Abstract
In the complex situation with the plurality of emissions, the important research task of assessing the air quality and potential sources through aerosol composition analyses remains for Moscow’s megacity environment. The light absorption, PM10 mass concentration, aerosol composition, and meteorological parameters in this urban background were measured during spring 2017, a period characterized by significant changes in the air temperature, mass advection, and solar radiation. The organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC) and 76 organic compounds, e.g., alkanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), oxidized PAHs, hopanes, anhydrosugars, polyols, primary and secondary saccharides, and HULIS, as well as 13 ions, including K+, a marker of biomass burning, have been quantified to determine the carbonaceous and inorganic chemical profiles of the aerosol. The correlation between the absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) and the levoglucosan concentration reveals the relative contributions of agricultural fires and residential biomass burning (BB) nearby to the urban aerosol composition. Combining detailed analytical and statistical approaches, we have identified and analyzed the specific chemical compounds that most accurately represent the variability of the aerosol composition. Principal component analysis (PCA) highlights the main factors for marker species related to gasoline/diesel traffic, BB, biogenic activity, and secondary formation in the atmosphere. Distinguishing the BB-affected periods allows us to evaluate daily changes in the aerosol composition in relation to the transported air masses and detected fires in the areas surrounding Moscow.
Highlights
The physical and chemical processes of particulate matter (PM) accumulation in the atmosphere depend on environment, anthropogenic and natural emissions, and transport of air masses
Combining detailed analytical and statistical approaches, we have identified and analyzed the specific chemical compounds that most accurately represent the variability of the aerosol composition
A comprehensive approach has been developed for air quality assessment in the environment of a megacity
Summary
The physical and chemical processes of particulate matter (PM) accumulation in the atmosphere depend on environment, anthropogenic and natural emissions, and transport of air masses. The aerosol composition during other days was influenced mostly by urban sources of fossil fuel combustion, further we term these days as “FF period.” The Lev concentration level was less than in BBaffected period, in the range from 20 to 75 ng m–3, once up to 120 ng m–3 (Fig. 3).
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