Search

Road transport emissions are a major contributor to ambient particulate matter concentrations and have been associated with adverse health effects. Therefore, these emissions are targeted through increasingly stringent European emission standards. These policies succeed in reducing exhaust emissions, but do not address "nonexhaust" emissions from brake wear, tire wear, road wear, and suspension in air of road dust.Is this a problem? To what extent do nonexhaust emissions contribute to ambient concentrations of PM10 or PM2.5? In the near future, wear emissions may dominate the remaining traffic-related PM10 emissions in Europe, mostly due to the steep decrease in PM exhaust emissions. This underlines the need to determine the relevance of the wear emissions as a contribution to the existing ambient PM concentrations, and the need to assess the health risks related to wear particles, which has not yet received much attention. During a workshop in 2011, available knowledge was reported and evaluated so as to draw conclusions on the relevance of traffic-related wear emissions for air quality policy development. On the basis of available evidence, which is briefly presented in this paper, it was concluded that nonexhaust emissions and in particular suspension in air of road dust are major contributors to exceedances at street locations of the PM10 air quality standards in various European cities. Furthermore, wear-related PM emissions that contain high concentrations of metals may (despite their limited contribution to the mass of nonexhaust emissions) cause significant health risks for the population, especially those living near intensely trafficked locations. To quantify the existing health risks, targeted research is required on wear emissions, their dispersion in urban areas, population exposure, and its effects on health. Such information will be crucial for environmental policymakers as an input for discussions on the need to develop control strategies.Road transport particulate matter (PM) emissions are associated with adverse health effects. Stringent policies succeed in reducing the exhaust PM emissions, but do not address "nonexhaust" emissions from brake wear, tire wear, road wear, and suspension in air of road dust. In the near future the nonexhaust emissions will dominate the road transport PM emissions. Based on the limited available evidence, it is argued that dedicated research is required on nonexhaust emissions and dispersion to urban areas from both an air quality and a public health perspective. The implicated message to regulators and policy makers is that road transport emissions continue to be an issue for health and air quality, despite the encouraging rapid decrease of tailpipe exhaust emissions.Supplemental Materials: Supplemental materials are available for this paper. Go to the publisher's online edition of the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association. © 2013 Copyright 2013 A&WMA.

In this study, the chemical composition of PM10 at various sites in Switzerland during a one year period in 2008/2009 and changes since the time of a similar characterisation campaign in 1998/1999 are investigated. The concentrations of main components of PM10 were found to be similar at different site types north of the Alps (i.e. urban background, suburban and rural sites). Secondary inorganic PM10 components (nitrate, sulphate and ammonium) constituted the largest PM10 mass fraction, followed by carbonaceous matter (OM and EC), while the abundance of mineral dust and trace elements was small (both

Mechanically produced abrasion particles and resuspension processes are responsible for a significant part of the PM10 emissions of road traffic. However, specific differentiation between PM10 emissions due to abrasion and resuspension from road pavement is very difficult due to their similar elemental composition and highly correlated variation in time. In this work Mobile Load Simulators were used to estimate PM10 emission factors for pavement abrasion and resuspension on different pavement types for light and heavy duty vehicles. From the experiments it was derived that particle emissions due to abrasion from pavements in good condition are quite low in the range of only a few mg·km−1 per vehicle if quantifiable at all. Considerable abrasion emissions, however, can occur from damaged pavements. Resuspension of deposited dust can cause high and extremely variable particle emissions depending strongly on the dirt load of the road surface. Porous pavements seem to retain deposited dust better than dense pavements, thus leading to lower emissions due to resuspension compared to pavements with a dense structure (e.g. asphalt concrete). Tyre wear seemed not to be a quantitatively significant source of PM10 emissions from road traffic.

Recent studies have shown clear contributions of non-exhaust emissions to the traffic related PM10 load of the ambient air. These emissions consist of particles produced by abrasion from brakes, road wear, tire wear, as well as vehicle induced resuspension of deposited road dust. The main scope of the presented work was to identify and quantify the non-exhaust fraction of traffic related PM10 for two roadside locations in Switzerland with different traffic regimes. The two investigated locations, an urban street canyon with heavily congested traffic and an interurban freeway, are considered as being typical for Central Europe. Mass-relevant contributions from abrasion particles and resuspended road dust mainly originated from particles in the size range 1–10 μm. The results showed a major influence of vehicle induced resuspension of road dust. In the street canyon, the traffic related PM10 emissions (LDV: 24 ± 8 mg km −1 vehicle −1 , HDV: 498 ± 86 mg km −1 vehicle −1 ) were assigned to 21% brake wear, 38% resuspended road dust and 41% exhaust emissions. Along the freeway (LDV: 50 ± 13 mg km −1 vehicle −1 , HDV: 288 ± 72 mg km −1 vehicle −1 ), respective contributions were 3% brake wear, 56% resuspended road dust and 41% exhaust emissions. There was no indication for relevant contributions from tire wear and abrasion from undamaged pavements.

