Spatial air quality assessment over urban area using biomagnetic plant monitoring _ pr

During a Short Term Scientific Mission in August – September 2014, funded by the COST Action FP1204, MSc Gordana Vuković from the Institute of Physics Belgrade, Republic of Serbia visited the Department of Bio-science Engineering, University of Antwerp in Antwerp, Belgium regarding biomagnetic analysis of two urban plant species. Plant magnetic properties such as susceptibility and remanence has been reported as a proxy for particulate matter (PM) pollution. Saturation isothermal remanent magnetisation (SIRM) was chosen as a suitable parameter for this purpose. SIRM measurements of 320 plant samples were performed in order to get insight into spatial distribution of air pollution over the city of Belgrade. Based on the distribution of the obtained plant SIRM values, city zones related to high, intermediate and low level of air pollution as well as green zones could be proposed. SIRM method could be used as a rapid and a cost-effective technique for pre-screening of PM levels with a high spatial resolution.

MSc Gordana Vuković