Source apportionment of fine particles at a suburban site in Queensland, Australia

Abstract

Environmental contextAirborne fine particles affect local, regional and global air quality and deteriorate the environment. Therefore comprehensive information on the locations and strengths of particle sources is critical for the development of strategies for mitigating the adverse effects of aerosols. The multivariate data analysis techniques used in this paper allowed the benefits of a previous control measure to be assessed and provided vital information for the application of further pollution reduction strategies to this and other areas of the world. AbstractAirborne fine particles were collected at a suburban site in Queensland, Australia between 1995 and 2003. The samples were analysed for 21 elements and Positive Matrix Factorisation (PMF), Preference Ranking Organisation Methods for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE) and Graphical Analysis for Interactive Assistance (GAIA) were applied to the data. PROMETHEE provided information on the ranking of pollutant levels from the sampling years whereas PMF provided insights into the sources of the pollutants, their chemical composition, most likely locations and relative contribution to the levels of particulate pollution at the site. PROMETHEE and GAIA found that the removal of lead from fuel in the area had a significant effect on the pollution patterns whereas PMF identified six pollution sources, including railways (5.5%), biomass burning (43.3%), soil (9.2%), sea salt (15.6%), aged sea salt (24.4%) and motor vehicles (2.0%). Thus the results gave information that can assist in the formulation of mitigation measures for air pollution.