Indoor and Outdoor Particulate Matter Variability in Athens, Greece

The objective of this study is to present and analyse the indoor and outdoor temporal variability of the particulate matters of different sizes (namely: PM10, with diameter less than 10 µm; PM7, with diameter less than 7 µm; PM2.5, with diameter less than 2.5 µm and PM1, with diameter less than 1 µm) found in Athens, Greece. Four detectors were used for indoor and outdoor recordings. More specifically, the indoor recordings were performed in seminar rooms, full of students attending lectures, at the University of Athens and the Technological Education Institute of Piraeus. Findings of this research show that on one hand, the indoor particulate matter concentrations remained at lower levels than the thresholds set by the European Council Directives, but on the other hand, the outdoor particulate matter concentrations exceeded the thresholds many times.