## 4 Results and Discussion  
The \(\Sigma\)16 PAHs ranged from 404 at site 11 to 2310 ng/dm\({}^{3}\) at site 7 (Figure 7), with a mean for all the samples equal to 1161 ng/L. Individual PAH concentrations ranged from 2,1 (Ace) at site 8 to 687.8 (Flt) ng/dm\({}^{3}\) at site 7 (Table 3A; Figure 8). The results showed low concentrations of acenapthylene, acenapthrene, and Fluorene, which may be attributed to their volatile nature and high concentrations of phenanthrene, fluoranthene, and pyrene (Table 3A, Figure 8). The accumulation of Flt and Pyr is typically linked to the combustion of automobile fuel, coal, and biomass [50,56]. The dominant fraction of PAHs consisted of medium-weight PAHs (Table 3A, Figure 7) To show the susceptibility of the sampling sites to pollution sources a pollution factor (PF) parameter was created. The pollution factor includes variables, like distance from the road (I), forest (VI), tourist attractions (II), industrial (III) and commercial (IV) facilities, population density (V), and altitude (VII). It was calculated as the sum of all variables, each assigned a score from 0 to 5 (Table 1). The values of PF ranged from 5 (sites 1, 2, and 14) to 28 (site 12). The highest value of \(\Sigma\)16 PAHs was observed in sample 7 (PF = 8), which was an unexpected result. This sample was collected at the border of Babia Gora National Park, near a forested area and far from major roads or industrial facilities, where significantly lower PAH concentrations were anticipated. The elevated PAH levels in sample 7 were likely influenced by the local topography, situated at the foot of the Babia Gora Massif (on its northern side) and on a northeast-facing slope, which, in combination with the surrounding forest, limits wind flow and air circulation. Another potential source of pollution may be the nearby popular tourist trail leading to the Markowe Szczawiny Mountain shelter and further to Babia Gora's summit, which generates both tourist and vehicular traffic. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & \\ \hline B[b]F & 29.9 & 1.45 & D & 12 & 2.51 & 176 & 5.7 & 1.59 & 0.97 & 0.63 & 0.007 & 2085 & 499 & 0.50 & 0.1 & BDL & 270 & 1100 \\ B[k]F & NA & 1.28 & 67.2 & 7.0 & 0.77 & 111 & 3.1 & 0.69 & 0.50 & 0.63 & ND & 905 & 179 & 0.38 & NA & 200 & NA & NA \\ B[a]P & 32.7 & 01.4 & 23.5 & 4.8 & 0.86 & 6 & 3.5 & 1.74 & 1.27 & ND & 0.014 & 905 & 179 & 0.07 & NA & BDL & NA & NA \\ I[c]G & 24.4 & 2.35 & 47.4 & 3.6 & 0.03 & NA & ND & 0.03 & ND & ND & 0.06 & 871 & 169 & 0.09 & 0.06 & NA & 130 & 370 \\ D[a]A & ND & 0.64 & 43.3 & n.d. & 0.17 & 5 & ND & ND & 0.08 & ND & ND & 186 & 32 & 0.02 & 0.03 & BDL & NA & NA \\ B[a]P & 23.8 & 1.92 & D & 9.4 & 0.89 & 7 & 02.3 & 0.20 & 0.50 & ND & ND & 736 & 145 & 0.17 & 0.007 & BDL & 210 & 800 \\ D[a]H & 1176.7 & 2.74 & 74.10 & 1194.7 & 17.88 & 1835 & 233 & 43.0 & 69.3 & 143.9 & 0.7 & 17,580 & 3320 & 24.3 & 20.4 & 26,200 & 2720 & 9640 \\ C[]A & 757.9 & 6.5 & 361.4 & 946.9 & 0.6 & 0 & 674 & 96 & 24.7 & 53.7 & 137.2 & 0.3 & 4470 & 631.1 & 18.7 & 18.1 & 8000 & 90 & 140 \\ C[]M-PAH & 307.1 & 12.3 & 198.2 & 222.7 & 12.5 & 856 & 122 & 14.9 & 12.3 & 5.4 & 0.3 & 7401 & 1444 & 4.7 & 2.1 & 18,000 & 1540 & 5460 \\ C[]H-PAH & 1108.0 & 08.7 & 181.4 & 24.8 & 05.2 & 305 & 15 & 4.3 & 3.3 & 1.3 & 0.8 & 2698 & 525 & 1.2 & 0.2 & 200 & 1090 & 4040 \\ Ref. [26] & [48] & [29] & [49] & [32] & [50] & [27] & [51] & [51] & [52] & [50] & [21] & [21] & [53] & [54] & [55] & [55] & \\ \hline \end{tabular} SM—sampling method; ND—not detected; BDL—below detection limit; D—detected, not quantified; NA—not available.  
\end{table} 
Table 3: _Cont._Figure 8: Distribution of individual PAH compound concentrations at the studied points. Figure 7: Spatial distribution of low-, medium-, and high-weight PAH contamination in Zawoja village. Map created using Open Source software QGIS 3.34 Prizen. comparable to findings from previous research conducted in other regions (Table 3B).