Outdoor radon concentration measurements: some correlation with major urban pollutants.

ABSTRACT

Air pollutants concentration in the urban air strongly depends on the properties of the planetary boundary layer (the lower region of the atmosphere), roughly up to 1 km from Earth's surface. Radioactive radon gas has been recognised by various authors as a valuable natural tracer of transport and dispersion within this layer. To achieve a better comprehension of the urban pollution dynamic in the town of Alessandria, situated in the Po Valley in the north-west of Italy, a system for continuous measurement of radon concentration in outdoor air was experimented. This paper presents the first results obtained the hourly trend of radon concentration in the diurnal course during different seasons and its correlation with the concentration of the major urban pollutants.