MEASUREMENT AND INTERPRETATION OF CONCENTRATIONS OF URBAN ATMOSPHERICORGANIC-COMPOUNDS

The presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from traffic and oth er sources in urban areas is a cause for concern about public health. Canister, chemical derivatisation, particulate sampling and adsorption sampling techniques were used to measure VOC concentrations of a wide range of compounds (C6C10) during a four day campaign in south London with subsequent laboratory analysis of the samples. Compounds quantif ied included alkanes, mono- and poly-nuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. Al so the first sequential measurements of carbonyl compounds (C-1-C-8) i n a UK urban area are presented. Results from canister and adsorption sampling methods are compared. A comparison of the results with other urban data is presented and the temporal variations in VOC concentrati ons were interpreted with reference to the prevalent wind speeds and d irections. The CALINE4 line source dispersion model was generally succ essful in reproducing the daytime 12 hour average concentrations of se lected VOCs.