Review of urban air quality in Finland

We present a review of the air quality in Finnish cities and towns, based on the data from urban measurement networks. The data were compiled from 42 Finnish cities and towns, from measurements conducted in 1990–1993. These data show that the newly-introduced (1996) national air quality guidelines have been fairly often exceeded in urban areas, most commonly for particulate matter, both PM10 and total suspended particles (TSP). Some exceedances have also occurred for NO2 and CO, at sites with high traffic densities. Some TSP values in the largest cities in Finland are exceptionally high, caused by the resuspension of dust from street surfaces. However, the European Union air quality limit values were only exceeded at one measurement station for TSP in 1990, 1991 and 1992. We also analysed seasonal variation of the guideline exceedings.