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The aim of this study was to determine the effect of meteorological factors on the concentration of beryllium 7Be and lead 210Pb in the surface layer air on background their variability due to environmental conditions. Data analysis was carried out for 13 Polish stations for the period 2005-2009. The measurement cosmogenic and terrestrial radioactivity were collected on network station type ASS-500. The analysis includes the following meteorological elements from NWS stations: temperature, precipitation, atmospheric pressure, wind speed, humidity, solar radiation and in addition number of sunspots (SSN). It was considered that these meteorological elements mainly responsible for the transport and removal processes of 7Be and 210Pb from the atmosphere. The study method was used correlation analysis. Because of the relatively small area of Poland, it is hard to prove the dependence of 7Be activity concentration variability on the influence of such factors as geographical location or SSN. However, the activity concentration of 7Be and 210Pb are dependent on meteorological conditions. The inverse interaction of atmosphere stability conditions on 7Be and 210Pb allows one to use the 7Be/210Pb ratio as an indicator of vertical transport in the atmosphere.

The seasonal changes in ambient mass concentrations and chemical composition of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) were investigated in three locations in Poland. The analyses included PM2.5-bound hazardous benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), As, Ni, Cd, and Pb. The samples of PM2.5 were collected daily in Katowice (southern Poland, urban background site), Gdansk, and Diabla Gora (northern Poland, urban and regional background sites, respectively) during 1-year-long campaign in 2010. Based on monthly ambient concentrations of PM2.5-bound carbon (organic and elemental), water-soluble ions (Na+, NH4 +, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Cl−, NO3 −, SO4 2−), and elements As, Ni, Cd, Pb, Ti, Al, Fe, the chemical mass closure of PM2.5 was checked for each of the four seasons of the year and for the heating and non-heating periods at each site. Also, the annual concentrations of PM2.5 were determined and the annual PM2.5 mass closure checked. At each measuring point, the PM2.5 concentrations were high compared to its Polish yearly permissible value, 25 μg/m3, and its concentrations elsewhere in Europe. The highest annual PM2.5 concentration, 43 μg/m3, occurred in Katowice; it was twice the annual PM2.5 concentration in Gdansk, and thrice the one in Diabla Gora. The high annual averages were due to very high monthly concentrations in the heating period, which were highest in the winter. PM2.5 consisted mainly of carbonaceous matter (elemental carbon (EC) + organic matter (OM), the sum of elemental carbon, EC, and organic matter, OM; its annual mass contributions to PM2.5 were 43, 31, and 33 % in Katowice, Gdansk, and Diabla Gora, respectively), secondary inorganic aerosol (SIA), the Na_Cl group, and crustal matter (CM)—in the decreasing order of their yearly mass contributions to PM2.5. OM, EC, SIA, Na_Cl, and CM accounted for almost 81 % of the PM2.5 mass in Katowice, 74 % in Gdansk, and 90 % in Diabla Gora. The annual average toxic metal contribution to the PM2.5 mass was not greater than 0.2 % at each site. In Katowice and Gdansk, the yearly ambient BaP concentrations were high (15.4 and 3.2 ng/m3, respectively); in rural Diabla Gora, the concentrations of BaP were almost equal to 1 ng/m3, the Polish BaP annual limit. The great seasonal fluctuations of the shares of the component groups in PM2.5 and of the concentrations of PM2.5 and its components are due to the seasonal fluctuations of the emissions of PM and its precursors from hard and brown coal combustion for energy production, growing in a heating season, reaching maximum in winter, and decreasing in a non-heating period. In Gdansk, northern Poland, especially in the spring and autumn, sea spray might have affected the chemical composition of PM2.5. The greatest hazard from PM2.5 occurs in Katowice, southern Poland, in winter, when very high concentrations of PM2.5 and PM2.5-related carbonaceous matter, including BaP, are maintained by poor natural ventilation in cities, weather conditions, and the highest level of industrialization in Poland. In less industrialized northern Poland, where the aeration in cities is better and rather gaseous than solid fuels are used, the health hazard from ambient PM2.5 is much lower.

The paper investigates PM2.5 levels and composition in 3 different locations in Poland for cold and warm period of 2013. The highest share of SOC and POC in PM2.5 was found in heating season, which was probably due to an increase in the activity of local emission sources of PM, especially biomass burning and fossil fuel combustion in residential sector, while SIA contribution in PM2.5 mass was relatively constant during heating and non-heating period at all 3 sites. During non-heating season air mass back trajectories were grouped into 5 clusters representing mostly westerly flows (50–72 %). During heating season the trajectories were grouped into 6 clusters coming mostly from eastern directions (54–64 %).

