Abstract. Aerosol number size distributions have been measured since 5 May 1997 in Helsinki, Finland. The presented aerosol data represents size distributions within the particle diameter size range 8-400 nm during the period from May 1997 to March 2003. The daily, monthly and annual patterns of the aerosol particle number concentrations were investigated. The temporal variation of the particle number concentration showed close correlations with traffic activities. The highest total number concentrations were observed during workdays; especially on Fridays, and the lowest concentrations occurred during weekends; especially Sundays. Seasonally, the highest total number concentrations were observed during winter and spring and lower concentrations were observed during June and July. More than 80% of the number size distributions had three modes: nucleation mode (D p <30 nm), Aitken mode (20-100 nm) and accumulation mode (D p >90 nm). Less than 20% of the number size distributions had either two modes or consisted of more than three modes. Two different measurement sites were used; in the first (Siltavuori, 5.5.1997(Siltavuori, 5.5. -5.3.2001, the arithmetic means of the particle number concentrations were 7000 cm −3 , 6500 cm −3 , and 1000 cm −3 respectively for nucleation, Aitken, and accumulation modes. In the second site (Kumpula, 6.3.2001(Kumpula, 6.3. -28.2.2003) they were 5500 cm −3 , 4000 cm −3 , and 1000 cm −3 . The total number concentration in nucleation and Aitken modes were usually significantly higher during workdays than during weekends. The temporal variations in the accumulation mode were less pronounced. The lower concentrations at Kumpula were mainly due to building construction and also the slight overall decreasing trend during these years. During the site changing a period of simultaneous measurements over two weeks were performed showing nice correlation at both sites.
The number of ultrafine particles may be a more health relevant characteristic of ambient particulate matter than the conventionally measured mass. Epidemiological time series studies typically use a central site to characterize human exposure to outdoor air pollution. There is currently very limited information how well measurements at a central site reflect temporal and spatial variation across an urban area for particle number concentrations (PNC). The main objective of the study was to assess the spatial variation of PNC compared to the mass concentration of particles with diameter less than 10 or 2.5 mm (PM 10 and PM 2.5). Continuous measurements of PM 10 , PM 2.5 , PNC and soot concentrations were conducted at a central site during October 2002-March 2004 in four cities spread over Europe (Amsterdam, Athens, Birmingham and Helsinki). The same measurements were conducted directly outside 152 homes spread over the metropolitan areas. Each home was monitored during 1 week. We assessed the temporal correlation and the variability of absolute concentrations. For all particle indices, including particle number, temporal correlation of 24-h average concentrations was high. The median correlation for PNC per city ranged between 0.67 and 0.76. For PM 2.5 median correlation ranged between 0.79 and
Significant quantitative and qualitative differences for particle mass across the four urban areas in Europe were observed. These were due to strong local and regional characteristics of particulate pollution sources which contribute to the heterogeneity of health responses. In addition, these findings also bear on the ability of different countries to comply with existing directives and the effectiveness of mitigation policies.
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