On the sub-micron aerosol size distribution in a coastal-rural site at El Arenosillo Station (SW – Spain)

Abstract

Abstract. This study focuses on the analysis of the submicron aerosol characteristics at El Arenosillo Station, a rural and coastal environment in South-western Spain between 1 August 2004 and 31 July 2006 (594 days). The mean total concentration (N T ) was 8660 cm −3 and the mean concentrations in the nucleation (N NUC ), Aitken (N AIT ) and accumulation (N ACC ) particle size ranges were 2830 cm −3 , 4110 cm −3 and 1720 cm −3 , respectively. Median size distribution was characterised by a single-modal fit, with a geometric diameter, median number concentration and geometric standard deviation of 60 nm, 5390 cm −3 and 2.31, respectively. Characterisation of primary emissions, secondary particle formation, changes to meteorology and long-term transport has been necessary to understand the seasonal and annual variability of the total and modal particle concentration. Number concentrations exhibited a diurnal pattern with maximum concentrations around noon. This was governed by the concentrations of the nucleation and Aitken modes during the warm seasons and only by the nucleation mode during the cold seasons. Similar monthly mean total concentrations were observed throughout the year due to a clear inverse variation between the monthly mean N NUC and N ACC . It was related to the impact of desert dust and continental air masses on the monthly mean particle levels. These air masses were associated with high values of N ACC which suppressed the new particle formation (decreasing N NUC ). Each day wasCorrespondence to: M. Sorribas (sorribasmm@inta.es) classified according to a land breeze flow or a synoptic pattern influence. The median size distribution for desert dust and continental aerosol was dominated by the Aitken and accumulation modes, and marine air masses were dominated by the nucleation and Aitken modes. Particles moved offshore due to the land breeze and had an impact on the particle burden at noon, especially when the wind was blowing from the NW sector in the morning during summer time. This increased N NUC and N AIT by factors of 3.1 and 2.4, respectively. Nucleation events with the typical "banana" shape were characterised by a mean particle nucleation rate of 0.74 cm −3 s −1 , a mean growth rate of 1.96 nm h −1 and a mean total duration of 9.25 h (starting at 10:55 GMT and ending at 20:10 GMT). They were observed for 48 days. Other nucleation events were identified as those produced by the emissions from the industrial areas located at a distance of 35 km. They were observed for 42 days. Both nucleation events were strongly linked to the marine air mass origin.

Seasonality of ⁷Be concentrations in Europe and influence of tropopause height

“…5); in fact, the correlation coefficient for these two stations was negative, unlike the coefficients for all other sites. This observation might result from the fact that these sites are strongly affected by maritime air masses transported by the westerlies, which have low concentration of aerosols (Sorribas et al, 2011), and therefore, low concentration of 7 Be attached to them. A similar observation was reported by Gerasopoulos et al (2001).…”

Weekend-Weekday Effect Assessment for O3, NOx, CO and PM10 in Andalusia, Spain (2003-2008)

“…This large area combines three factors that play a key role in the occurrence of air pollution events: high levels of temperature and solar radiation, complex topography and significant emissions of both biogenic and anthropogenic origin. An analysis of weekday/weekend (NO, CO, PM 10 and O 3 ) differences would complement previous studies and increase in the understanding of pollutant behaviour in the area (Adame et al, 2010;Sorribas et al, 2011;Notario et al, 2013).…”

Variability of sub-micrometer particle number size distributions and concentrations in the Western Mediterranean regional background

“…Previous studies performed in this area have described the variability of particulate matter (PM) (Pe´rez et al, 2008), the chemical speciation of PM (Cusack et al, 2012) and the aerosol optical properties of aerosols (Pandolfi et al, 2011). Sorribas et al (2011) published results on sub-micron particle size distributions for a rural background site in southern Spain, which was observed to be heavily influenced by marine, Saharan and continental air masses and, in some circumstances, emissions from a nearby industrial estate. However, the study of particle number concentration and size distributions in the RB of north-east (NE) Spain, until now, has been largely underdeveloped.…”

“…Most studies on ultra-fine particle size distribution within Spain have focused on the urban environment (Rodriguez and Cuevas, 2007;Pey et al, 2008;Ferna´ndez-Camacho et al, 2010;Go´mez-Moreno et al, 2011) and a rural background site in southern Spain frequently affected by local anthropogenic emissions (Sorribas et al, 2011), with relatively few focusing on the regional background environment. This article interprets the combination of a large range of aerosol parameters and properties and their influence on the particle size distribution.…”