Concentration Of Atmospheric Aerosol Particles Research Articles

Unveiling respiratory health risks: PCDD/Fs adhering to particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai, Vietnam

This study investigates the concentrations of atmospheric aerosol particles (PM, including PM2.5 and PM10), as well as the presence and distribution of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in ambient air in Bien Hoa City (Dong Nai province, Vietnam) during the dry and rainy seasons in 2023. The concentrations of 7 PCDDs and 10 PCDFs congeners in PM10 or PM2.5 were determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results show that the concentration of PM10 and PM2.5 were 54.7 ± 9.4 µg/m3, 65.3 ± 7.6 µg/m3, and 39.6 ± 7.9 µg/m3, 58.9 ± 12.6 µg/m3, in the rainy season and dry season, respectively. This reveals that while only PM2.5 concentration levels in the dry seasonexceed national ambient air quality standards, but all of PM2.5 concentration levels consistently exceeded WHO guidelines. The study highlights the dominance of PM2.5 and its adverse health implications, as evidenced by the PM2.5/PM10 ratio (0.74 and 0.85 for the rainy and dry seasons, respectively) and its association with worse air quality. Analysis of PCDD/Fs concentrations in PM samples demonstrates their comparable levels in both seasons, with OCDD being the most abundant species. Furthermore, the study estimates the toxic equivalency (TEQ) of PCDD/Fs and assesses health risks, revealing a potentially high cancer risk from exposure to these pollutants, particularly PM2.5 under WHO2005-TEQ. Several PCDD/Fs- WHO2005-TEQ congeners exhibit higher concentration levels in PM2.5 compared to PM10, suggesting differential particulate matter dynamics and potential environmental implications. These findings underscore the urgent need for mitigation strategies to alleviate air pollution and reduce associated health risks in the dioxin hotspot of Vietnam.

Organic and Elemental Carbon in the Urban Background in an Eastern Mediterranean City

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.

Size distribution and concentration of aerosol particles in Yinchuan area, China

ABSTRACTThe size distribution and concentration of atmospheric aerosol particles are important parameters that characterize the physical and optical properties of aerosols. Understanding the spectral distribution of atmospheric particles is fundamental for studying particulate pollution. Based on observational data acquired by an aerodynamic particle sizer APS-3321 and a laser dust meter LD-5 from September 2017 to July 2018, the temporal evolution of particle size distribution and concentration of aerosols were studied at the North Minzu University in Yinchuan (38°29’52"N 106°06’28"E), China. By cluster analysis of particle surface area distribution in different weathers, seven clusters were obtained and discussed. The experimental results showed that the particle number and mass concentrations were different in the four seasons of the year. Compared with the unimodal distribution of the particle number concentration and the doublet mass concentration distribution in sunny weather conditions, there were great differences in the particle spectrum distribution in haze, snowfall, and dusty weather conditions. The particle surface area distributions of the seven clusters were clearly different from each other and influenced by meteorological conditions. Additionally, the PM2.5 value has a relationship with the meteorological elements. The research is helpful to reveal the formation mechanism and source of aerosols in Yinchuan, China.

Determination of black carbon and nanoparticles along glaciers in the Spitsbergen (Svalbard) region exploiting a mobile platform

An innovative approach to characterize concentration of atmospheric aerosol particles and air mass layering along the elevation profile of glaciers is presented for the first time and validated, exploiting low weight and fast response sensors deployed on a snowmobile. Two micro-Aethalometers for black carbon measurements and a miniature Diffusion Size Classifier (miniDisc) for total aerosol concentration (airborne particles) in the 14–260 nm range were used. Test experiments were conducted in the Arctic (Svalbard) in Spring (2016). Three glaciers in the Spitsbergen region were considered for this exploratory study, the Austre Brøggerbreen, the Edithbreen and the Kongsvegen. The Austre Brøggerbreen and Edithbreen were considered as test sites to setup the experiment, to optimize the sampling strategy and to identify some basic experimental artefacts. Kongsvegen glacier was chosen for the main case study, extending from the Kongsfjorden coast to roughly 700 m above sea level for a total length of ca. 25 km and with a nearly constant elevation gradient. The obtained results were rather consistent for the three glaciers and show an increase of nanoparticles with altitude. Black carbon concentration show stationary to decreasing trends going from the bottom to the top of the glaciers. These observations indicate a very active secondary aerosol formation at the highest elevations, responsible for the increase concentration of ultrafine particles at the glacier top. On the other side, black carbon shows higher levels at the lower altitudes of the glacier. This is indicative that in absence of a long-range transport as demonstrated by calculated back trajectories, black carbon might have accumulated due to the effect of katabatic winds flow along the glacier profile. The results obtained were compared and are largely consistent with the observations from concurrent soundings with a tethered balloon experiment conducted in the nearby site of Ny-Ålesund. The proposed experimental design opens new perspectives for future experiments, which may be of relevance for the understanding of black carbon and dry dust deposition on the glacier surface, which may impact the melting of ice and snow. The investigations also contribute to better understanding of the transport and surface exchange processes acting within the atmospheric layer over glacier surface.