This study describes methods developed for reliable quantification of size- and element-specific release of engineered nanoparticles (ENP) from consumer spray products. A modified glove box setup was designed to allow controlled spray experiments in a particle-minimized environment. Time dependence of the particle size distribution in a size range of 10–500 nm and ENP release rates were studied using a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS). In parallel, the aerosol was transferred to a size-calibrated electrostatic TEM sampler. The deposited particles were investigated using electron microscopy techniques in combination with image processing software. This approach enables the chemical and morphological characterization as well as quantification of released nanoparticles from a spray product. The differentiation of solid ENP from the released nano-sized droplets was achieved by applying a thermo-desorbing unit. After optimization, the setup was applied to investigate different spray situations using both pump and gas propellant spray dispensers for a commercially available water-based nano-silver spray. The pump spray situation showed no measurable nanoparticle release, whereas in the case of the gas spray, a significant release was observed. From the results it can be assumed that the homogeneously distributed ENP from the original dispersion grow in size and change morphology during and after the spray process but still exist as nanometer particles of size

Rotating drum impactors (RDI) are cascade type impactors used for size and time resolved aerosol sampling, mostly followed by spectrometric analysis of the deposited material. They are characterized by one rectangular nozzle per stage and are equipped with an automated stepping mechanism for the impaction wheels. An existing three-stage rotating drum impactor was modified, to obtain new midpoint cutoff diameters at 2.5 μm, 1 μm, and 0.1 μm, respectively. For RDI samples collected under ambient air conditions, information on the size-segregation and the spatial uniformity of the deposited particles are key factors for a reliable spectrometric analysis of the RDI deposits. Two aerodynamic particle sizers (APS) were used for the determination of the RDI size fractionation characteristics, using polydisperse laboratory room air as quasi-stable proxy for urban ambient air. This experimental approach was suitable for the scope of this study, but was subject to numerous boundary conditions that limit a general u...

The determination of trace element mass concentrations in ambient air with a time resolution higher than one day represents an urgent need in atmospheric research. It involves the application of a specific technique both for the aerosol sampling and the subsequent analysis of the collected particles. Beside the intrinsic sensitivity of the analytical method, the sampling interval and thus the quantity of collected material that is available for subsequent analysis is a major factor driving the overall trace element detection power. This is demonstrated for synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (SR-XRF) of aerosol samples collected with a rotating drum impactor (RDI) in hourly intervals and three particle size ranges. The total aerosol mass on the 1-h samples is in the range of 10 µg. An experimental detection of the nanogram amounts of trace elements with the help of synchrotron X-rays was only achievable by the design of a fit-for-purpose sample holder system, which considered the boundary conditions both from particle sampling and analysis. A 6-µm polypropylene substrate film has evolved as substrate of choice, due to its practical applicability during sampling and its suitable spectroscopic behavior. In contrast to monochromatic excitation conditions, the application of a ‘white’ beam led to a better spectral signal-to-background ratio. Despite the low sample mass, a counting time of less than 30 s per 1-h aerosol sample led to sufficient counting statistics. Therefore the RDI-SR-XRF method represents a high-throughput analysis procedure without the need for any sample preparation. The analysis of a multielemental mass standard film by SR-XRF, laboratory-based wavelength-dispersive XRF spectrometry and laboratory-based micro XRF spectrometry showed that the laboratory-based methods were no alternatives to the SR-XRF method with respect to sensitivity and efficiency of analysis.

Field measurement campaigns of PM10 and its elemental composition (daily sampling on filters) covering different seasons were performed at two sites near the busiest railway station of Switzerland in Zurich (at a distance of 10 m from the tracks) and at a site near a very busy railway line with more than 700 trains per day. At this latter site parallel samples were taken at 10, 36 and 120 m distances from the tracks with the aim to study the distance dependence of the railway induced PM10 concentrations. To distinguish the relatively small railway emissions from the regional background (typically 20–25 μg m−3), simultaneous samples were also taken at an urban background site in Zurich. The differences in PM10 and elemental concentrations between the railway exposed sites and the background site were allocated to the railway contribution. Small, however, measurable PM10 concentration differences were found at all sites. The elemental composition of these differences revealed iron as the only quantitatively important constituent. As a long-term average it amounted to approximately 1 μg m−3 Fe at a distance of 10 m from the tracks at all three sites. Assuming that iron was at least partly oxidised (e.g. in the form of Fe2O3) the contribution can amount up to 1.5 μg m−3. Emissions of copper, manganese and chromium from trains were also clearly identified. However, compared to iron these, elements were emitted in very low quantities. No significant contribution from rock material (calcium, aluminium, magnesium, sodium) was observed as might have been expected from erosion, abrasion and resuspension from the gravel below the tracks. Particle emissions from diesel exhaust were not considered as trains in Switzerland are operated nearly exclusively by electric locomotives. The railway, induced contribution to ambient PM10 decreased rapidly with increasing distance from the tracks. At a distance of 120 m this contribution dropped to only 25% of the contribution observed at 10 m distance.

