For the purposes of this work, a first in Poland, full-year collection of daily PM_2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter smaller than 2.5 μm) samples was chemically analyzed to determine the contents of elemental and organic carbon, water-soluble inorganic ions and 21 minor and trace elements in PM in an urban background site in Warsaw. Annual mean PM_2.5 concentration reached 18.8 μg/m³, with the lowest levels in summer (11.5 μg/m³ on average) and the highest in winter (27.5 μg/m³), with several episodes reaching over 80 μg/m³. Strong seasonal differences were observed mainly for the contents of nitrate and secondary organic carbon (SOC), while sulphate showed the least variability. Secondary species constituted on average 45% of PM_2.5 mass, suggesting large influence of regional and long-range transport of pollutants. Source apportionment with the use of positive matrix factorization (PMF) method, supported by the analysis of enrichment factors, led to identification of six main sources of PM_2.5 origin: residential combustion (fresh & aged aerosol) (46% of PM_2.5 mass), traffic exhaust (21%) and non-exhaust (10%) emissions, mineral dust/construction works (12%), high-temperature processes (8%) and steel processing (3%). Including primary organic carbon (POC) and SOC as two separate constituents helped to distinguish between the primary and secondary sources of the aerosol. The identification of sources was also supported by investigating their yearly and weekly profiles, as well as the correlation of PM constituents with meteorological conditions, which are one of the main drivers of heat generation activities. We found that the most distinctive markers of PM sources in Warsaw are SOC, Cl^- and As for residential combustion, NH₄⁺, Sb and POC for road transport, Ca and Mg for construction works and SO₄^2- for long-range transport of PM.

The main goal of this paper is to identify the drivers responsible for the high particulate matter concentrations observed in recent years in several urban areas in Poland. The problem was investigated using air quality and meteorological data from routine monitoring network, air mass back trajectories and multivariate statistical modelling. Air pollution in central and southern part of the country was analysed and compared with this in northern-eastern “The Green Lungs of Poland” region. The analysis showed that in all investigated locations, there is a clear annual cycle of observed concentrations, closely following temperature-heating cycles, with the highest concentrations noted in January. However, the main drivers differ along the country, being either connected with regional background pollution (in the central part of the country) or with local emission sources (in the southern part). The occurrence of high PM₁₀ concentrations is most commonly associated with the influence of high-pressure systems that brought extremely cold and stable air masses form East or South of Europe. During analysed episodes, industrial point sources had the biggest (up to 70–80 %) share in PM₁₀ levels on the days with maximum PM pollution, while remote and residential/traffic sources determined the air quality in the early stages of the episodes. Principal component analysis (PCA) shows that secondary inorganic aerosols account for long-range transported pollution, As, Cd, Pb and Zn for industrial point sources, while Cr and Cu for residential and traffic sources of PM₁₀, respectively.

Ground level air pollution, especially fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), has been associated with a number of adverse health effects. The dispersion of PM_2.5 through the atmosphere depends on several mutually connected anthropogenic, geophysical and meteorological parameters, all of which are affected by climate change. This study examines how projected climate change would affect population exposure to PM_2.5 air pollution in Poland. Population exposure to PM_2.5 in Poland was estimated for three decades: the 1990s, 2040s and 2090s. Future climate conditions were projected by Regional Climate Model RegCM (Beta), forced by the general atmospheric circulation model ECHAM5. The dispersion of PM_2.5 was simulated with chemical transport model CAMx version 4.40. Population exposure estimates of PM_2.5 were 18.3, 17.2 and 17.1 μg/m³ for the 1990s, 2040s and 2090s, respectively. PM_2.5 air pollution was estimated to cause approximately 39,800 premature deaths in the population of Poland in the year 2000. Our results indicate that in Poland, climate change may reduce the levels of exposure to anthropogenic particulate air pollution in future decades and that this reduction will reduce adverse health effects caused by the air pollution.