Trend, seasonal variation and sources of suspended particulated matter (SPM) in Spain

Abstract

In this study we analyze the temporal evolution of the suspended particulated matter (SPM) in the air of the six Spanish remote stations belonging to the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme network. A negative trend is observed in three of them and a positive trend in one. Another objective of this work was to know the geographical sources of SPM in Spain. To do this we used the conditional probability functions (cf. Ashbaugh et al. (1985), Atmos. Environ., 19, 1263Environ., 19, -1270 and information about air masses trajectories. The North of Africa and regions inside Spain are the main sources while Continental Europe and the British Islands are less important.