Particle emissions caused by railway traffic have hardly been investigated in the past, due to their obviously minor influence on air quality compared to automotive traffic. In this study, emissions related to particle abrasion from wheels and tracks were investigated next to a busy railway line in Zurich (Switzerland), where trains run nearly exclusively with electrical locomotives. Hourly size-segregated aerosol samples (0.1–1, 1–2.5 and 2.5–10 μm) were collected with a rotating drum impactor (RDI) and subsequently analyzed by synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (SR-XRF). In this way, hourly elemental mass concentrations were obtained for chromium, manganese, iron and copper, which are the elements most relevant for railway abrasion. Additionally, daily aerosol filters were collected at the same site as well as at a background site for subsequent analysis by gravimetry and wavelength dispersive XRF (WD-XRF). Railway related ambient air concentrations of iron and manganese were calculated for the coarse (2.5–10 μm) and fine (

This paper presents the first ensemble modelling experiment in relation to birch pollen in Europe. The seven-model European ensemble of MACC-ENS, tested in trial simulations over the flowering season of 2010, was run through the flowering season of 2013. The simulations have been compared with observations in 11 countries, all members of the European Aeroallergen Network, for both individual models and the ensemble mean and median. It is shown that the models successfully reproduced the timing of the very late season of 2013, generally within a couple of days from the observed start of the season. The end of the season was generally predicted later than observed, by 5 days or more, which is a known feature of the source term used in the study. Absolute pollen concentrations during the season were somewhat underestimated in the southern part of the birch habitat. In the northern part of Europe, a record-low pollen season was strongly overestimated by all models. The median of the multi-model ensemble demonstrated robust performance, successfully eliminating the impact of outliers, which was particularly useful since for most models this was the first experience of pollen forecasting.

Exposure to outdoor air pollutants remains an important concern in Europe, as limit values for NO2 and PM10 continue to be exceeded. Few studies have addressed the long-term spatial contrasts in PM2.5, PM absorbance, PM coarse coarse and especially ultrafine particles. This scarcity of data hampers the possibility to conduct epidemiological studies, assessing the health relevance of these markers of potentially harmful pollutants. Air pollution measurements were performed in eight geographically distinct areas of the Swiss Study on Air Pollution and Lung and Heart Diseases in Adults (SAPALDIA) in Switzerland. NO2 was measured in all eight areas at 40 sites per area, and PM2.5, PM2.5 absorbance, PM10 and ultrafine particles (particle number concentration (PNC) and lung deposited surface area (LDSA)) were measured in 4 of these areas, at a subset of 20 out of 40 sites. Each site was sampled three times during different seasons of the year, using the same equipment, sampling protocols and the same central facilities for analysis of samples. We assessed the spatial variability between areas and between individual sites, as well as pollution contrasts between the seasons and correlations between different pollutants. Within-area spatial contrasts (defined as the ratio between the 90th and 10th percentile) were highest for NO2 (3.14), moderate for PMcoarse (2.19), PNC (2.00) and PM2.5 absorbance (1.94), and lowest for LDSA (1.63), PM2.5 (1.50) and PM10 (1.46). Concentrations in the larger cities were generally higher than in smaller towns and rural and alpine areas, and were higher in the winter than in the summer and intermediate seasons, for all pollutants. Between-area differences accounted for more variation than within-area differences for all pollutants except NO2 and PMcoarse. Despite substantial within-area contrasts for PNC and LDSA, 74.7% and 83.3% of the spatial variance was attributed to between-area variability, respectively. Coefficients of determination between long-term adjusted pollutants were high (R-2>0.70) between NO2, PM2.5 absorbance, PNC and LDSA and between PM2.5 and PM10. The measurement of spatial patterns for this large range of outdoor air pollutants will contribute to a highly standardized estimation of individual long-term exposure levels for SAPALDIA cohort participants. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The goal of this study was to identify and quantify particles emitted from railway traffic. For that purpose PM10 samples were collected near a busy railway line using a wind direction and speed controlled sampling equipment consisting of five devices. Measurements taken perpendicular to the railway lines at 10, 36 and 120 m distance enable an identification and separation of particles caused by the railway traffic from background particles. Morphology and chemistry of more than 11,000 particles were analysed by computer controlled scanning electron microscopy (CCSEM). Based on chemical composition five particle classes are defined and assigned to their sources. The mass of the individual particles is determined by multiplying their volumes, calculated based on their morphology with a density assigned specifically to each particle class. The density of the particle classes is derived from their chemical composition. To estimate the PM10 contributions of the railway lines, the mass of PM10 at 120 m (background, not influenced by the railway lines) is subtracted from the mass of PM10 at 10 m. The emissions of the railway lines are dominated by ‘iron’ particles, which contribute 2.9 μg m−3 or 67% to the railway related PM10. In addition, ‘aluminium’ and ‘calcium’ particles contribute also to the railway related PM10 (1.0 μg m−3 or 23% for the ‘aluminium’ and 0.4 μg m−3 or 10% for the ‘calcium’ particles). These particles are assigned to abrasion of the gravel bed and re-suspension of mineral dust. Long-term gravimetric results of the contribution of iron to the mass of railway related PM10 from a study performed earlier at the same site are in good agreement with the data presented in this study.

