Abstract
The Mediterranean region is an important area for air pollution as it is the crossroads between three continents; therefore, the concentrations of atmospheric aerosol particles are influenced by emissions from Africa, Asia, and Europe. Here we concentrate on an eleven-month time series of the ambient concentration of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) between May 2018–March 2019 in Amman, Jordan. Such a dataset is unique in Jordan. The results show that the OC and EC annual mean concentrations in PM2.5 samples were 5.9 ± 2.8 µg m–3 and 1.7 ± 1.1 µg m–3, respectively. It was found that the majority of OC and EC concentrations were within the fine particle fraction (PM2.5). During sand and dust storm (SDS) episodes OC and EC concentrations were higher than the annual means; the mean values during these periods were about 9.6 ± 3.5 µg m–3 and 2.5 ± 1.2 µg m–3 in the PM2.5 samples. Based on this, the SDS episodes were identified to be responsible for an increased carbonaceous aerosol content as well as PM2.5 and PM10 content, which may have direct implications on human health. This study encourages us to perform more extensive measurements during a longer time period and to include an advanced chemical and physical characterization for urban aerosols in the urban atmosphere of Amman, which can be representative of other urban areas in the region.
Highlights
Carbonaceous aerosols found in particulate matter (PM) are mainly in the form of elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
There is a contrast between the effects of OC and EC on the climate; EC is involved in the global warming effect due to its strong light-absorption property [15,16], whereas OC is responsible for cooling the atmosphere mainly because it reflects solar radiation [17]; some recent publications have reported that some OC can significantly absorb light in the region of 300–400 nm and could hinder and oppose the general cooling action [18,19,20,21]
Throughout the measurement period, the 24 h PM10 was within the range 20–190 μg m–3 and the PM2.5 was 15–190 μg m–3—see Table S2 in the Supplementary Material
Summary
Carbonaceous aerosols found in particulate matter (PM) are mainly in the form of elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. These species of aerosols are of worldwide interest due to their vague origins and complicated source apportionment process [9,10,11]. Urban Urban Residence Residence and commerce Residence Residence and commerce Urban Urban.
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