Black carbon air pollution-case study of loški potok

Abstract

The paper presents a study of air pollution caused by black carbon (BC) and fine particulate matter (PM) carried out in the rural area of the municipality of Loški Potok in the winter season of 2017/2018. Measurements of pollutants were performed at two different locations, one at Retje, a village at the bottom of a karst depression, and the other on the top of the Tabor hill in settlement Hrib. The measurement results exposed the main sources of black carbon air pollution in this area: domestic heating with biomass (almost 80% of all black carbon emissions) and unfavorable meteorological conditions for dilution of pollutants during temperature inversions. Three times higher concentrations were measured at Retje during temperature inversions than in the days of mixed atmosphere. In the winter of 2017/18, the average concentrations in the Retje hollow were even higher than those of Ljubljana, which calls attention to the problem of polluted air in rural areas too.