Using 1 year of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) retrievals from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellite along with ground measurements of PM2.5 mass concentration, we assess particulate matter air quality over different locations across the global urban areas spread over 26 locations in Sydney, Delhi, Hong Kong, New York City and Switzerland. An empirical relationship between AOT and PM2.5 mass is obtained and results show that there is an excellent correlation between the bin-averaged daily mean satellite and groundbased values with a linear correlation coefficient of 0.96. Using meteorological and other ancillary datasets, we assess the effects of wind speed, cloud cover, and mixing height (MH) on particulate matter (PM) air quality and conclude that these data are necessary to further apply satellite data for air quality research. Our study clearly demonstrates that satellitederived AOT is a good surrogate for monitoring PM air quality over the earth. However, our analysis shows that the PM2.5–AOT relationship strongly depends on aerosol concentrations, ambient relative humidity (RH), fractional cloud cover and height of the mixing layer. Highest correlation between MODIS AOT and PM2.5 mass is found under clear sky conditions with less than 40–50% RH and when atmospheric MH ranges from 100 to 200 m. Future remote sensing sensors such as Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) that have the capability to provide vertical distribution of aerosols will further enhance our ability to monitor and forecast air pollution. This study is among the first to examine the relationship between satellite and ground measurements over several global locations. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Indoor air quality is a growing concern as we spend the majority of our time indoors and as new buildings are increasingly air tight for energy saving purposes. In this study, we aimed to better un...

Trace metals are ubiquitous in urban ambient air, with mass concentrations in the range of a few microg/m3 down to less than 100 pg/m3. To measure such low concentrations represents a challenge for chemical and physical analysis. In this study, ambient aerosol was collected in Zürich (Switzerland) in 1-h intervals and three size fractions (aerodynamic diameters 0.1-1 microm, 1-2.5 microm, and 2.5-10 microm), using a three-stage rotating drum impactor (RDI). The samples were analyzed by energy-dispersive Synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (SR-XRF) to obtain size-segregated hourly elemental aerosol mass concentrations for Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Br, and Pb, along with S, Cl, and Ca under the selected experimental conditions. The high sensitivity of SR-XRF allowed for detection limits of50 pg/m3 for most of the above elements, with a net analysis time of only 15 s per sample. The data obtained with this technique illustrate that there is a considerable gain of relevant information when time resolution for measurements is increased from 1 day to 1 h. The individual size fractions of a specific element may show significantly different short-term patterns.

Automatic on-line monitors for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter up to 10 μm (PM10) (TEOM, beta attenuation) are widely used in air pollution monitoring networks. However, the data cannot always be considered equivalent to the manual gravimetric reference method, which is required in Europe as well as in US for compliance measurements. In this paper, a new method is described to obtain reference equivalent PM10 data series from automatic beta-attenuation monitors based on a limited number of gravimetric PM10 data. The correction procedure was tested with long-term data series from 5 Swiss sites with different exposure characters (urban street canyon, motorway, suburban, rural) and was shown to produce PM10 data, which fulfilled all requirements of EN12341, except at a background site with very low PM10 concentrations. At all sites, including the background site, the correction produced excellent agreement of the corrected monitor data for annual means and a satisfactory match of the number of days exceeding the short time limit value of 50 μg m −3 compared to reference equivalent PM10 data.

Daily PM2.5 and PM10 samples were taken from April 1998 to March 1999 at urban kerbside, urban background, near-city, and rural sites in Switzerland. The samples were analysed for mass, water soluble ions, trace elements, as well as elemental and organic carbon. The present paper focuses on the variation of element concentration between different site types and on the chemical mass closure of atmospheric particulate matter. Information on emission sources of trace elements is obtained by evaluation of the element abundances at sites that represent different pollution levels. The abundances of Ba, Ca, Ce, Cu, Fe, La, Mo, Mn, Pb, Sb, and Rh are gradually decreasing from urban kerbside to urban background, near-city and rural sites, indicating that road traffic is a main source of these elements. On the other hand, the abundances of Al, As, Cd, K, and V are similar for the different site types, which implies that emission sources are either spatially uniformly distributed (e.g. mineral dust), or there are no important regional emission sources and the ambient concentration of these elements might be dominated by long-range transport. When performing a mass closure, the annual average of the sum of aerosol chemical components was 22–27% for PM10 and 8–15% for PM2.5 lower than the PM mass. A drying procedure applied to a subset of PM10 samples and model calculations for PM2.5 samples according to their inorganic composition were used to estimate the contribution of retained water to the unaccounted mass at 50% RH. The obtained average water content was 10.6% for PM10 and 13–23% for PM2.5, clearly indicating that water is a major contributor to the unaccounted mass. Furthermore, a pronounced seasonal variation was observed with relatively lower water content in the colder season, indicating that the inorganic salts were mainly crystalline in winter, whereas they were probably dissolved during the rest of the year.

