African dust contributions to mean ambient PM10 mass-levels across the Mediterranean Basin

Querol, Xavier; Pey, Jorge; Pandolfi, M.; Alastuey, Andrés; Cusack, Michael; Pérez, Noemí; Moreno, Teresa; Viana, Mar; Mihalopoulos, N.; Kallos, George; Kleanthous, Savvas

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2009.06.013

Cited by 392 publications

(314 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The large difference between the net dust loads calculated for Athens and the other cities is due to the southern location of Athens, and the severity of some Saharan dust episodes in the eastern part of the Basin (Athanasopoulou et al, 2016). A high seasonal variability of contributions was observed, with dust transport events occurring at different periods in the western and eastern sides of the Mediterranean (Pey et al, 2013;Querol et al, 2009). The African dust inputs were highest during spring and lowest during summer in Athens and Florence.…”

Section: Contribution Of Natural Sources To Pm Concentrations and Excmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Porto was the only city deviating from this behaviour, suggesting that the studied year may not be representative for this city for assessing seasonal trends, probably due to the low frequency and intensity of dust events. Querol et al (2009) Total natural 15.9 ± 1.4 8.8 ± 0.8 3.5 ± 0.1 8.5 ± 1.0 29.5 ± 3.5 noted that when intense dust transport events are recorded in the eastern Mediterranean (such as the case for 2013), unusually low African dust contributions are observed in the western Mediterranean. Sea salt was mostly related to the coarse mode and exhibited significant seasonal variability as well.…”

Section: Contribution Of Natural Sources To Pm Concentrations and Excmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Background annual average PM 10 mass concentration for continental Europe is 7.0 ± 4.1 µg m −3 (Van Dingenen et al, 2004) and is attributed both to natural sources and anthropogenic longrange transported particles. This background level shows regional variations, and in some cases (in particular for the southern European countries) naturally emitted PM may contribute significantly, causing even exceedances of air quality standards (Pey et al, 2013;Querol et al, 2009Querol et al, , 1998Rodriguez et al, 2001). The main natural sources affecting ambient PM levels are wind-blown soil dust, sea salt, wildfires, volcanic ash and biogenic aerosol (Viana et al, 2014).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Mediterranean climate, characterised by increased solar radiation and low rainfall rates, promotes aerosol production and reduces the potential for dispersion and removal of pollutants (Lazaridis et al, 2005). The vicinity of southern Europe to North Africa on the other hand results in frequent and intense dust outbreaks, with high loads of dust from desert regions transported across the Mediterranean, which often leads to exceedances of air quality limit values (Pey et al, 2013;Nava et al, 2012;Athanasopoulou et al, 2010;Querol et al, 1998Querol et al, , 2009Gerasopoulos et al, 2006;Kallos et al, 2006;Rodriguez et al, 2001).…”

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confidence: 99%

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AIRUSE-LIFE +: estimation of natural source contributions to urban ambient air PM10 and PM2. 5 concentrations in southern Europe – implications to compliance with limit values

et al. 2017

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Abstract. The contribution of natural sources to ambient air particulate matter (PM) concentrations is often not considered; however, it may be significant for certain areas and during specific periods of the year. In the framework of the AIRUSE-LIFE+ project, state-of-the-art methods have been employed for assessing the contribution of major natural sources (African dust, sea salt and forest fires) to PM concentrations, in southern European urban areas. 24 h measurements of PM 10 and PM 2.5 mass and chemical composition were performed over the course of a year in five cities: Porto, Barcelona, Milan, Florence and Athens. Net African dust and sea-salt concentrations were calculated based on the methodologies proposed by the EC (SEC 2011/208). The contribution of uncontrolled forest fires was calculated through receptor modelling. Sensitivity analysis with respect to the calculation of African dust was also performed, in order to identify major parameters affecting the estimated net dust concentrations. African dust contribution to PM concentrations was more pronounced in the eastern Mediterranean, with the mean annual relative contribution to PM 10 decreasing from 21 % in Athens, to 5 % in Florence, and around 2 % in Milan, Barcelona and Porto. The respective contribution to PM 2.5 was calculated equal to 14 % in Athens and from 1.3 to 2.4 % in all other cities. High seasonal variability of contributions was observed, with dust transport events occurring at different periods in the western and eastern Mediterranean basin. Sea salt was mostly related to the coarse mode and also exhibited significant seasonal variability. Sea-salt concentrations were highest in Porto, with average relative contributions equal to 12.3 % for PM 10 . Contributions from uncontrolled forest fires were quantified only for Porto and were low on an annual basis (1.4 and 1.9 % to PM 10 and PM 2.5 , respectively); nevertheless, contributions were greatly increased during events, reaching 20 and 22 % of 24 h PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentrations, respectively.

