Particulate matter pollution across the Veneto Region, a European hotspot for air quality: 15 years of studies

The Po Valley is one of the few remaining European hotspots for air pollution. A peculiar topography favors air mass stagnation over a densely anthropized territory with complex emission scenarios, leading to the buildup of particulate matter (PM) pollution. The Veneto Region lies in the eastern part of the Po Valley, the side open to the Adriatic Sea. Thus, its air pollution phenomenology is complicated by coastal atmospheric circulation patterns and potential transboundary transport of polluted air masses. This contribution aims to summarize the main results of several research programs carried out over the past 15 years [e.g., Masiol et al., 2021; Formenton et al., 2021] by discussing: (i) the general improvement of air quality in the last decades due to the implementation of European air quality management policies, increasingly stringent standards, and economic drivers; (ii) the factors, origin, and sources affecting the PM concentration and its geochemical composition; (iii) the quantification of the main potential sources of PM pollution; (iv) the changes in emission scenarios producing changes in the PM composition and in the geochemical fingerprints of sources; and (v) next challenges due to the increase of biomass burning emissions for domestic heating.