Evaluation of some air pollution indicators in Turkey

This article intends to shed a light on air quality in Turkey and compare a ir pollutant emissions on a national scale with that of the European countr ies. In order to estimate the quantities of Turkish emissions in the past a nd their future predictions, a national emission inventory was prepared wit h respect to five major pollutants consisting of particulate matter(PM), SO x, NOx, non-methane volatile organic compounds, and CO with 5-year interval s between 1985 and 2005. The results suggest that Turkey is a rather large emission source at the European scale, although emission indicators on unit area and per capita were shown to be somewhat smaller in magnitude. Levels of air pollution in some of the big cities in Turkey were also evaluated f rom available national monitoring data. These evaluations for the urban air qualities covered SOI and PM parameters between 1986 and 1996, and results were compared with the present Turkish air quality limits, their probable revisions, WHO (Europe) guidelines and related EC directives. Results showe d that the air quality limits were not met, especially during the winter pe riods in Turkish cities. Urban air pollutants characterizing the air in Tur kish cities other than SO, and PM, however, could not have been evaluated a s these pollutants were not systematically monitored in these cities. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.