Characterization of parameters influencing the spatio-temporal variability of urban particle number size distributions in four European cities

Abstract

Three years of aerosol measurements from four European cities were analysed to identify and quantify the parameters influencing the particle number size distribution (NSD) at different measurement sites (Copenhagen, Helsinki, Leipzig, London). A ‘triple-site’ approach was established with data from a roadside, an urban background and a rural measurement station, which was available for each city. The NSD measurements were conducted over a diameter size range of 8–700 nm.The average annual total number concentrations varied between 1700 cm−3 (Finnish rural site) and 23,000 particles cm−³ (London roadside). Highest variability on the diurnal course was found for the roadside sites and on the seasonal course for the rural sites. A first identification of the influencing parameters was found using correlation analysis. The most dominating factors were then quantified using a multiple linear regression approach documenting the highest influence for daytime (45%) followed by wind direction (18%), season (12%), wind speed (11%), temperature (8%) and solar radiation (6%), on average. The variation of influence between the different cities is analysed and discussed. Subsequently NSDs were modelled using the regression approach in order to verify how well the parameters are capable of ‘explaining’ the actual NSD, showing best performance for roadside NSD with correlation coefficients between 0.65 and 0.8 and limited performance for the rural sites (0.5–0.6).