Collocated parallel measurements of PM2.5 and PM10 were conducted at 7 sites in Switzerland since January 1998, constituting now one of the longest comparative data sets for PM2.5 and PM10 in Europe. The range of the long-term mean concentrations of PM2.5 was between 7.9 μg/m 3 at Chaumont and 24.4 μg/m 3 in Lugano. For the sites within the Swiss plateau this range narrows from 15.1 μg/m 3 at the rural site of Payerne to 20.8 μg/m 3 at the directly traffic exposed site of Bern. The long-term averages of the PM2.5/PM10 ratios of the daily values vary only from 0.75 to 0.76, with the exception of the traffic exposed site of Bern (0.59). The correlation between the daily values of PM2.5 and PM10 at all sites is generally high. For PM10, as well as for PM2.5 the highest concentrations are normally observed during wintertime. An exception is Chaumont (1140-m a.s.l.), which is often positioned above the inversion layer during wintertime and, therefore, has the lowest concentration during wintertime. A minimum of the PM2.5/PM10 ratio is often found during spring, probably due to the influence of relatively coarse biogenic particles. Though the sites have quite different exposition characteristics, the correlation of the daily values of PM2.5 and PM10 between the different sites of the Swiss plateau is very high, indicating a dominant influence of regional meteorology over local events and sources. The findings imply that from the point of view of an efficient use of financial and personal resources, the number of collocated PM2.5 measurements at PM10 sites in a monitoring network can be kept quite limited. The saved resources could rather be used to investigate other particle related parameters providing substantial new information (e.g. on particle sources, formation and effects) like PM1, particle number concentrations, morphology or chemical composition.

Air quality, especially in urban areas, deteriorated with the industrial revolution and the following centuries. It is only during the last 60 years, following e.g. the infamous London smog (1952), that the health impacts of air pollution have been recognised and acted upon. In the developed world, abatement strategies and closure of major industries have led to significant air quality improvements (Harrison, 2004; Lamarque et al., 2010; Monks et al., 2009; Smith et al., 2011). Even so, the evaluation of current research within the Clean Air for Europe (CAFE) process has clearly shown that, even today, investments in further air quality improvements will have a beneficial return financially, in terms of population health, environmental improvements and in quality of life (EEA, 2007; Stern, 2006). The measurement of air quality changed dramatically during the last century reflecting the concurrent knowledge about the adverse effects of air pollution, as well as the technological developments. The earliest measurement methods were often labour intensive, needed long analysis times and had a low time resolution. Routine measurements of air quality can be traced back to the Montsouris Manuscript Click here to download Manuscript: AMT_AtmosEnv_NewDirection_19_09_2013.docx Click here to view linked References 2 Observatory in Paris, where ozone was measured between 1876 and 1910 (Volz and Kley, 1988). Since then, scientists have pursued the concept of making measurements of air pollutants at fixed monitoring sites using well established, calibrated and comparable methods. Developments in air quality monitoring techniques during the second half of the 20th century enabled higher data quality to be obtained, with lower detection limits, using automated, continuous methods. One of the first real-time measurement techniques was initially developed by Fowler as early as 1949 for the measurement of e.g. CO2 (Keeling, 1960). Developments in online air quality monitoring enabled the development of public warning systems and immediate notifications if alert thresholds were exceeded. Short-term measures could then be taken to reduce emissions during pollution episodes. Measures included traffic reductions and closure of industrial facilities during e.g. winter smog episodes in Germany in the early 80’s (Bruckmann et al., 1986). Such reactive measures are now commonplace in new legislation (EC Directive, 2008; CFR 40, 2011; JAPC, 2011), along with public information to help vulnerable people to cope with pollution episodes (Kelly et al., 2012)., JRC.H.2-Air and Climate

Results of regular measurements during 1992–1995 of hydrocarbons and carbonyl compounds for a number of rural European monitoring sites are presented. The measurements are part of the EMEP programme for VOC measurements in Europe. In addition, several years of regular measurements are included from the Norwegian stations Birkenes at the south coast, and Zeppelin Mountain on Spitsbergen in the Arctic. The sampling frequency has been about twice per week throughout the years, implying that a substantial amount of measurement data are available. Almost all the chemical analyses have been performed by one laboratory, the EMEP Chemical Co-ordinating Centre located at NILU, which avoids problems of intercomparison and intercalibration among different laboratories. For the measured concentrations both seasonal and geographical variations are shown and discussed. The diurnal cycles of the hydrocarbon concentrations were studied in detail at one site, where the grab samples by EMEP where compared with a parallel continuous sampler, operated by EMPA, Switzerland. Hydrocarbons linked to natural gas and fuel evaporation become well mixed into the Arctic in the winter, whereas combustion products show a latitudinal gradient. The sum of oxygenated species constitutes about 5–15% of the sum of C2−C5 hydrocarbons in winter. In summer they are almost equal in magnitude, consistent with an increasing oxidation of hydrocarbons.

REMO-HAM is a new regional aerosol-climate model. It is based on the REMO regional climate model and includes most of the major aerosol processes. The structure for aerosol is similar to the global aerosol-climate model ECHAM5-HAM, for example the aerosol module HAM is coupled with a two-moment stratiform cloud scheme. On the other hand, REMO-HAM does not include an online coupled aerosol-radiation nor a secondary organic aerosol module. In this work, we evaluate the model and compare the results against ECHAM5-HAM and measurements. Four different measurement sites were chosen for the comparison of total number concentrations, size distributions and gas phase sulfur dioxide concentrations: Hyytiälä in Finland, Melpitz in Germany, Mace Head in Ireland and Jungfraujoch in Switzerland. REMO-HAM is run with two different resolutions: 50 × 50 km2 and 10 × 10 km2. Based on our simulations, REMO-HAM is in reasonable agreement with the measured values. The differences in the total number concentrations between REMO-HAM and ECHAM5-HAM can be mainly explained by the difference in the nucleation mode. Since we did not use activation nor kinetic nucleation for the boundary layer, the total number concentrations are somewhat underestimated. From the meteorological point of view, REMO-HAM represents the precipitation fields and 2 m temperature profile very well compared to measurement. Overall, we show that REMO-HAM is a functional aerosol-climate model, which will be used in further studies.

