Abstract

The seasonal changes in ambient mass concentrations and chemical composition of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) were investigated in three locations in Poland. The analyses included PM2.5-bound hazardous benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), As, Ni, Cd, and Pb. The samples of PM2.5 were collected daily in Katowice (southern Poland, urban background site), Gdańsk, and Diabla Góra (northern Poland, urban and regional background sites, respectively) during 1-year-long campaign in 2010. Based on monthly ambient concentrations of PM2.5-bound carbon (organic and elemental), water-soluble ions (Na+, NH4 +, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Cl−, NO3 −, SO4 2−), and elements As, Ni, Cd, Pb, Ti, Al, Fe, the chemical mass closure of PM2.5 was checked for each of the four seasons of the year and for the heating and non-heating periods at each site. Also, the annual concentrations of PM2.5 were determined and the annual PM2.5 mass closure checked. At each measuring point, the PM2.5 concentrations were high compared to its Polish yearly permissible value, 25 μg/m3, and its concentrations elsewhere in Europe. The highest annual PM2.5 concentration, 43 μg/m3, occurred in Katowice; it was twice the annual PM2.5 concentration in Gdańsk, and thrice the one in Diabla Góra. The high annual averages were due to very high monthly concentrations in the heating period, which were highest in the winter. PM2.5 consisted mainly of carbonaceous matter (elemental carbon (EC) + organic matter (OM), the sum of elemental carbon, EC, and organic matter, OM; its annual mass contributions to PM2.5 were 43, 31, and 33 % in Katowice, Gdansk, and Diabla Góra, respectively), secondary inorganic aerosol (SIA), the Na_Cl group, and crustal matter (CM)—in the decreasing order of their yearly mass contributions to PM2.5. OM, EC, SIA, Na_Cl, and CM accounted for almost 81 % of the PM2.5 mass in Katowice, 74 % in Gdańsk, and 90 % in Diabla Góra. The annual average toxic metal contribution to the PM2.5 mass was not greater than 0.2 % at each site. In Katowice and Gdańsk, the yearly ambient BaP concentrations were high (15.4 and 3.2 ng/m3, respectively); in rural Diabla Góra, the concentrations of BaP were almost equal to 1 ng/m3, the Polish BaP annual limit. The great seasonal fluctuations of the shares of the component groups in PM2.5 and of the concentrations of PM2.5 and its components are due to the seasonal fluctuations of the emissions of PM and its precursors from hard and brown coal combustion for energy production, growing in a heating season, reaching maximum in winter, and decreasing in a non-heating period. In Gdańsk, northern Poland, especially in the spring and autumn, sea spray might have affected the chemical composition of PM2.5. The greatest hazard from PM2.5 occurs in Katowice, southern Poland, in winter, when very high concentrations of PM2.5 and PM2.5-related carbonaceous matter, including BaP, are maintained by poor natural ventilation in cities, weather conditions, and the highest level of industrialization in Poland. In less industrialized northern Poland, where the aeration in cities is better and rather gaseous than solid fuels are used, the health hazard from ambient PM2.5 is much lower.

Highlights

  • The threat posed by ambient particulate matter (PM) to the health is one of the greatest, and yet growing, air pollution concerns of great cities worldwide (Molina and Molina 2004; Kong et al 2012)

  • The heating period average PM2.5 concentration was higher than the non-heating period one (Table 2)

  • The monthly PM2.5 concentrations were lower than 16 μg/m3 and varied only slightly

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Summary

Introduction

The threat posed by ambient particulate matter (PM) to the health is one of the greatest, and yet growing, air pollution concerns of great cities worldwide (Molina and Molina 2004; Kong et al 2012). High concentrations of PM increase the risk of serious diseases in humans (Pope and Dockery 2006; Kappos 2011). The risk arises from the combined effects of the chemical composition and the size of PM particles. The finer a particle is, the greater variety and amount of toxic metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, etc. The fine particles (aerodynamic diameters up to 2.5 μm, PM2.5) can reach the deepest regions of lungs and get into blood; their adverse effects are much more serious than those of the coarse particles (diameter between 2.5 and 10 μm, Zhang et al 2011; Baxter et al 2013). A great number of studies report the PM2.5 mass concentration and chemical composition as functions of the particle size at a variety of types of European stations (Table 1)

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