Characterization of the impact of harbour activities on air quality in the area of Brindisi (Italy)

Ships and harbour emissions represent an increasing contribution to air pollution in Mediterranean port-cities. For technical and economical reasons, harbours can also be close to industrial areas like in the case of the Brindisi area studied here within the framework of the project CESAPO (Interreg Greece-Italy 2007-2013). In this work results of a study in the Brindisi harbour (south east of Italy) will be presented giving emphasis on the analysis of the maritime transport and activities on atmospheric aerosol concentration, PAHs concentrations, and gaseous pollutants emissions. Specifically high temporal resolution data will be used to evaluate the contribution of ship traffic and harbour-related emissions to PM2.5 concentrations and to particle number concentrations. Windselected high-volume sampling of PAHs were used to evaluate the harbour/industrial contribution to gaseous and aerosol phases PAHs. DOAS remote-sensing was used to measure NO2 and SO2 emissions of passenger ships. Measurements have been performed in the period July-October 2012 in the harbour area of Brandish (southeastern Italy).