Abstract
Air quality in megacities is recognized as the most important environmental problem. Aerosol pollution by combustion emissions is remaining to be uncertain. Measurements of particulate black carbon (BC) were conducted at the urban background site of Meteorological Observatory (MO) MSU during the spring period of 2017 and 2018. BC mass concentrations ranged from 0.1 to 10 μg m–3, on average 1.5±1.3 and 1.1±0.9 µg/m3 , in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Mean BC concentrations displayed significant diurnal variations with poorly prominent morning peak and minimum at day time. BC mass concentrations are higher at night time due the shallow boundary layer and intensive diesel traffic which results in trapping of pollutants. Wind speed and direction are found to be important meteorological factors affected BC concentrations. BC pollution rose identifies the North as the direction of the preferable pollution. A negative correlation between BC concentrations and wind speed confirms the pollution accumulation preferably in stable weather days. Relation of BC pollution to a number of agriculture fires is distinguishable by air mass transportation from South and South-Est of Russia and Western Europe. Mean season ВС concentrations at rural and remote sites in different world locations are discussed.
Highlights
At present, air pollution by the smallest suspended particles is recognized as one of the most important environmental problems
Particulate matter characterized by a small aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 μm (PM10) contains environmentally hazardous components and it is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an air quality indicator
The purpose of this study is the analysis of the aerosol pollution related to Black carbon (BC) in total PM10 mass in the urban background of the Moscow megacity
Summary
Air pollution by the smallest suspended particles (aerosols) is recognized as one of the most important environmental problems. Particulate matter characterized by a small aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 μm (PM10) contains environmentally hazardous components and it is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an air quality indicator. In accordance with the WHO air quality standards for PM10, a daily mean maximum permissible mass concentration of 50 μg/m3 is established (WHO 2005). Black carbon (BC) is the light-absorbing component of aerosols, warming the atmosphere and affecting the Earth’s radiation balance on a global scale (Bond et al 2013). Estimates suggest that BC is the second most critical factor, following by carbon dioxide, contributing to global warming by direct forcing (Jacobson 2010). BC has drawn a considerable attention because of its environmental significance (Ramachandran and Rajesh 2007; Ahmed et al 2014; Diapouli et al 2017)
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