PM3
Particulates Monitoring, Modelling and Management (PM3)
PM3 is the result of a joint effort of the Department of Labour Inspection , Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, ESS Austria, Cyprus University of Technology and the Atlantis Consulting Cyprus Ltd and aims to improve the air quality and on a long term basis the quality of life and health of all Cyprus’s citizens. Through the project, the Department aspires to reduce level of dust in the atmosphere through targeted measures.
The project is funded by LIFE+ Environment Policy & Governance. Its total budget is 1.294.871€ and the EC contribution is 629.935€. The project started in January 2011 and has duration of three years.
The major technical objective of the project is to extend and improve the monitoring capabilities using remote sensing methods & additional measurement units and to distribute the particulate emissions by source, to develop and implement a methodology to identify sources of pollution and emissions division between local and transboundary sources and to upgrade the ability to anticipate and forecast. Besides, to the extension of actions to inform stakeholders through the application of technologies of 3G mobile technology, in the preparation of a dust management plan which will be based on environmental criteria of the Lisbon Strategy and on socioeconomic criteria and to highlight best management practices tailored to the weather in the eastern Mediterranean.
The project will apply innovative methods such as the use of LIDAR systems to assess the transboundary movement of dust and vertical measurement of the concentration of suspended particles, the development and implementation of local-scale models and the identification of sources of dust through mineralogical analysis, existing data and models of air pollution.