RT Journal Article
T1 A study on the relationship between mass concentrations, chemistry and number size distribution of urban fine aerosols in Milan, Barcelona and London
A1 Rodríguez González, Sergio
A1 Van Dingenen, R.
A1 Putaud, J.-P.
A1 Dell’Acqua, A.
A1 Pey, J.
A1 Querol, X.
A1 Alastuey Urós, José Andrés
A1 Chenery, S.
A1 Ho, K.-F.
A1 Harrison, R.
A1 Tardivo, R.
A1 Scarnato, B.
A1 Gemelli, V.
AB A physicochemical characterization, includingaerosol number size distribution, chemical composition andmass concentrations, of the urban fine aerosol captured inMILAN, BARCELONA and LONDON is presented in thisarticle. The objective is to obtain a comprehensive pictureof the microphysical processes involved in aerosol dynamicsduring the: 1) regular evolution of the urban aerosol (daily,weekly and seasonal basis) and in the day-to-day variations(from clean-air to pollution-events), and 2) the link between“aerosol chemistry and mass concentrations” with the “numbersize distribution”.The mass concentrations of the fine PM2.5 aerosol exhibita high correlation with the number concentration of>100 nm particles N>100 (nm) (“accumulation mode particles”)which only account for <20% of the total numberconcentration N of fine aerosols; but do not correlatewith the number of <100 nm particles (“ultrafine particles”),which accounts for >80% of fine particles number concentration.Organic matter and black-carbon are the onlyaerosol components showing a significant correlation withthe ultrafine particles, attributed to vehicles exhausts emissions;whereas ammonium-nitrate, ammonium-sulphate andalso organic matter and black-carbon correlate with N>100(nm) and attributed to condensation mechanisms, other par-ticle growth processes and some primary emissions. Timeseries of the aerosol DpN diameter (dN/dlogD mode), massPM2.5 concentrations and number N>100 (nm) concentrationsexhibit correlated day-to-day variations, which pointto a significant involvement of condensation of semi-volatilecompounds during urban pollution events. This agrees withthe observation that ammonium-nitrate is the component exhibitingthe highest increases from mid-to-high pollutionepisodes, when the highest DpN increases are observed.The results indicates that “fine PM2.5 particles urban pollutionevents” tend to occur when condensation processeshave made particles grow large enough to produce significantnumber concentrations of N>100 (nm) (“accumulationmode particles”). In contrast, because the low contributionof ultrafine particles to the fine aerosol mass concentrations,high “ultrafine particles N<100(nm) events” frequently occursunder low PM2.5 conditions. The results of this studydemonstrate that vehicles exhausts emissions are strongly involvedin this ultrafine particles aerosol pollution.
PB European Geosciences Union
SN 1680-7324
YR 2007
FD 2007
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/7942
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/7942
LA eng
NO Rodríguez González, Sergio; Van Dingenen, R.; Putaud, J.-P.; Dell’Acqua, A., Pey, J., Querol, X., Alastuey Urós, J.A., Chenery, S., Ho, K.-F., Harrison, R., Tardivo, R., Scarnato, B., Gemelli, V. : "A study on the relationship between mass concentrations, chemistry and number size distribution of urban fine aerosols in Milan, Barcelona and London". Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. Vol. 7, págs. 2217-2232 (2007). ISSN 1680-7324
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 31 may 2026