AN ASSESSMENT OF SEVERITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL AEROSOL PARTICLES DURING PRECIPITATION

Africa is one of the sources of biomass burning emissions. It is estimated that about 6 million tons of fuel per day is consumed in the southern hemisphere. Biomass burning has an important contribution on aerosol particle concentrations in the atmosphere. Efforts have been made to conduct research in Gaborone to monitor the concentration of atmospheric aerosols in atmosphere. These studies were mainly confined to measurement of concentration of aerosols and establishing a relation with determinants such as carbon dioxide concentration, biomass burning, and precipitation among others. However, very little seems to have been done in relating the empirical data to a mathematical model or to study quantitatively the impact of precipitation on the concentration of aerosols larger than 0.3?m in the atmosphere. In this paper we provide an objective criterion for classifying measurements on concentration of atmospheric aerosol particles and build a mathematical model that helps us to understand variations in weekly aerosol concentrations in terms of their severity. We also construct an index of severity which when applied to different seasons under the study period indicates that precipitation significantly scavenges atmospheric aerosols.International Journal of Environment Volume-4, Issue-3, June-August 2015Page: 81-95

Extrapolating particle concentration along the size axis in the nanometer size range requires discrete rate equations

For modeling or data analysis purposes, the concentration of atmospheric aerosol particles measured or modeled at a certain size is often extrapolated to a different size along the particle size axis. This is normally done using compact analytical formulae which are based on the assumption that particles of the same size move synchronously together in size space at the same rate, and thus a monodisperse population is not allowed to disperse. However, in reality the individual uncorrelated collision processes with vapor molecules introduce natural spreading to the particle distribution, which is fundamentally described by a set of discrete rate equations for each particle size. In the present work, predictions based on synchronous growth are compared to the results of the discrete treatment in the free molecular regime for particles of circa 1.5–3.3nm in mass diameter in a situation where the population is affected by irreversible vapor condensation and scavenging losses. The comparison demonstrates that the results given by approaches that do not consider the discrete nature of the growth process may be distorted. In the studied cases, the differences to the discrete result are a factor of less than around ten, and the deviations are larger for faster particle formation events and often also for higher particle loss rates. Therefore, the discrete treatment should be used for obtaining reliable estimates on the size-dependent concentration of nanometer-sized particles.

A new method of quantifying aerosol concentrations in atmosphere

Africa is one of the sources of biomass burning emissions. It is estimated that about 6 million tons of fuel per day is consumed in the southern hemisphere. Biomass burning has an important contribution on aerosol particle concentrations in the atmosphere. Efforts have been made to conduct research in Gaborone to monitor the concentration of atmospheric aerosol particles. These studies were mainly confined to measurement of concentration of aerosol particles and establishing a relation with determinants such as carbon dioxide concentration, biomass burning, and precipitation among others. However, very little seems to have been done in relating the empirical data to levels of aerosol concentrations through a mathematical model. In this paper an objective criterion of classifying levels of aerosol concentrations in terms of their severity is provided. A mathematical model for severity levels is built. Furthermore, two indices, namely, an index of dispersion when applied to the observed annual data indicated that intensity of atmospheric aerosol are on increase in the city of Gaborone, Botswana, and an index of drift which establishes that aerosol severity states showed larger drift during the year 2006–2007 than in the year 2007–2008.

Dynamic state of the atmosphere in aerosol components

An approach to analyzing experimental data on the size distribution and concentrations of atmospheric aerosol particles and meteorological parameters by using the flicker-noise spectroscopy is proposed. This approach makes it possible to identify the character of evolution of the measured parameters due to the processes underlying their variation, to trace the relationship between measured quantities, and, based on this, to determine the mechanisms of interactions between aerosol particles and gaseous components of the atmosphere. As an example, the behavior of the concentration, average particle size, and relative humidity of the atmosphere is examined. Atmospheric measurements were carried out at the recreation center in Tishkovo (Moscow Region). The proposed approach may prove useful in solving ecological and environmental problems.

Production, growth and properties of ultrafine atmospheric aerosol particles in an urban environment

