Atmospheric Turbidity Measurements in Torino: A Comparison Between 1975 and 2010 Data
Abstract
Torino is a large industrial city located in Northwestern Italy. It is the seat of the largest Italian car factory, although recently most production plants have been moved to other sites. In the last 35 years coal and heavy oil-fuelled heating systems have been progressively replaced by district heating and natural gas installations. Private and public transportation on the other hand has increased, although the specific pollutant emissions in terms of CO, NOx, SOx and particulates have been dramatically reduced with enforcing of more and more stringent EU limits. A comparison between nowadays and 1975 situation under the chemical and health points of view can be easily made because concentrations of the main pollutants are regularly monitored since a long time. However, it is interesting to evaluate how changing emission patterns have affected the optical quality of the atmosphere, namely its turbidity.