Evolution of the urban aerosol during winter temperature inversion episodes

Abstract

Winter temperature inversions are for Nordic urban sites a major cause for exceeding air-quality legislation thresholds for most primary pollutants. In this study, number particle size distributions have been measured and compared to other tracers for traffic emissions. Concentrations during winter days with and without morning temperature inversion were compared. Morning temperature inversion resulted in high concentrations of traffic-related pollutants, including CO, NO and NO 2 together with ultrafine particles, while the pollution levels where considerably lower during mornings without temperature inversion. The specific time trends of NO x species could be well understood when considering the reaction with O 3. The two different particle measures used in this study, i.e. the number concentration of ultrafine particles (10–100 nm) and the mass of particles below 10 μm (PM 10), both increased during morning rush hours. When the morning inversion broke up and ground-level air mixed with air aloft, the number of particles decreased more rapidly than PM 10 concentrations. LIDAR measurements were used to follow the vertical distribution of particles, and they clearly showed how the mixing processes started after the morning inversion and resulted in rising of the inversion followed by a relatively well-mixed boundary layer with a height of 1 km around 14:00.