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Mt. Ainos in Kefalonia Island, Greece, hosts a large variety of plant species, some of them endemic to the region. Because of its rich biodiversity, a large portion of the mountain area is designated as National Park and is protected from human activities such as hunting or logging. Therefore, the area presents a lot of opportunities for ecotourist activities, such as trekking, birdwatching, and mountain climbing. In order to estimate its touristic activities potential, it is essential to assess the mountain’s biometeorological conditions. To achieve that, the human thermal index PET (physiologically equivalent temperature) was used, which is based on a human energy balance model. However, it is difficult to get the specific meteorological data over mountainous areas (air temperature, humidity, wind speed, and global solar radiation), appropriate as input variables for PET modeling. In order to overcome this limitation, artificial neural networks (ANNs) were developed for the estimation of PET index in ten sites within the Ainos National Park. In the process, the spatiotemporal distributions of the PET thermal index were illustrated, taking into consideration the ANN modeling. The findings of the performed analysis shed light that Mt. Ainos offers the greatest touristic opportunities from May to September, when thermal comfort conditions appear. The study also proves that the highest frequency of thermal comfort appears within the aforementioned time period over the highest altitudes, while on the contrary, slightly warm class appears as the altitude decreases on both sides of the mountain. © 2020, ISB.

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The objective of the study is to assess the human thermal comfort at a University Campus in the metropolitan area of Athens. The equipment setup consists of all the necessary sensors for human thermal comfort estimation along with a high resolution GPS, mounted on a cargo bicycle. The experiment was carried out for midday and night on July 29, 2015. Besides, long term 5 min measurements from a meteorological station, established on the roof of a building within the University Campus, were also used to quantify the mean thermal environment. The densely carried out bicycle measurements every 5 s was the input data utilized by the ENVI-met model; a three-dimensional microclimate model designed to simulate the surface-plant-air interactions in urban environment. The in situ measurements along with the model's output results reveal the thermal comfort regime of the selected area and the ability of the model to estimate accurately the micrometeorological conditions.

The main objective of this work is the assessment of the annual number of hospital admissions for respiratory disease (HARD) due to the exposure to inhalable particulate matter (PM10), within the greater Athens area (GAA), Greece. Towards this aim, the time series of the particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 mu m (PM10) recorded in six monitoring stations located in the GAA, for a 13-year period 2001-2013, is used. In this study AirQ2.2.3 software developed by the WHO, was used to evaluate adverse health effects by PM10 in the GAA during the examined period. The results show that, the mean annual HARD cases per 100,000 inhabitants ranged between 20 (suburban location) and 40 (city centre location). Approximately 70 % of the annual HARD cases are due to city centre residents. In all examined locations, a declining trend in the annual number of HARD cases is appeared. Moreover, a strong relation between the annual number of HARD cases and the annual number of days exceeding the European Union daily PM10 threshold value was found.

Several epidemiological studies have shown an association between particulate air pollution and adverse health effects. The consensus among the scientific community is that suspended particulate matter is one of the most harmful pollutants, particularly the inhalable particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters less than 10 mu m (PM10) causing respiratory health effects and heart diseases. The effects of aerosols on human health are determined by both their size and their chemical composition. Average daily concentrations exceeding the EU daily threshold concentration appear, among other cases, during Sahara dust episodes, a natural phenomenon that degrades the air quality in the urban area of Volos. The city of Volos is a coastal city of medium size in the eastern seaboard of Central Greece. The main objective of this work is the study of the temporal evolution and the assessment of weekend effect in particulate matter concentration levels in the centre of the city of Volos. PM10 data obtained by a fully automated station that was established by the Hellenic Ministry of Environment and Energy, for a 5-year period (2010-2014) are analyzed in order to study the day-of-week variations during the cold and warm period of the year. As these variations are mostly expected to be due to the human working cycle, a strong weekly cycle would be indicative of the dominance of anthropogenic particles.

Studies have demonstrated repeatedly that air pollution in Athens is associated with a small but statistically significant increase in mortality. Extremely high air temperatures can also cause excess mortality. This study investigated whether air pollution and air temperature have synergistic effects on excess mortality in Athens. Data concerning the increased number of deaths in July 1987when a major heat wave hit Greece) were compared to the deaths in July of the 6 previous years. This comparison revealed a greater increase in the number of deaths in Athens (97%), compared to all other urban areas (33%) and to all nonurban areas (27%). Data on the daily levels of smoke, sulfur dioxide, and ozone; the number of deaths that occunwl daily; and meteorological variables were collected for a 5-y period. The daily value of Thorn's discomfort index was calculated. Multiple linear regmsion models were used to investigate main and interactive effects of air temperature and Thorn's discomfort index and air pollution indices. The daily number of deaths increased by more than 40 when the mean 24-h air temperature exceeded 30 OC. The main effects of an air pollution index are not statistically significant, but the interaction between high levels of air pollution and high temperature (2 30 O C) are statistically significant @I