engleski

Light-absorption observation and source-oriented modelling for characterization and source apportionment of black carbon aerosol pollution in a typical Mediterranean coastal area

Black carbon (BC) is considered as the main pollutant produced by incomplete combustion of mostly fossil fuels and biomass. It is the most light-absorbing fraction of particulate matter (PM) and a major contributor to climate change. Studies on temporal variations and sources of BC have been so far predominantly limited to winter campaigns conducted at heavily polluted urban sites, while much less data are available for areas with lower population density and less polluted coastal environments. In order to investigate the temporal variation of atmospheric aerosol particle optical properties and to assess the main BC emission sources in a typical Mediterranean coastal environment, a field campaign was conducted from February to July 2019 at the Central Adriatic area. Real-time continuous BC measurements were performed, while Aethalometer model source apportionment, optimized using levoglucosan measurements, was evaluated against the modelling results obtained by LOTOS-EUROS chemical transport model. The measured mean BC concentration of 0.57 μg m-3 was the lowest observed in the Mediterranean region. The daily, monthly and seasonal variations of BC concentrations are significantly affected by domestic heating, local traffic, as well as local meteorological conditions and long-range air-mass impacts. The BC from fossil fuel (BCff) dominated the area throughout the study period with a maximum in winter and elevated levels by the approaching summer. European emission sectors contributed up to 88% of BC concentrations, with stationary source combustion, transportation, shipping and agriculture sectors as the most influential contributors. This study highlighted that in addition to biomass burning, the small combustion fossil fuel sources, including land traffic and shipping, should be much more strictly controlled to limit BC pollution at pristine Mediterranean areas. This work has been supported by Croatian Science Foundation under the IP-2018-01-3105 BiREADI project.

Aethalometer ; Adriatic sea ; Black carbon ; Source apportionment ; Levoglucosan ; LOTOS-EUROS

nije evidentirano