The seasonal changes in ambient mass concentrations and chemical composition of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) were investigated in three locations in Poland. The analyses included PM 2.5 -bound hazardous benzo(a )pyrene (BaP), As, Ni, Cd, and Pb. The samples of PM 2.5 were collected daily in Katowice (southern Poland, urban background site), Gdańsk, and Diabla Góra (northern Poland, urban and regional background sites, respectively) during 1-year-long campaign in 2010. Based on monthly ambient concentrations of PM 2.5 -bound carbon (organic and elemental), water-soluble ions (Na + , NH 4 + , K + , Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ , Cl − , NO 3 − , SO 4 2− ), and elements As, Ni, Cd, Pb, Ti, Al, Fe, the chemical mass closure of PM 2.5 was checked for each of the four seasons of the year and for the heating and non-heating periods at each site. Also, the annual concentrations of PM 2.5 were determined and the annual PM 2.5 mass closure checked. At each measuring point, the PM 2.5 concentrations were high compared to its Polish yearly permissible value, 25 μg/m 3 , and its concentrations elsewhere in Europe. The highest annual PM 2.5 concentration, 43 μg/m 3 , occurred in Katowice; it was twice the annual PM 2.5 concentration in Gdańsk, and thrice the one in Diabla Góra. The high annual averages were due to very high monthly concentrations in the heating period, which were highest in the winter. PM 2.5 consisted mainly of carbonaceous matter (elemental carbon (EC) + organic matter (OM), the sum of elemental carbon, EC, and organic matter, OM; its annual mass contributions to PM 2.5 were 43, 31, and 33 % in Katowice, Gdansk, and Diabla Góra, respectively), secondary inorganic aerosol (SIA), the Na_Cl group, and crustal matter (CM)-in the decreasing order of their yearly mass contributions to PM 2.5 . OM, EC, SIA, Na_Cl, and CM accounted for almost 81 % of the PM 2.5 mass in Katowice, 74 % in Gdańsk, and 90 % in Diabla Góra. The annual average toxic metal contribution to the PM 2.5 mass was not greater than 0.2 % at each site. In Katowice and Gdańsk, the yearly ambient BaP concentrations were high (15.4 and 3.2 ng/m 3 , respectively); in rural Diabla Góra, the concentrations of BaP were almost equal to 1 ng/m 3 , the Polish BaP annual limit. The great seasonal fluctuations of the shares of the component groups in PM 2.5 and of the concentrations of PM 2.5 and its components are due to the seasonal fluctuations of the emissions of PM and its precursors from hard and brown coal combustion for energy production, growing in a heating season, reaching maximum in winter, and decreasing in a nonheating period. In Gdańsk, northern Poland, especially in the spring and autumn, sea spray might have affected the chemical composition of PM 2.5 . The greatest hazard from PM 2.5 occurs in Katowice, southern Poland, in winter, when very high concentrations of PM 2.5 and PM 2.5 -related carbonaceous matter, including BaP, are maintained by poor natural ventilation in cities, weather conditions, and the highest level of industrialization in...

Diurnal samples of PM(2.5) and PM(2.5-10) were taken in an urban background area in Zabrze (Upper Silesia in southern Poland) in the winter (January-March) and summer (July-September) of 2009. The samples were analyzed for carbon (organic and elemental), water soluble ions (Na(+), NH(4) (+), K(+), Mg(2+), Ca(2+), F(-), Cl(-), NO(3) (-), PO(4) (3-), SO(4) (2-)) and concentrations of 27 elements by using, respectively, a Behr C50 IRF carbon analyzer, a Herisau Metrohm AG ion chromatograph, and a PANalitycal EPSILON 5 X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. To perform the mass closure calculations for both dust fractions in the two periods, the particulate matter (PM) chemical components were categorized into organic matter, elemental carbon, secondary inorganic aerosol, crustal matter, marine components and unidentified matter. The chemical composition of the two dust fractions and the element enrichment coefficients in the two seasons, referred to proper emission profiles, proved about 80% of PM(2.5) and more than 50% (in winter 65%) of PM(2.5-10) mass coming from anthropogenic sources, mainly from fuel combustion and specific municipal emission shaping the winter emission of ambient dust in the area.

The paper discusses ambient concentrations of PM(2.5) (ambient fine particles) and of 29 PM(2.5)-related elements in Zabrze and Katowice, Poland, in 2007. The elemental composition of PM(2.5) was determined using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF). The mobility (cumulative percentage of the water-soluble and exchangeable fractions of an element in its total concentration) of 18 PM(2.5)-related elements in Zabrze and Katowice was computed by using sequential extraction and EDXRF combined into a simple method. The samples were extracted twice: in deionized water and in ammonium acetate. In general, the mobility and the concentrations of the majority of the elements were the same in both cities. S, Cl, K, Ca, Zn, Br, Ba, and Pb in both cities, Ti and Se in Katowice, and Sr in Zabrze had the mobility greater than 70%. Mobility of typical crustal elements, Al, Si, and Ti, because of high proportion of their exchangeable fractions in PM, was from 40 to 66%. Mobility of Fe and Cu was lower than 30%. Probable sources of PM(2.5) were determined by applying principal component analysis and multiple regression analysis and computing enrichment factors. Great part of PM(2.5) (78% in Katowice and 36% in Zabrze) originated from combustion of fuels in domestic furnaces (fossil fuels, biomass and wastes, etc.) and liquid fuels in car engines. Other identified sources were: power plants, soil, and roads in Zabrze and in Katowice an industrial source, probably a non-ferrous smelter or/and a steelwork, and power plants.