Particulate matter is one of the main atmospheric pollutants with a great chemical-environmental relevance. Improving knowledge of the sources of particulate matter and of their apportionment is needed to handle and fulfill the legislation regarding this pollutant, to support further development of air policy as well as air pollution management. Various instruments have been used to understand the sources of particulate matter and atmospheric radiotracers at the site of Mt. Cimone (44.18o N, 10.7o E, 2165 m asl), hosting a global WMO-GAW station and located on the highest peak of the Northern Apennines. Thanks to its characteristics this location is suitable to investigate the regional and long-range transport of polluted air masses on the background Southern-Europe free-troposphere (Marinoni et al., 2008). The PM10 time series sampled at the station in the period 1998-2011 is characterized by a strong seasonal fluctuation with a winter minimum and a summer maximum, attributed to the seasonal fluctuation of the mixed layer height as well as to the intense vertical exchange occurring in the warm season at this latitude (Tositti et al., 2013). Source regions of particulate matter were revealed comparing time series of PM10 and fine and coarse particles number densities, as well as applying a receptor model based on back trajectories. In summary, PM10 peaks at the site can be attributed to three classes of events: - Saharan dust transports; - Uplift of polluted air masses from the Italian areas north of the Apennines range; - Advection of PM10 enriched air masses from the European continent North and East of the Italian peninsula. The seasonal behavior and the source areas of the crustal radionuclide 210Pb, originated by 222Rn decay and travelling attached to fine particulate matter, resulted largely similar to that of PM10. Both PM10 as well as 210Pb time series show a decreasing trend analogous to what has been observed for PM10 and PM2:5 at other remote European stations (Brattich et al., in preparation). A severe PM10 episode was also observed at Mt. Cimone in the period of 13th-15th March 2004; during the event PM10 reached the maximum concentration recorded between 1998 and 2011 (80 mg m3 against an average of 8.8 8.0 mg m3) (Brattich et al., submitted). Meteo-synoptical analysis allowed to ascribe this event to a long lasting and highly coherent Saharan dust outbreak. The analysis of data acquired by optical counting enabled to detect the inception and development of the event through a steep and simultaneous increase of both coarse and fine particle number densities, much less frequently documented for Saharan Dust events.
ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOL MEASUREMENTS AT THE WMO-GAW STATION OF MT. CIMONE (2165 M A.S.L., ITALY) / Brattich, Erika; Tositti, Laura; Garcia Orza, José Antonio; Riccio, Angelo; Cristofanelli, Paolo; Bonasoni, Paolo. - ELETTRONICO. - (2015), pp. 27-27. (Intervento presentato al convegno RICTA 2015, 3rd Iberian Meeting on Aerosol Science and Technology tenutosi a Elche, Spagna nel 29 giugno - 1 luglio 2015).
ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOL MEASUREMENTS AT THE WMO-GAW STATION OF MT. CIMONE (2165 M A.S.L., ITALY)
BRATTICH, ERIKA;TOSITTI, LAURA;
2015
Abstract
Particulate matter is one of the main atmospheric pollutants with a great chemical-environmental relevance. Improving knowledge of the sources of particulate matter and of their apportionment is needed to handle and fulfill the legislation regarding this pollutant, to support further development of air policy as well as air pollution management. Various instruments have been used to understand the sources of particulate matter and atmospheric radiotracers at the site of Mt. Cimone (44.18o N, 10.7o E, 2165 m asl), hosting a global WMO-GAW station and located on the highest peak of the Northern Apennines. Thanks to its characteristics this location is suitable to investigate the regional and long-range transport of polluted air masses on the background Southern-Europe free-troposphere (Marinoni et al., 2008). The PM10 time series sampled at the station in the period 1998-2011 is characterized by a strong seasonal fluctuation with a winter minimum and a summer maximum, attributed to the seasonal fluctuation of the mixed layer height as well as to the intense vertical exchange occurring in the warm season at this latitude (Tositti et al., 2013). Source regions of particulate matter were revealed comparing time series of PM10 and fine and coarse particles number densities, as well as applying a receptor model based on back trajectories. In summary, PM10 peaks at the site can be attributed to three classes of events: - Saharan dust transports; - Uplift of polluted air masses from the Italian areas north of the Apennines range; - Advection of PM10 enriched air masses from the European continent North and East of the Italian peninsula. The seasonal behavior and the source areas of the crustal radionuclide 210Pb, originated by 222Rn decay and travelling attached to fine particulate matter, resulted largely similar to that of PM10. Both PM10 as well as 210Pb time series show a decreasing trend analogous to what has been observed for PM10 and PM2:5 at other remote European stations (Brattich et al., in preparation). A severe PM10 episode was also observed at Mt. Cimone in the period of 13th-15th March 2004; during the event PM10 reached the maximum concentration recorded between 1998 and 2011 (80 mg m3 against an average of 8.8 8.0 mg m3) (Brattich et al., submitted). Meteo-synoptical analysis allowed to ascribe this event to a long lasting and highly coherent Saharan dust outbreak. The analysis of data acquired by optical counting enabled to detect the inception and development of the event through a steep and simultaneous increase of both coarse and fine particle number densities, much less frequently documented for Saharan Dust events.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