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Section: Contribution Of Natural Sources To Pm Concentrations and Excmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Contribution Of Natural Sources To Pm Concentrations and Excmentioning

confidence: 98%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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AIRUSE-LIFE +: estimation of natural source contributions to urban ambient air PM10 and PM2. 5 concentrations in southern Europe – implications to compliance with limit values

et al. 2017

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“…Therefore, in order to harmonise the TS data, the measurements were corrected by applying the correction factors obtained by a comparison with the gravimetric method (EN-12341, 1998). Occurrences of daily episodes of intrusions of particulate matter during 2013 due to North African transport of air masses applied in this work were established by Pérez et al (2014) using a combination of methods (Querol et al, 2009), including HYSPLIT modelling (Draxler and Rolph, 2003).…”

Section: Monitoring Sites and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Time series clustering for estimating particulate matter contributions and its use in quantifying impacts from deserts

Gómez-Losada

Pires

Pino‐Mejías

2015

Atmospheric Environment

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Source apportionment studies use prior exploratory methods that are not purpose-oriented and receptor modelling is based on chemical speciation, requiring costly, time-consuming analyses. Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) are proposed as a routine, exploratory tool to estimate PM10 source contributions. These models were used on annual time series (TS) data from 33 background sites in Spain and Portugal. HMMs enable the creation of groups of PM10 TS observations with similar concentration values, defining the pollutant's regimes of concentration. The results include estimations of source contributions from these regimes, the probability of change among them and their contribution to annual average PM10 concentrations. The annual average Saharan PM10 contribution in the Canary Islands was estimated and compared to other studies. A new procedure for quantifying the wind-blown desert contributions to daily average PM10 concentrations from monitoring sites is proposed. This new procedure seems to correct the net load estimation from deserts achieved with the most frequently used method.

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Impact of Middle Eastern dust sources on PM₁₀ in Iran: Highlighting the impact of Tigris‐Euphrates basin sources and Lake Urmia desiccation

2016

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Contribution of different Middle Eastern dust origins to PM10 (PM with aerodynamic diameters less than 10 µm) levels in several receptor large cities in Iran was investigated. Initially, the major regional dust episodes were determined through statistical analysis of recorded PM levels at air quality stations and verified using satellite images. The particles dispersion was simulated by Hybrid Single‐Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) to regenerate PM10 during the dust episodes. The accuracy of the modeled results was rather convincing, with an average squared correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.7 (max = 0.95). Consequently, the contributions of different dust sources to the observed concentrations were determined. Basin of Tigris‐Euphrates Rivers encompasses active dust sources with significant rate of emission due to fluvial deposits. The sources in this basin with approximately 70–95% contribution, by far, had the most influence on PM10 levels at the receptor cities. In a finer resolution, northern and central parts of Iraq had the most influence on PM10 level during the dust episodes. Effect of probable improvement or deterioration of the current dust origin conditions on PM10 levels was analyzed by performing a sensitivity analysis through varying threshold friction velocities. The results demonstrated that 10% increase or decrease in threshold friction velocities of major dust sources could lead to average of 51% decrease or 77% increase in the receptor cities' PM10, respectively. Finally, effects of Lake Urmia desiccation, as a new hydrological prospect dust origin were analyzed. The predicted dust from the prospective dried lake bed could result in ~ 30–60% increase in PM10 of nearby cities during the studied dust episodes.

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African dust contributions to mean ambient PM10 mass-levels across the Mediterranean Basin

Cited by 392 publications

References 51 publications

AIRUSE-LIFE +: estimation of natural source contributions to urban ambient air PM<sub>10</sub> and PM<sub>2. 5</sub> concentrations in southern Europe – implications to compliance with limit values

AIRUSE-LIFE +: estimation of natural source contributions to urban ambient air PM<sub>10</sub> and PM<sub>2. 5</sub> concentrations in southern Europe – implications to compliance with limit values

Time series clustering for estimating particulate matter contributions and its use in quantifying impacts from deserts

Impact of Middle Eastern dust sources on PM₁₀ in Iran: Highlighting the impact of Tigris‐Euphrates basin sources and Lake Urmia desiccation

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African dust contributions to mean ambient PM10 mass-levels across the Mediterranean Basin

Cited by 392 publications

References 51 publications

AIRUSE-LIFE +: estimation of natural source contributions to urban ambient air PM&lt;sub&gt;10&lt;/sub&gt; and PM&lt;sub&gt;2. 5&lt;/sub&gt; concentrations in southern Europe – implications to compliance with limit values

AIRUSE-LIFE +: estimation of natural source contributions to urban ambient air PM&lt;sub&gt;10&lt;/sub&gt; and PM&lt;sub&gt;2. 5&lt;/sub&gt; concentrations in southern Europe – implications to compliance with limit values

Time series clustering for estimating particulate matter contributions and its use in quantifying impacts from deserts

Impact of Middle Eastern dust sources on PM10 in Iran: Highlighting the impact of Tigris‐Euphrates basin sources and Lake Urmia desiccation

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AIRUSE-LIFE +: estimation of natural source contributions to urban ambient air PM<sub>10</sub> and PM<sub>2. 5</sub> concentrations in southern Europe – implications to compliance with limit values

AIRUSE-LIFE +: estimation of natural source contributions to urban ambient air PM<sub>10</sub> and PM<sub>2. 5</sub> concentrations in southern Europe – implications to compliance with limit values

Impact of Middle Eastern dust sources on PM₁₀ in Iran: Highlighting the impact of Tigris‐Euphrates basin sources and Lake Urmia desiccation