The first EMEP intensive measurement periods were held in June 2006 and January 2007. The measurements aimed to characterize the aerosol chemical compositions, including the gas/aerosol partitioning of inorganic compounds. The measurement program during these periods included daily or hourly measurements of the secondary inorganic components, with additional measurements of elementaland organic carbon (EC and OC) and mineral dust in PM1, PM2.5 and PM10. These measurements have provided extended knowledge regarding the composition of particulate matter and the temporal and spatial variability of PM, as well as an extended database for the assessment of chemical transport models. This paper summarise the first experiences of making use of measurements from the first EMEP intensive measurement periods along with EMEP model results from the updated model version to characterise aerosol composition. We investigated how the PM chemical composition varies between the summer and the winter month and geographically., JRC.H.2-Air and Climate

Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 13 (8), ISSN:1388-0764, ISSN:1572-896X

A three-week long field campaign was carried out under autumnal meteorological conditions at four valley floor sites in the industrialised Swiss Rhone Valley. For one week of stable meteorological conditions, particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter below 10 μm (PM10) was analysed from daily filters using ion chromatography, X-ray fluorescence, anhydrosugars and radiocarbon analysis of the organic and elemental matter (OM and EM, respectively). Furthermore, PM1 composition along the whole campaign was monitored in Massongex (a site near industries) by a seven-wavelength aethalometer and a quadrupole aerosol mass spectrometer (Q-AMS). At all sites, PM10 secondary inorganics and non-fossil EM and OM exhibited relatively stable concentrations over the selected days. On the contrary, PM10 fossil carbonaceous fractions, mineral dust components and several trace elements showed a significant decrease on Sunday, compared to the analysed working days. Their concentrations were also highly correlated. This evidenced the role of exhaust and resuspension emissions by heavy-duty vehicle traffic to the PM10 concentrations along the valley. In Massongex, organic matter and black carbon (BC) were the main contributors to PM1 over the campaign (accounting for 45% and 18% of PM1, respectively). An optical discrimination of BC highlighted the prevalence of fossil over wood-burning sources. Three types of PM1 organics could be identified by factor analysis: primary wood-burning organic aerosol (P-WBOA) dominated the PM1 carbonaceous fraction, followed by oxygenated organics (OOA) mostly representing secondary organics, and by traffic or possibly industry-related hydrocarbon-like organics (HOA) as the smallest carbonaceous contribution. Furthermore, unusually high contributions of fine chloride were detected at all sites. They were attributed to ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) in Massongex and represented the only significant component exclusively attributable to industrial emissions.

This paper synthesizes data on aerosol (particulate matter, PM) physical and chemical characteristics, which were obtained over the past decade in aerosol research and monitoring activities at more than 60 natural background, rural, near-city, urban, and kerbside sites across Europe. The data include simultaneously measured PM10 and/or PM2.5 mass on the one hand, and aerosol particle number concentrations or PM chemistry on the other hand. The aerosol data presented in our previous works (Van Dingenen et al., 2004; Putaud et al., 2004) were updated and merged to those collected in the framework of the EU supported European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical action COST633 (Particulate matter: Properties related to health effects). A number of conclusions from our previous studies were confirmed. There is no single ratio between PM2.5 and PM10 mass concentrations valid for all sites, although fairly constant ratios ranging from 0.5 to 0.9 are observed at most individual sites. There is no general correlation between PM mass and particle number concentrations, although particle number concentrations increase with PM2.5 levels at most sites. The main constituents of both PM10 and PM2.5 are generally organic matter, sulfate and nitrate. Mineral dust can also be a major constituent of PM10 at kerbside sites and in Southern Europe. There is a clear decreasing gradient in SO4 2- and NO3 - contribution to PM10 when moving from rural to urban to kerbside sites. In contrast, the total carbon/PM10 ratio increases from rural to kerbside sites. Some new conclusions were also drawn from this work: the ratio between ultrafine particle and total particle number concentration decreases with PM2.5 concentration at all sites but one, and significant gradients in PM chemistry are observed when moving from Northwestern, to Southern to Central Europe. Compiling an even larger number of data sets would have further increased the significance of our conclusions, but collecting all the aerosol data sets obtained also through research projects remains a tedious task. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved., This paper is a contribution to the COST Action 633 “Particulate matter: Properties related to health effects”.

