Özet:

The presence of pollutants that are not in the normal composition of the air in the atmosphere at a concentration that will harm water, soil, living things, and materials for a long enough time is called air pollution. Atmospheric conditions such as low humidity and high temperature observed in Turkey create a suitable environment for forest fires. Forest fires can also become one of the causes of air pollution, as plant residues are released into the atmosphere when decomposed or burned. In this study, the effects of forest fires that broke out between 28 July and 12 August 2021 in Turkey’s air quality were tried to be examined. This province has been chosen because it is the province of Antalya, which was most affected by the fires. According to the results obtained, the average PM10 concentration for the three summer months of 2020 (June, July, and August) was 44.89 μg/m3, and the average PM10 concentration for the three summer months of 2021 was 37.61 μg/m3. The average concentration of PM2.5 in 2020 was 18.38 μg/m3, and the average concentration in 2021 was 19.94 μg/m3. In Antalya, the annual average sulfur dioxide was 5.34 μg/m3 in 2018, 5.40 μg/m3 in 2019, 2.92 μg/m3 in 2020, and 4.13 μg/m3 in 2021. In the period between November 2019 and April 2022, the lowest carbon monoxide (CO) concentration in Antalya was 41.95 (24.05.2020) μg/m3, and the highest was 2151.9 μg/m3 (21.12.2021). The limit values of daily and annual concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O3) parameters, which are the leading air pollutants and measured in this study, were exceeded only for PM10 and PM2.5. Therefore, since the concentrations of the air pollutants evaluated in the study for the three summer months of 2021 are almost similar to those of 2020, it can be said that the forest fire that took place is not the only and important factor affecting the air quality in Antalya and its surroundings.

Anahtar Kelimeler: