Topographic, meteorological and climatological factors affecting the air pollution in the city of Afyonkarahisar

Following the industrial revolution natural resources such as coal and oil started to be used too much to generate energy. As a matter of fact, in 1900, coal consumption rate in the context of world energy consumption was around 98%. This caused air pollution over time, and in the 1950s mass deaths occurred in some cities of Europe and the United States. Although some measures have been taken against it, there have been significant increases in carbon, sulfur and nitrogen gases and particulate matter released to the atmosphere due to the increase in natural resource consumption due to the rapid population growth. This situation has negative effects on all living beings and non-living assets, especially the climate. In some cities in Turkey urban air pollution levels are rising in the winter like observed in other cities in the World. Afyonkarahisar is one of these cities. As a matter of fact, in Afyonkarahisar, in some days of winter season sulfur dioxide and particulate matter amounts can exceed limit values. It is also evidenced by the report that the World Health Organization published, which indicates the results based on the measurements of the year 2016. In this report, Turkey has 8 of the 10 most polluted cities in Europe, and among these cities Afyonkarahisar ranks 7th.. Despite the fact that more than half of the residences in the city are heated by clean energy sources such as geothermal and natural gas, the high pollution values indicate that pollution is not related only to the type of fuel used. As a matter of fact, meteorological, climatological and topographical features have very important effects in increasing or decreasing the pollutant concentration in the atmosphere. In this study, the main environmental factors causing the increase of pollution concentration in air of Afyonkarahisar city in the winter season are examined