Nine-year trend of air pollution by CO in Athens, Greece.

Air quality data obtained by the Athens air pollution monitoring system from the nine-year period started in 1986 were analysed to determine time variations and the effect of various meteorological parameters on air quality by CO. From the ten monitoring stations measuring CO, the station located in a street with high traffic was selected since this site had the longest time record and presented the highest values of CO during the period examined. The time variations show that higher concentrations of CO were measured during the winter months, on working days and between 09.00 and 23.00 hours. The long-term trend shows a definite decline of CO concentrations after 1990 resulting from the substitution of gasoline-powered vehicles with vehicles equipped with three-way catalysts. Finally, it was found that during days with calm or S-SW blowing light winds the CO concentrations presented their higher values.