Modelling the effect of traffic and meteorology on air pollution with finite mixtures of M-quantile regression models

Between 2012 and 2015, the PMetro project collected meteorological, aerosol, and gas measurements by using dedicated instruments integrated on one of the cabins of the Minimetro, a public conveyance of the town of Perugia. In this work, the effect of vehicular traffic and meteorological variables on the distribution of particulate matter (PM) is analyzed using a Finite Mixture of M-Quantile regression models. Results show that radon concentration and vehicular traffic have the largest effect on the distribution of PM. In particular, the parameter estimate for radon concentration is always positive and increases along the M-quantiles, while the effect of vehicular traffic is similar both for lower and higher PM concentrations.