Long term measurement and source apportionment of non-methane hydrocarbons in three French rural areas

Abstract

Since 1990, the MERA (MEsure des Retombées Atmosphériques, French acronym for background air pollution monitoring) network has been focused on the composition of the lower troposphere within the EMEP program. In particular, 46 non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC) concentrations have been measured between 1997 and 2006 at three MERA sites. The analysis of temporal trends using Mann-Kendall and Sen methods showed a global decrease of anthropogenic NMHC. These results are in accordance with the trends observed on other sites in Europe and follow the decrease of VOCs emissions in France. Nevertheless the concentrations of long-life species like ethane seem to remain steady showing the growing influence of most distant source areas. In addition isoprene concentrations are typically higher in France than in other countries in Europe and slightly rising. Data analysis was performed using positive matrix factorization (PMF). Five similar PMF factors are identified as aged profiles for the three sites. The examination of factor contributions made it possible to determine a hierarchy in source influence. A higher contribution of evaporative sources was observed on the southern site while residential heating was the main factor for the other two. This work was completed by a clustering analysis (K-means) of air mass trajectories in order to apportion source contribution depending on air mass origins. Two main groups have been distinguished: (1) older and diluted air masses from an oceanic origin; and (2) anthropogenic and closer sources indicating continental influence.