Abstract
The aim of this paper is to study the wintertime physical properties of atmospheric aerosol particles on the basis of data observed at the K-puszta regional background station in Hungary. In Hungary wintertime smog episodes are linked to strong stable air (high pressure blocking events) with thermal inversion. These atmospheric conditions are frequently formed during winter months (November–February) due to the special geographical location of the country. The formation of smog events is highly probable in cases of thermal inversion periods sustaining for at least 4 days. We discuss in the paper the role of high-pressure blocking events in aerosol properties in terms of PM10 concentrations, aerosol size distributions, new particle formation and optical properties. We found that high-pressure blocking events have significant impacts on the size distribution and particle formation processes. At K-puszta the aerosol is in highly aged state with size distribution dominated by the accumulation mode. This is further supported by the optical properties, e.g., by high scattering Angstrom exponent and by relatively weak absorption. The most significant effect of extreme episodes is manifested in the changes in PM10 concentrations and, consequently, in aerosol optical properties. The PM10 concentrations, scattering coefficients and absorption coefficients considerably increase to extreme values that are characteristic of a heavily polluted atmosphere rather than rural air. Our results indicate that in winter, the air quality at Kpuszta is often influenced by regional air pollution as shown by spatial distribution of PM10 concentration. It is found that PM10 had almost the same concentration in regional background air and in different types of urban environments. The special meteorological conditions and the role of regional-scale transport can explain why local abatements in cities cannot lead to significant improvement of the air quality during smog events.
Highlights
Important air pollution episodes regularly occur during the winter months
The wintertime aerosols at K-puszta were rather aged, as shown by the relationship between the accumulation mode number concentration and PM10 (Table 5), i.e., PM10 is generally controlled by the accumulation mode particles
We summarized the physical properties of wintertime aerosol and the effects of a high-pressure blocking condition on regional, rural aerosols based on observations conducted at the K-puszta station in Hungary
Summary
Important air pollution episodes regularly occur during the winter months. Deterioration of air quality is receiving attention in urban environments because it plays an important role in our everyday life, from public health issues to the economy. It is well established that air quality and weather events are interrelated: meteorological situations frequently lead. Severe urban air pollution episodes can form in winter and persist for several days to weeks. Smog events are closely related to atmospheric stability and generally form during cold temperatures and weak winds (e.g., Guo et al, 2014; Jiang et al, 2015; Yuan et al, 2015; Zheng et al, 2015). Horizontal and vertical mixing are limited due to the development of a thermal inversion layer; Molnár et al, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 16: 1793–1804, 2016 the concentration of atmospheric constituents can be extremely high
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