The local and regional atmospheric oxidants at Athens (Greece).

In the present study, the investigation of the levels of the local and regional oxidants concentration at Athens, Greece, is attempted by analyzing the observations obtained at an urban and a rural station, during 2001-2011 and 2007-2011, respectively. A progressive increase of the daytime and nighttime average of [NO2]/[Ox] versus [NOx] is observed showing a larger proportion of Ox in the form of NO2 when the level of NOx increases. Similar results are observed when studying the variation of mean values of [NO2]/[NOx] versus [NOx]. The results obtained when compared with those that have earlier detected elsewhere, revealed similarities and discrepancies that are discussed in detail. The parameterized curves that are presented for the first time in this paper may be used by the air quality planners to track the trends in other cities also, and to understand what is or was driving them.