Local and regional air pollution in Ireland during an intensive aerosol measurement campaign

Abstract

An intensive two month measurement campaign has been performed during a two year study of major component composition of urban PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 in Ireland (J. Yin, A. G. Allen, R. M. Harrison, S. G. Jennings, E. Wright, M. Fitzpatrick, T. Healy, E. Barry, D. Ceburnis and D. McCusker, Atmos. Res., 2005, 78(3–4), 149–165). Measurements included size-segregated mass, soluble ions, elemental carbon (EC) distributions, fine and coarse fraction organic carbon (OC) and major gases along with standard meteorological measurements. The study revealed that urban emissions in Ireland had mainly a local character and therefore were confined within a limited area of 20–30 km radius, without significantly affecting regional air quality. Gaseous measurements have shown that urban emissions in Ireland had clear, but fairly limited influence on the regional air quality due to favorable mixing conditions at higher wind speeds, in particular from the western sector. Size-segregated mass and chemical measurements revealed a clear demarcation size between accumulation and coarse modes at about 0.8 μm which was constant at all sites. Carbonaceous compounds at the urban site accounted for up to 90% of the particle mass in a size range of 0.066–0.61 μm. Nss SO₄²⁻ concentrations in PM_2.5 were only slightly higher at the urban site compared to the rural or coastal sites, while NO₃⁻ and NH₄⁺ concentrations were similar at the urban and coastal sites, but were a factor of 2 to 3 higher than at the rural site. OC was highly variable between the sites and revealed clear seasonal differences. Natural or biogenic OC component accounted for <10% in winter and up to 30% in summer of the PM_2.5 OC at urban sites. A contribution of biogenic OC component to PM_2.5 OC mass at rural site was dominant.