Caracterización de compuestos orgánicos volátiles y otros contaminantes atmosféricos en espacios interiores, urbanos y rurales de la Comunidad Foral de Navarra

Resumen

The present work deals with the study of air pollution in Navarra, focusing on the characterisation of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) in it. To achieve this goal, four studies were carried out in four different locations within the area of interest: the rural area known as ¿Ribera de Navarra¿, the metropolitan area of Pamplona, the indoor environment of pubs and cafés in that same city and finally, the in-vehicle atmosphere of public buses circulating in its metropolitan area. The first section was focused on the study and interpretation of the time series and spatial distributions of the ambient levels of VOC, NO2 and O3 in the ¿Ribera de Navarra¿, a major agricultural area. The implication of VOC and NO2 in the formation of O3, a relevant pollutant in this rural environment, was evaluated. In the second study, the concentrations of VOC and NO2 were analysed in the air of Pamplona city. Spatial and temporal distributions were also studied, aiming to identify the main emission sources that determine the concentrations of VOC in this urban environment. At the same time, a numerical model was proposed to study the dispersion of pollutants within the city, which in fact facilitated the planning of new management strategies to reduce urban air pollution by means of the redistribution of traffic. Due to the scarcity of data on the indoor levels of pollutants, it was decided to carry out studies in two differenced environments. Thus, a third study analysed the indoor and outdoor air of smoking and non-smoking pubs and cafés in Pamplona, identifying the indoor and outdoor emission sources of VOC pollution among which environmental tobacco smoke played a priori a predominant role. The indoor study was completed with a fourth assessment which consisted in the analysis of the concentrations of VOC inside public buses of the city of Pamplona, focusing on the weekly distribution of VOC, the identification of sources for those compounds, and the personal exposure to VOC of bus passengers and drivers according to both the time of the journey and the areas that the buses went across.