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Sulfur Dioxide Trends in Malta: a Statistical Computing Approach Nicholas Desira James Madison University

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Sulfur Dioxide Trends in Malta: a Statistical Computing Approach Nicholas Desira James Madison University James Madison University JMU Scholarly Commons Masters Theses The Graduate School Fall 2012 Sulfur dioxide trends in Malta: A statistical computing approach Nicholas Desira James Madison University Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019 Part of the Environmental Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Desira, Nicholas, "Sulfur dioxide trends in Malta: A statistical computing approach" (2012). Masters Theses. 182. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/182 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the The Graduate School at JMU Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of JMU Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SULFUR DIOXIDE TRENDS IN MALTA: A STATISTICAL COMPUTING APPROACH NICHOLAS DESIRA M.Sc. in Sustainable Environmental Resources Management & Integrated Science and Technology October 2012 Approved and recommended for acceptance as a dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Sustainable Environmental Resources Management & Integrated Science and Technology. Special committee directing the dissertation work of Nicholas Desira __________________________________________ Mr. Mark Scerri Date __________________________________________ Mr. Joel Azzopardi Date __________________________________________ Dr. Bob Kolvoord Date __________________________________________ Academic Unit Head or Designee Date Received by the Graduate School ____________________ Date SULFUR DIOXIDE TRENDS IN MALTA: A STATISTICAL COMPUTING APPROACH NICHOLAS DESIRA A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY - UNIVERSITY OF MALTA In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Sustainable Environmental Resources Management & Integrated Science and Technology October 2012 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the contribution of other people who supported me during the time I was working on this study. First of which, I would like to thank my family for their continuous support, both moral and financial, during all my endeavours. I would also like to thank my supervisors Mr. Mark Scerri, Mr. Joel Azzopardi and Dr. Bob Kolvoord for accepting to serve on my dissertation committee and also in their continual guidance and support. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the contributions of all other staff members who offered advice during the course of my work. I would like to particularly acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Liberato Camilleri, who offered advice on statistical methodology applicable to this study. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................ 5 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Sulfur Dioxide ........................................................................................................... 6 2.2.1 Structure and properties ..................................................................................... 6 2.2.2 Sources and presence in atmosphere.................................................................. 7 2.2.3 Health and environmental effects .................................................................... 13 2.3 Legislation on SO2 in the EU ................................................................................. 19 2.4 The case of Malta .................................................................................................... 27 2.4.1 Characteristics of Malta ................................................................................... 27 2.4.2 Previous research on SO2 ................................................................................. 31 2.4.3 Power generation, SO2 standards and monitoring ........................................... 35 2.5 Statistical computing techniques............................................................................. 39 2.5.1 Introduction to statistical computing in atmospheric chemistry ...................... 39 2.5.2 R environment .................................................................................................. 41 2.5.3 SPSS ................................................................................................................. 42 2.5.4 Mapping Packages ........................................................................................... 43 2.6 Summary ................................................................................................................. 44 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .................................................................................... 45 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 45 3.2 Data compilation, cleaning and integration ............................................................ 45 3.3 Mapping of points and interpolation ....................................................................... 50 3.4 General numerical analysis ..................................................................................... 51 3.5 Analysis using R ..................................................................................................... 51 3.6 SPSS analysis .......................................................................................................... 54 iii 3.7 Summary ................................................................................................................. 56 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS & DISCUSSION ..................................................................... 57 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 57 4.2 Location of monitoring network and power stations .............................................. 57 4.3 General numerical analysis ..................................................................................... 60 4.3.1 Wind data ......................................................................................................... 60 4.3.2 Monitoring station data .................................................................................... 62 4.3.3 Emissions data ................................................................................................. 64 4.3.4 Diffusion tube data ........................................................................................... 65 4.4 Diffusion tube interpolation .................................................................................... 67 4.5 R analysis ................................................................................................................ 75 4.5.1 Wind data ......................................................................................................... 75 4.5.2 Marsa power station emissions ........................................................................ 78 4.5.3 Marsa power station emissions and wind data ................................................. 84 4.5.4 Monitoring stations SO2 data ........................................................................... 85 4.5.5 Monitoring stations SO2 data and wind ........................................................... 97 4.6 SPSS analysis ........................................................................................................ 115 4.7 Summary ............................................................................................................... 119 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ....................................................................................... 120 5.1 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 120 5.2 Further research .................................................................................................... 123 APPENDIX ..................................................................................................................... 125 A.1 Monitoring station readings distribution .............................................................. 125 A.2 Marsa power station emissions distribution ......................................................... 127 A.3 Diffusion tube data distribution ........................................................................... 127 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 130 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: EU ambient level standards for SO2 ...............................................................
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