Daily mass concentrations of PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 were measured along with meteorological parameters from October 2008 to October 2009 in the city of Elche, close to the southeastern Spanish Mediterranean coast. Annual mean levels of 9.2, 13.2, and 26.2 μg m −3 were obtained for PM1, PM2.5, and PM10, respectively. PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations were lower than those previously measured at the same location due to unusual weather conditions that occurred during winter 2009, specially the decrease in the number of high atmospheric stability episodes. The contribution of road traffic to the levels of submicron (PM1), fine (PM2.5-1), and coarse (PM10-2.5) particles was studied by correlating PM concentrations with NO 2 . The results showed a higher relative contribution in winter (0.45

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Particle-bound PAHs were measured at three sites in southeastern Spain (an urban background location, a suburban-industrial site in the vicinity of two cement plants and a rural area) in order to investigate the influence of the type of location on PAH concentrations. A clear influence of cement production on particulate PAH levels could not be established since for the urban background and suburban-industrial sites the average concentrations of total PAHs in the PM2.5 fraction were very similar (1.085 and 1.151 ng m(-3), respectively), with benzo[b+k]fluoranthene and chrysene as the predominant compounds. Diagnostic ratios, used to identify PAH emission sources, pointed to traffic as the main source of particulate PAH at both locations. As expected, PAH levels at the rural site were significantly lower (0.408 ng m(-3) in the PM10 fraction) due to increasing distance from the emission sources. PAH seasonal variations at the urban background and suburban-industrial sites were the same as reported in many previous studies. Average winter to summer ratios for total PAHs were 4.4 and 4.9 for the urban background and industrial sites, in that order. This seasonal cycle could be partially explained by the higher temperature and solar radiation during summer enhancing PAH evaporation from the particulate phase and PAH photochemical degradation, respectively. The study of PAH distribution between the fine and coarse fraction at the urban site revealed that on average around 80% of total PAHs were associated with fine particles.

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