The paper presents an attempt to use selected data mining methods to determine the influence of a complex of meteorological conditions on the concentrations of PM10 (PM2.5) proffering the example of the regions of Silesia and Northern Moravia. The collection of standard meteorological data has been supplemented by increments and derivatives of measurable weather elements such as vertical pseudo-gradient of air temperature. The main objective was to develop a universal methodology for the assessment of these impacts, i.e. one that would be independent of the analysed pollution. The probability of occurrence (at a given location) of the assumed concentration level as exceeding the value of the specified distributional quintile was adopted as the discriminant of the incidence. As a result of the analyses conducted, incidences of elevated concentrations of air pollution particulate matter PM10 have been identified and the types of weather responsible for the emergence of such situations have also been determined.

The seasonal changes in ambient mass concentrations and chemical composition of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) were investigated in three locations in Poland. The analyses included PM2.5-bound hazardous benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), As, Ni, Cd, and Pb. The samples of PM2.5 were collected daily in Katowice (southern Poland, urban background site), Gdańsk, and Diabla Góra (northern Poland, urban and regional background sites, respectively) during 1-year-long campaign in 2010. Based on monthly ambient concentrations of PM2.5-bound carbon (organic and elemental), water-soluble ions (Na+, NH4+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Cl−, NO3−, SO42−), and elements As, Ni, Cd, Pb, Ti, Al, Fe, the chemical mass closure of PM2.5 was checked for each of the four seasons of the year and for the heating and non-heating periods at each site. Also, the annual concentrations of PM2.5 were determined and the annual PM2.5 mass closure checked. At each measuring point, the PM2.5 concentrations were high compared to its Polish yearly permissible value, 25 μg/m3, and its concentrations elsewhere in Europe. The highest annual PM2.5 concentration, 43 μg/m3, occurred in Katowice; it was twice the annual PM2.5 concentration in Gdańsk, and thrice the one in Diabla Góra. The high annual averages were due to very high monthly concentrations in the heating period, which were highest in the winter. PM2.5 consisted mainly of carbonaceous matter (elemental carbon (EC) + organic matter (OM), the sum of elemental carbon, EC, and organic matter, OM; its annual mass contributions to PM2.5 were 43, 31, and 33 % in Katowice, Gdansk, and Diabla Góra, respectively), secondary inorganic aerosol (SIA), the Na_Cl group, and crustal matter (CM)—in the decreasing order of their yearly mass contributions to PM2.5. OM, EC, SIA, Na_Cl, and CM accounted for almost 81 % of the PM2.5 mass in Katowice, 74 % in Gdańsk, and 90 % in Diabla Góra. The annual average toxic metal contribution to the PM2.5 mass was not greater than 0.2 % at each site. In Katowice and Gdańsk, the yearly ambient BaP concentrations were high (15.4 and 3.2 ng/m3, respectively); in rural Diabla Góra, the concentrations of BaP were almost equal to 1 ng/m3, the Polish BaP annual limit. The great seasonal fluctuations of the shares of the component groups in PM2.5 and of the concentrations of PM2.5 and its components are due to the seasonal fluctuations of the emissions of PM and its precursors from hard and brown coal combustion for energy production, growing in a heating season, reaching maximum in winter, and decreasing in a non-heating period. In Gdańsk, northern Poland, especially in the spring and autumn, sea spray might have affected the chemical composition of PM2.5. The greatest hazard from PM2.5 occurs in Katowice, southern Poland, in winter, when very high concentrations of PM2.5 and PM2.5-related carbonaceous matter, including BaP, are maintained by poor natural ventilation in cities, weather conditions, and the highest level of industrialization in Poland. In less industrialized northern Poland, where the aeration in cities is better and rather gaseous than solid fuels are used, the health hazard from ambient PM2.5 is much lower.

From 1995 an extensive research focused on applications of artificial neural networks in synoptic weather forecasts as well as in forecasting of air pollution in Katowice region has been performed within the Regional System of Air Quality Monitoring (Pasini and Potesta 1996; Osrodka 1996).

The Mixing Height (MH) is one of the most important parameters that characterise the range of the atmospheric turbulence. This parameter shows characteristic diurnal variation but cannot be measured immediately. Therefore, it is evaluated indirectly by measuring other quantities. The measurement of radon concentration in the atmospheric air is one of the methods using natural occurring radioactivity to fulfil this task. However, for various reasons, such measurements can be difficult because the natural level of radon concentration in the atmospheric air is rather low. The newly developed method described in this paper relies on the measurement of polonium 218Po concentration in the air and was examined during measurement campaigns performed in hot seasons. The acoustic sodar instrumentation was chosen as a reference method. As a result, the statistical model was developed to define the MH and the obtained results made it possible to find statistically significant relation between concentration of 218Po in the air and this parameter.