Variation and co-variation of PM10, particle number concentration, NOx and NO2 in the urban air - Relationships with wind speed, vertical temperature gradient and weather type

• Atmospheric ultrafine particles (UFP; diameter < 0.1 μm) represent a growing global health concern in urban environments and has a strong link to traffic related emissions. UFP is usually the dominating fraction of atmospheric particle number concentrations (PNC) despite being a minor part of total particle mass. The aim of this study was to empirically investigate the relationship between PNC and other air pollutants (NOX, NO2 and PM10) in the urban environment and their dependence on meteorology and weather type, using the Lamb Weather Type (LWT) classification scheme. The study was carried out in Gothenburg, Sweden, at an urban background site during April 2007-May 2008. It was found that daily average [PNC] correlated very well with [NOx] (R2 = 0.73) during inversion days, to a lesser extent with [NO2] (R2 = 0.58) and poorly with [PM10] (R2 = 0.07). Both PNC and NOx had similar response patterns to wind speed and to the strength of temperature inversions. PNC displayed two regimes, one strongly correlated to NOx and a second poorly correlated to NOx which was characterised by high wind speed. For concentration averages based on LWTs, the PNC-[NOx] relationship remained strong (R2 = 0.70) where the windy LWT W deviated noticeably. Exclusion of observations with wind speed >5 ms-1 or ΔT < 0 °C from LWTs produced more uniform and stronger relationships (R2 = 0.90; R2 = 0.93). Low wind speeds and positive vertical temperature gradients were most common during LWTs A, NW, N and NE. These weather types were also associated with the highest daily means of NOx (~30 ppb) and PNC (~10 000 # cm-3). A conclusion from this study is that NOx (but not PM10) is a good proxy for PNC especially during calm and stable conditions and that LWTs A, NW, N and NE are high risk weather types for elevated NOx and PNC. © 2015.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Meteorologi och atmosfärforskning (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Atmospheric stability

Lamb weather types

NO2

NOx

PM10

PNC

Proxy

Urban air pollution

Wind

Air pollution

Atmospheric temperature

Balloons

Pollution

Speed

Temperature

Thermal gradients

Urban planning

Urban growth

nitric oxide

nitrogen dioxide

air pollutant

air quality

Article

environmental temperature

hypothesis

meteorology

particle size

particulate matter

priority journal

risk assessment

seasonal variation

Sweden

urban area

velocity

weather

wind speed

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