This paper is concerned with the estimation of the removal efficiency of PM₁₀ by large-scale precipitation under no-wind conditions in a background (rural) and urban areas. The changes in PM₁₀ concentrations before, during and after the presence of rainfall were studied from 2007 to 2013. The study was conducted in two different locations identified with regard to air quality. DAVIS weather stations were used to determine the meteorological conditions. The concentration of PM₁₀ was calculated with the use of the gravimetric reference method. Two hundred and ninety-nine measurement series were carried out. A linear relationship was found between the intensity and duration of rainfall and the value of the removal coefficient (ΔC). It was proved that except light rains, for the near-to-ground troposphere, the effectiveness of the removal of PM₁₀ (ΔC) did not assume different values at various locations for rainfall with the same intensity and duration. It was found that a temporary interaction of the effect of the purification by wet deposition was being minimised in areas characterised by low air quality. It was confirmed that intense rains resulted in the maintenance of higher values of air quality.

This paper presents the comparison of heavy metals accumulation in spider webs from Agelenidae family (Eratigena atrica and Agelena labyrinthica) and lichens Hypogymnia physodes, exposed to pollution for two months. Webs were obtained from the laboratory-reared spiders and stretched on Petri dish while lichens were transplanted from Stobrawa Landscape Park into the study area. Concentrations of Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb and As were determined in both biomonitors and the elevated values indicated the impact of the copper smelter and surrounding roads. Our study revealed that webs were more sensitive than lichens to emissions of pollutants, and for all of the studied elements, the determined concentrations were much higher for spider webs. The results of similarity tests showed a clear difference among the concentrations of Cu, Zn, Ni and As in lichens and spider webs, with the exception of Pb, suggesting that this element could be accumulated in a similar way by both bioindicators. These differences are probably due to their morphological and ecological dissimilarities suggesting that spider webs should be favorably applied where the use of lichens is improper due to the drought, which is an unfavorable condition for accumulation of elements in lichens, or their limited uptake of elements.

Air pollution is monitored mainly in urban or industrial areas, even if it is known that in rural ones, low emission can significantly worsen air quality. Hence, cheap and easily accessible methods of monitoring are needed. Recently, spider webs biomonitoring is getting popular, however, there is no information about its comparison with active methods. In this study, PTEs accumulated on spider webs were compared with results from continuous particulate monitor (CPM). Generally, higher potentially toxic elements concentrations were noted in spider web, with exception in the case of Zn. Zn may be present rather in smaller fractions, hence it needs more time for accumulation on spider web while it is easily collected by CPM. Higher concentrations of other elements on spider webs may result from formation of aggregates which could not be reported in PM₁₀ sampling (CPM). What is more, the order of the most and the least accumulated elements were similar and the percentage share of studied elements was coherent in most cases, proving that this new tool prospers to become commonly used in biomonitoring. Additionally, to identify possible sources of pollution air backward trajectories and trajectory frequencies for Kotórz were prepared based on the HYSPLIT model.

This article reports the results of research on the concentration of particulate matter (PM) in two places in one village named Kotórz Mały (Poland). The main point of the research was to check the influence scale of different low-emission source forms as components of the anthropogenic factor driving the changes in local air quality. Measurements were made over five cold seasons. To investigate the dust concentrations, the gravimetric and optical method was used. The weather conditions were measured with portable weather stations. It was found that the character of individual heating systems had a major influence on local air quality. The presence of a permanent state of the troposphere and temperature inversion led to the inhibition of pollution dispersion processes and significant local changes, exceeding the recommended PM_2.5 concentrations limit. The effects of policy still don’t influence air quality trends in the Polish village. The main problem of high concentrations of PM_2.5 is the old generation of individual heating systems and the lack of significant support from local and national authorities. For the terms considered and the period of observation, meteorological measurements can be considered a sufficient foundation for the estimation of the occurrence of worrying conditions.