Transport of atmospheric pollutants across Slovenia

Over recent years it has become clear that pollution plumes can be transported many thousand kilometres downwind from their source regions, thereby affecting the concentrations of oxidants and aerosols in the troposphere. Elevated concentrations of pollutants in Slovenia are due to local sources and due to transport from the other industrialised reagion in Europe. Slovenia is associated member of EU and must introduce their regulation laws. According to EU Ozone directive Environmental Agency of Republic of Slovenia (EARS) is obligated to asses air quality in Slovenia, perform monitoring of air pollutants and develop action plans in cases of their elevated concentrations. In this project we will try to evaluate the influence of the transport of air masses on air quality in Slovenia. We will try to find out what part of the total amount of pollutants in Slovenia originates from local production and to what extent is pollution due to the transport. 3-D trajectories will be used to determine the origine of air masses and typical meteorological conditions responsible for transport of polluted air towards Slovenia. In the second part, theoretical models will be develped for the prediction of elevated concetrations of pollutants (ozone) at different locations in Slovenia. The final goal of the project is implementation of the developed tools for the purpose of development of alarming system.