residues burning. Despite further investigations need to be addressed, these preliminary outcomes may be used by local authorities to support - both at municipality- and regionallevel - policies for effectively managing pollutant emission sources in the area, particularly biomass burning.
A Smart Cities Application: The Capannori Environmental Living Lab
L Brilli;A Berton;B Gioli;G Gualtieri;C Vagnoli;A Zaldei
2019
Abstract
Close to the city of Lucca in Tuscany (Italy), the small rural town of Capannori (43°52' N, 10°34' E) lies within a critical area both affected by a variety of emission sources (highway, local roads massively travelled by heavy-duty vehicles, combustion plants for paper transformation, agricultural waste burning including biomass burning) and winter weather conditions unfavourable to pollutant dispersion (low wind regime, stable atmospheric conditions, shallow thermal inversions, etc.). Capannori therefore represents a particularly meaningful case study where to address a comprehensive air pollution monitoring by deploying appropriate devices. In this framework, CNR-Ibimet, Tuscany Region Environmental Protection Agency (ARPAT) and epidemiologists of the Pisa University agreed an initiative to create an environmental "living lab" aimed at assessing the impacts due to anthropogenic activities on air quality and thus on population exposure. The air quality analysis was carried out by means of a monitoring network comprising innovative low-cost stations (named AIRQino) equipped with sensors for collecting air pollution (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, O3, CO) and meteorological parameters (air temperature and relative humidity). Data reliability from low-cost stations was confirmed after validation against more than oneyear observations from a reference air quality station managed by ARPAT. The preliminary results suggested that the highest air pollution impacts are mainly due to biomass burning and pruning residues burning. Despite further investigations need to be addressed, these preliminary outcomes may be used by local authorities to support - both at municipality- and regionallevel - policies for effectively managing pollutant emission sources in the area, particularly biomass burning.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
