Modelling the Exposure to PM10: an Italian Experience

A computational tool has been developed to calculate PM10 exposure values for different population classes, based on the concentration field produced by a chemistry and transport model. The tool is composed by three main components: a meteorological, an air pollution and a population exposure model. Basic concept of the exposure model is that time-weighted average exposure is a sum of partial exposures, determined by the concentration and the time spent in the visited microenvironments (outdoor, work or school etc.) during a typical day. Indoor concentrations were modelled as a sum of hypothetical indoor sources and a contribution due to ambient concentrations using the infiltration approach. The tool has been useful to compare exposure distributions of different populations groups or various scenarios, obtained under different input data conditions (infiltration factor, indoor sources values etc.) and to gain an insight into population exposure distributions and exposure determinants. The paper will describe the modelling tool and data used in the application to a test case located in the North of Italy.