Hourly trace element measurements were performed in an urban street canyon and next to an interurban freeway in Switzerland during more than one month each, deploying a rotating drum impactor (RDI) and subsequent sample analysis by synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (SR-XRF). Antimony and other brake wear associated elements were detected in three particle size ranges (2.5-10, 1-2.5, and 0.1-1 microm). The hourly measurements revealed that the effect of resuspended road dust has to be taken into account for the calculation of vehicle emission factors. Individual values for light and heavy duty vehicles were obtained for stop-and-go traffic in the urban street canyon. Mass based brake wear emissions were predominantly found in the coarse particle fraction. For antimony, determined emission factors were 11 +/- 7 and 86 +/- 42 microg km(-1) vehicle(-1) for light and heavy duty vehicles, respectively. Antimony emissions along the interurban freeway with free-flowing traffic were significantly lower. Relative patterns for brake wear related elements were very similar for both considered locations. Beside vehicle type specific brake wear emissions, road dust resuspension was found to be a dominant contributor of antimony in the street canyon.

The Working Group discussed the progress on the state of knowledge on deriving trends from measurements and their use to verify abatement measures or other causes for decrease in emissions of ammonia to the atmosphere. The conclusions from the 2000 Berne meeting (Menzi and Achermann 2001), the background review (Bleeker et al. 2009) and presentations during the session (Horvath et al. 2009; Tang et al. 2009; Webb et al. 2009), as well as the discussions served as input for the conclusions of this report. We have seen some clear advancement in closing the gap between the observed and expected values for reduced nitrogen, where we do get a better understanding of the reasons behind it. The long-term measurements that are available follow the emission trend. Current measurements make it possible to evaluate policy progress on ammonia emission abatement. Especially in those countries where there were big (>25%) changes in emissions, such as in the Netherlands and Denmark the trend is followed quite closely, especially when meteorology is well taken into account. In order countries, such as the UK, the trend was much smaller, but there was no gap between measurements and model estimates. In the Netherlands there still is an ammonia gap: a significant (30%) difference between emissions based ammonia concentrations and measurements. The trend is the same. The difference might be due to either an underestimation of the emission or an overestimation of the dry deposition. It is recommended to further explore this gap, especially by investigating the high temporal resolution measurements, improving the emission/deposition modeling, by having a model intercomparison with countries that use models that do not show a gap and finally by doing a thorough uncertainty analysis. On the European scale it is difficult to follow the emission changes, both because of lack of measurements, especially in the Eastern part of Europe and because of the confounding factor of the SO2 emission reductions, affecting the ammonium concentrations in aerosol and in rain water. It is recommended to fully implement the EMEP monitoring strategy and to improve the models in order to quantify the influence of a changing chemical climate. The EMEP monitoring strategy can be a good starting point for development of a strategy that is focused on the right questions. Therefore first it is necessary to evaluate policies and the indicators derived from them that need to be assessed (time and space). Using existing models a pre-modeling study should be done to select the monitoring sites that eventually will give you the answer to the basic (policy) question using improved models and assessment tools. The best and economic feasible instrumentation should be selected with an extensive QA/QC program to make the measurements comparable. After implementation, especially for trend evaluation, the monitors used should not be changed.

In this article, the potential of a thermophoretic sampling device to derive quantitative particle size distributions and number concentrations of aerosols based on microscopic single particle analysis is explored. For that purpose a plate-to-plate thermophoretic precipitator to collect ultrafine atmospheric particles for TEM (transmission electron microscopy) analysis has been calibrated and characterized. The representativeness of the samples has been verified in a series of experiments. Results show that, for particles with diameters of 15 nm to 300 nm, the precipitator's collection efficiency is independent of size, shape, and composition of the particles. Hence, its samples accurately represent the original aerosol. A numerical model of thermophoretic deposition within the device has been developed and tailored to the specifications of the precipitator. The model has been used to derive the particle number density and size distribution of several calibration aerosols using the TEM analysis of the samples taken with the thermophoretic precipitator as input parameters. The results agree very well with the on-line measurements of the calibration aerosols. This work demonstrates that our thermophoretic sampling device can be used to derive quantitative particle size distributions and number concentrations of ultrafine particles based on microscopic single particle analysis.

[1] This study reports the first long-term trend analysis of aerosol optical measurements at the high-alpine site Jungfraujoch, which started 10.5 years ago. Since the aerosol variables are approximately lognormally distributed, the seasonal Kendall test and Sen's slope estimator were applied as nonparametric methods to detect the long-term trends for each month. The yearly trend was estimated by a least-mean-square fit, and the number of years necessary to detect this trend was calculated. The most significant trend is the increase (4–7% yr−1) in light-scattering coefficients during the September to December period. The light absorption and backscattering coefficients and the aerosol number concentration also show a positive trend during this time of the year. The hemispheric backscattering fraction and the scattering exponent calculated with the smaller wavelengths (450 and 550 nm), which relate to the small aerosol size fraction, decrease except during the summer, whereas the scattering exponent calculated with the larger wavelengths (550 and 700 nm) remains constant. Generally, the summer months at the Jungfraujoch, which are strongly influenced by planetary boundary layer air masses, do not show any long-term trend. The trends determined by least-mean-square fits of the scattering and backscattering coefficients, the hemispheric backscattering fractions, and the scattering exponent are significant, and the number of years necessary to detect them is shorter than 10 years. For these variables, the trends and the slopes estimated by the seasonal Kendall test are therefore confirmed by the least-mean-square fit results.

