When comparing pollution data derived from our passive
sampling campaign in 2010 with the modeled long-term concentrations
from ESCAPE and APMoSPHERE (see Fig. 2a and b), we found no significant correlation for O3 (rs ¼ 0.435, p > 0.05), but a
significant and high correlation for NO2 (rs ¼ 0.868, p < 0.001).
Short-term O3 concentrations ranged between 60.7 and 80.3 mg/
m3; however, long-term exposure levels were much lower and
ranged between 38.8 and 55.5 mg/m3. For NO2, instead, short-term
data (5.2e42.2 mg/m3) underestimated long-term data
(11.5e66.8 mg/m3).
Most of the air pollutants showed higher levels in urban
compared to rural areas (Table 2). The only exceptionwas O3 which
was significantly enhanced at rural sites when considering longterm
data. Except O3 and PM2.5, all pollutants were more variable
(higher standard deviation) in the urban environment. O3 (shortterm)
and PM2.5 (long-term) did also not differ significantly between
urban and rural sites