Abstract
Abstract. The composition of fine particulate matter (PM) in two major Greek cities (Athens and Patras) was measured during two wintertime campaigns, one conducted in 2013 and the other in 2012. A major goal of this study is to quantify the sources of organic aerosol (OA) and especially residential wood burning, which has dramatically increased due to the Greek financial crisis. A high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) was deployed at both sites. PM with diameter less than 1 µm (PM1) consisted mainly of organics (60–75 %), black carbon (5–20 %), and inorganic salts (around 20 %) in both Patras and Athens. In Patras, during evening hours, PM1 concentrations were as high as 100 µg m−3, of which 85 % was OA. In Athens, the maximum hourly value observed during nighttime was 140 µg m−3, of which 120 µg m−3 was OA. Forty to 60 % of the average OA was due to biomass burning for both cities, while the remaining mass originated from traffic (12–17 %), cooking (12–16 %), and long-range transport (18–24 %). The contribution of residential wood burning was even higher (80–90 %) during the nighttime peak concentration periods, and less than 10 % during daytime. Cooking OA contributed up to 75 % during mealtime hours in Patras, while traffic-related OA was responsible for 60–70 % of the OA during the morning rush hour.
Highlights
Fine particulate matter is associated with premature mortality and cardiovascular disease (Nel, 2005), and it impacts climate, visibility, and ecosystems (Grantz et al, 2003; Hallquist et al, 2009; Watson, 2002)
The nitrate mass concentration followed a similar trend to organic aerosol (OA), with significant peaks occurring both during the morning and evening hours
Both OOA spectra were characterized by a strong peak at m/z 44, related to the thermal decomposition of organic acids (Alfarra et al, 2004); a lower one at m/z 43; and another one at m/z 28, all consistent with the OOA spectra reported in other studies
Summary
Fine particulate matter is associated with premature mortality and cardiovascular disease (Nel, 2005), and it impacts climate, visibility, and ecosystems (Grantz et al, 2003; Hallquist et al, 2009; Watson, 2002). Aerosol mass spectrometry can quantify the mass spectra of OA and helps identify its sources (Jayne et al, 2000) Source apportionment techniques, such as positive matrix factorization (PMF), are widely used in order to estimate the contributions of the various OA sources (Lanz et al, 2007; Mohr et al, 2009; Paatero and Tapper, 1994). The PMF source apportionment algorithm, used unconstrained, was applied to the corresponding datasets, estimating the contributions of the different OA sources, without assuming any a priori knowledge of their origin Previous studies in these areas have relied on filterbased measurements of the PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations (Argyropoulos et al, 2012; Chaloulakou et al, 2003; Katragkou et al, 2009; Koulouri et al, 2008; Theodosi et al, 2011) and had limited or no information about the composition of the OA. The main objective of this paper is to quantify the contribution of wood combustion and the fine PM levels of additional OA sources in the corresponding areas during wintertime
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