Abstract. Number concentrations of atmospheric aerosol particles were measured by a flow-switching type differential mobility particle sizer in an electrical mobility diameter range of 6–1000 nm in 30 channels near central Budapest with a time resolution of 10 min continuously from 3 November 2008 to 2 November 2009. Daily median number concentrations of particles varied from 3.8 × 103 to 29 ×103 cm−3 with a yearly median of 11.8 × 103 cm−3. Contribution of ultrafine particles to the total particle number ranged from 58 to 92% with a mean ratio and standard deviation of (79 ± 6)%. Typical diurnal variation of the particle number concentration was related to the major emission patterns in cities, new particle formation, sinks of particles and meteorology. Shapes of the monthly mean number size distributions were similar to each other. Overall mean for the number median mobility diameter of the Aitken and accumulation modes were 26 and 93 nm, respectively, which are substantially smaller than for rural or background environments. The Aitken and accumulation modes contributed similarly to the total particle number concentrations at the actual measurement location. New particle formation and growth unambiguously occurred on 83 days, which represent 27% of all relevant days. Hence, new particle formation and growth are not rare phenomena in Budapest. Their frequency showed an apparent seasonal variation with a minimum of 7.3% in winter and a maximum of 44% in spring. New particle formation events were linked to increased gas-phase H2SO4 concentrations. In the studied area, new particle formation is mainly affected by condensation sink and solar radiation. The formation process seems to be not sensitive to SO2, which was present in a yearly median concentration of 6.7 μg m−3. This suggests that the precursor gas was always available in excess. Formation rate of particles with a diameter of 6 nm varied between 1.65 and 12.5 cm−3 s−1 with a mean and standard deviation of (4.2 ± 2.5) cm−3 s−1. Seasonal dependency for the formation rate could not be identified. Growth curves of nucleated particles were usually superimposed on the characteristic diurnal pattern of road traffic direct emissions. The growth rate of the nucleation mode with a median diameter of 6 nm varied from 2.0 to 13.3 nm h−1 with a mean and standard deviation of (7.7 ± 2.4) nm h−1. There was an indicative tendency for larger growth rates in summer and for smaller values in winter. New particle formation events increased the total number concentration by a mean factor and standard deviation of 2.3 ± 1.1 relative to the concentration that occurred immediately before the event. Several indirect evidences suggest that the new particle formation events occurred at least over the whole city, and were of regional type. The results and conclusions presented are the first information of this kind for the region over one-year long time period.

Lung cancer mortality and exposure to atmospheric aerosol particles in Guangzhou, China

In recent years, China and other emerging countries have been experiencing severe air pollution problems with high concentrations of atmospheric aerosol particles. Satellite measurements indicate that the aerosol loading of the atmosphere in highly populated regions of China is about 10 times higher than, for example, in Europe and in the Eastern United States. The exposure to extremely high aerosol concentrations might lead to important human health effects, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases as well as lung cancers. Here, we analyze 52-year historical surface measurements of haze data in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, and show that the dramatic increase in the occurrence of air pollution events between 1954 and 2006 has been followed by a large enhancement in the incidence of lung cancer.

Airborne measurements of atmospheric aerosol particles and trace gases during photosmog episodes over the Swiss Plateau and the Southern Pre-Alpine Region

The concentration of atmospheric aerosol particles, primary and secondary trace gases as well as meteorological parameters were obtained from aircraft measurements in July 1993 over the Swiss Plateau and the Southern Pre-Alpine Region as part of the POLLUMET (POLLUtion and METeorology) study. On sunny afternoons, the spatial distribution of particles in the size range 0.12–3.12 μm showed a good agreement with those of secondary pollutants O 3 and NO z (=NO y −NO 2−NO; NO y : total odd nitrogen) in the well mixed planetary boundary layer but poor correlation with the distributions of primary pollutants NO 2 and CO. The results indicate that under conditions of high air pollution and strong photochemical activity the aerosol particles mainly grow by means of secondary processes (heterogeneous nucleation) into the diameter range 0.12–1.5 μm. On the other hand, the distribution of the CN particle concentration (0.01–3 μm) was similar to the NO 2 concentration indicating that CN mainly consisted of primary particles.

Short term variations of size distributions and concentrations ofatmospheric aerosol particles

With a Mobile Aerosol Spectrometer variations of size distributions during differentmeteorological events were measured. The correlation between aerosol data, Nitrogene Oxide concentrations and meteorological parameters was studied.

The changing atmosphere: report of the Dahlem Workshop on the Changing Atmosphere, Berlin, 1987, November 1-6

The Dahlem Konferenzen, S.Bernhard how has the atmospheric concentration of CO2 changed?, H.Oeschger and U.Siegenthaler how has the atmospheric concentration of CH4 changed?, D.H.Ehhalt how have the atmospheric concentrations of the halocarbons changed?, R.G.Prinn how has the atmospheric concentration of CO changed?, R.J.Cicerone what have we learned from the ice cores about the atmospheric changes in the concentrations of nitrous oxide, hydrogen peroxide and other trace species?, B.R.Stauffer and A.Neftel have the concentrations of tropospheric aerosol particles changed?, R.J.Charlson indications and causes of ozone increase in the troposphere, S.A.Penkett changes in ozone over the Antarctic, R.S.Stolarski some aspects of chemistry in the springtime Antarctic stratosphere, F.S.Rowland is the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere changing?, I.S.A.Isaksen the radiative and climatic consequences of the changing atmospheric composition of trace gases, V.Ramanathan what are the radiative and climatic consequences of the changing concentration of atmospheric aerosol particles?, H.Grassl. Group reports: how has the atmosphere already changed?, R.C.Harriss et al oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere, S.C.Liu et al changes in Antarctic ozone, G.P.Brasseur et al trace substances, radiation balance and the climate balance of the earth, J.A.Pyle et al.