Extended field measurements of particle number (size distribution of particle diameters, D, in the range between 18 nm and 10 microm), surface area concentrations, and PM1 and PM10 mass concentrations were performed in Switzerland to determine traffic emissions using a comprehensive set of instruments. Measurements took place at roads with representative traffic regimes: at the kerbside of a motorway (120 km h(-1)), a highway (80-100 km h(-1)), and in an urban area with stop-and-go traffic (0-50 km h(-1)) regulated by light signals. Mean diurnal variations showed that the highest pollutant concentrations were during the morning rush hours, especially of the number density in the nanoparticle size range (D50 nm). From the differences between up- and downwind concentrations (or differences between kerbside and background concentrations for the urban site), "real-life" emission factors were derived using NOx concentrations to calculate dilution factors. Particle number and volume emission factors of different size ranges (18-50 nm, 18-100 nm, and 18-300 nm) were derived for the total vehicle fleet and separated into a light-duty (LDV) and a heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) contribution. The total particle number emissions per vehicle were found to be about 11.7-13.5 x 10(14) particles km(-1) for constant speed (80-120 km h(-1) and 3.9 x 10(14) particles km(-1) for urban driving conditions. LDVs showed higher emission factors at constant high speed than under urban disturbed traffic flow. In contrast, HDVs emitted more air pollutants during deceleration and acceleration processes in stop-and-go traffic than with constant speed of about 80 km h(-1). On average, one HDV emits a 10-30 times higher amount of particulate air pollutants (in terms of both number and volume) than one LDV.

This paper synthesizes data on aerosol (or particulate matter, PM) chemical characteristics, which were obtained in European aerosol research activities at natural, rural, near-city, urban, and kerbside sites over the past decade. It includes only two (nearby) sites in the semi-arid Mediterranean area, and lacks data from Eastern Europe. PM chemical compositions are compared with the PM mass concentrations in PM10, PM2.5, and further size resolved PM fractions (chemical mass closure). Such data sets are more comprehensive than those currently provided by air quality monitoring networks (e.g. EMEP, EUROAIRNET). Data available from 24 sites in Europe were reviewed. They were processed and plotted to allow comparisons in spite of differences in the sampling and analytical techniques used in various studies. A number of conclusions are drawn among which are the following. Organic matter appears to be the major component of PM10 and PM2.5, except at natural and rural background sites, where sulphate contribution may be larger. Mineral dust shows up as a major component of PM10 at kerbside sites. Black carbon contributes 5-10% to PM2.5 and somewhat less to PM10 at all sites, including the natural background sites. Its contribution seems higher (15-20%) at some of the kerbside sites, but these data may be affected by analytical artefacts. On days when PM10 >50?gm -3, nitrate concentrations can overtake organic matter concentrations in PM10 and PM2.5. High PM concentration episodes are often observed in cold periods, when the pollutant dispersion is least. Measurements indicate that the condensation in the particle phase of semi-volatile species like nitrate and (unspecified) organics is also favoured by cold temperatures. In particles with a diameter

[1] Within the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Aerosol Program of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the aerosol chemical composition has been continuously measured since July 1999 at the Jungfraujoch (JFJ) of which the first 1.5-year data set is presented. Sampling is performed in two size classes (total suspended particles (TSP) and particles with aerodynamic diameters smaller than 1 μm). The filters are analyzed for major ions, which constitute 30% of the total dry aerosol mass collected at this site. As annual mean, a total ion mass concentration of 1.04 μg m−3 was observed. Sulfate, ammonium, and nitrate were the major components of the fine aerosol fraction, while calcium and nitrate were two major water-soluble components in the coarse mode. Single particle analysis confirmed the internal mixture of calcium and nitrate in the coarse mode. The total ion mass concentration showed strong seasonal differences, with 1.25, 1.62, 0.70, and 0.25 μg m−3 for spring, summer, fall, and winter, respectively. The variability was stronger for sulfate, ammonium, and nitrate than for calcium. The reason for this is believed to be local sources of calcium, which do not require vertical transport, along with Sahara dust episodes, which occur occasionally over the whole year, independent from the season.

Little is known about the relevance of mechanically produced particles of road traffic from abrasion and resuspension processes in relation to the exhaust pipe particles. In this paper, emission factors of PM10 and PM1 for light and heavy-duty vehicles were derived for different representative traffic regimes from concentration differences of particles and nitrogen oxides (NOx) in ambient air upwind and downwind of busy roads, or alternatively of kerbsides and nearby background sites. Hereby, PM1 was interpreted as direct exhaust emissions and PM10-PM1 as mechanically produced emissions from abrasion and resuspension processes. The results show that abrasion and resuspension processes represent a significant part of the total primary PM10 emissions of road traffic. At sites with relatively undisturbed traffic flow they are in the same range as the exhaust pipe emissions. At sites with disturbed traffic flow due to traffic lights, emissions from abrasion/resuspension are even higher than those from the exhaust pipes.

A multivariate receptor model was applied to estimate the contribution of road traffic to ambient levels of fine particles (PM10) at different locations in Switzerland. At two roadside sites with heavy local traffic, the road traffic was found to account for 46% and 64% of PM10. At an urban background site, the estimated average road traffic contribution was 34%, whereas a slightly higher value was obtained at a suburban site (36%). These results are in agreement with the findings of a recent study, where a conceptually different approach (dispersion modelling) was applied.