Abstract Number: 644 Working Group: Remote and Regional Atmospheric Aerosols
Abstract This work summarizes the results of the tropospheric aerosols physico-chemical properties and its time variation interpretation at a remote background site Montsec (MSC, NE of Spain, 42 degrees 3’ N; 0 degrees 44’ W) from 2010 to 2011. The MSC is located at 1570 m amsl in the Pre-Pyrenees mountain range, isolated from industrial/urban agglomerations, and influenced by the Mediterranean characteristics, European episodes and Atlantic advections.
The time variability of aerosol parameters was investigated as a function of the meteorology and the origin of the air masses, determined based on HYSPLIT back-trajectories and BSC/DREAM8b, SKIRON and NAAPS models. Mean concentrations of PM$_10, PM$_2.5, PM$_1, measured by a Grimm Optical Particle Counter were 12, 9, and 6 micro-gram m$^(-3), respectively. Mean black carbon (BC) concentration, measured by a Multi Angle Absorption Photometer, MAAP, was 0.2 micro-gram m$^(-3). These concentrations fall in the typical range of continental background sites. However, mean particle number (N) concentration, measured by a CPC3776 TSI, was 3588 particles cm$^(-3), similar to concentrations measured in regional background and suburban areas. These relatively high levels of N are mainly related to the intense and recurrent photochemical nucleation episodes, identified to happen at midday with southwest prevailing wind conditions.
PM$_10 and PM$_1 24h samples were collected on quartz fibre filters at a ratio of 1 sample out of 4 days by sequential high-volume samplers, for subsequent determination of concentrations of major PM components (Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Na, NO$_3$^-, NH$_4$^+, SO$_4$^(2-), Cl$^-, OC and EC) and trace elements (V, Ni, Ti, Cu, Zn, As, among others).