Present situation of air quality in the Jinamar Valley (Gran Canaria Island)

Abstract

This paper presents data on the levels of the elements, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, nickel, lead and the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, benzo(a)pyrene, as constituents of total suspended particulate (TSP) together with the gases SO2 and NOx present in the environmental air of Jinamar, a small town on the island of Gran Canaria (Spain), which is separated from a thermal power station by a mountain barrier. In order to identify the different sources of the particles, a principal factor analysis was perfomed on the data set. The average concentrations (range) were 99.30 (79.14 - 122.20) mug m(-3) for TSP, 32.30 (23.50 - 51.00) mug m(-3) for SO2, 8.8 (5.3 - 11.17) mug m(-3) for NO and 17.6 (13.7 - 21.7) mug m(-3) for NO2.