Persistent high PM pollution in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East: insights from long-term observations and source apportionment in Cyprus

Bimenyimana, Elie; Sciare, Jean; Pikridas, Michael; Oikonomou, Konstantina; Iakovides, Minas; Vasiliadou, Emily; Savvides, Chrysanthos; Mihalopoulos, Nikos

doi:10.5194/acp-26-1605-2026

Articles | Volume 26, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-1605-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-1605-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 26, issue 2

Research article

|

30 Jan 2026

Research article |

| 30 Jan 2026

Persistent high PM pollution in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East: insights from long-term observations and source apportionment in Cyprus

Elie Bimenyimana, Jean Sciare, Michael Pikridas, Konstantina Oikonomou, Minas Iakovides, Emily Vasiliadou, Chrysanthos Savvides, and Nikos Mihalopoulos

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https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-1605-2026-supplement

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Persistent high PM pollution in the Eastern 80 Mediterranean and Middle East: Insights from long-term observations and source apportionment in Cyprus Elie Bimenyimana https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18305165

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Short summary

Long-term (2015–2023) source apportionment analysis reveals that reduction in PM₁₀ concentration levels from traffic in Cypriot cities is completely offset by the concomitant increase of uncontrolled PM from local sources (road dust resuspension, and domestic wood burning), along with rising Middle East PM from fossil fuel emissions. This poses a major challenge for Cyprus to comply with the stricter PM₁₀ limits set by the new EU air quality directive.