Abstract
This work studied the contribution of the geogenic sources volcanoes and fumaroles to the aerosol in marine atmosphere in the central Mediterranean basin. For this purpose, in the framework of the Med-Oceanor measurement program, we carried out a cruise campaign in the summer of 2017 to investigate the impact to the aerosol of the most important Mediterranean volcanoes (Mount Etna, Stromboli Island, and Marsili Seamount) and solfatara areas (Phlegraean Fields complex, Volcano Islands, Ischia Island, and Panarea submarine fumarole). We collected PM10 and PM2.5 samples in 12 sites and performed chemical characterization to gather information about the concentration of major and trace elements, elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), and ionic species. The use of triangular plots and the calculation of enrichment factors confirmed the interception of volcanic plume. We integrated the outcomes from chemical characterization with the use of factor analysis and SEM/EDX analysis for the source apportionment. Anthropogenic and natural sources including shipping emissions, volcanic and fumarolic load, as well as sea spray were identified as the main factors affecting aerosol levels in the study area. Furthermore, we performed pattern recognition analysis by stepwise linear discriminant analysis to seek differences in the composition of PM10 and PM2.5 samples according to their volcanic or solfatara origin.
Highlights
Advancements in the current state of knowledge of atmospheric aerosols are an important research topic because of their implications in environmental and health issues [1]
Aerosol samples in marine atmosphere were collected during the research cruise campaign Med-Oceanor 2017 off the coast of the main active volcanic and fumarolic areas in the Mediterranean Sea, which included Mount Etna, the Eolian volcanic arc, Marsili Seamount, and the Phlegraean Fields
The PM10 and PM2.5 samples were characterized by quantification of major and trace elements, ionic species, as well as elemental and organic carbon content
Summary
Advancements in the current state of knowledge of atmospheric aerosols are an important research topic because of their implications in environmental and health issues [1]. The study and identification of events affecting air quality are complex tasks in which data handling strategies including aerosol maps, back-trajectory analysis, and receptor modeling support the laboratory analysis on the composition of particulate matter (PM). In this respect, the use of mass spectrometry technologies has been giving a considerable impulse allowing in-depth analyses and characterization of the PM [3] as well as other environmental matrices [4,5]. Natural contributions to the levels of ambient air particulate matter (PM) and their speciation in Europe have been characterized using different approaches in many studies [2,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]
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