AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
European Air Pollution Hot Spot in Winter 2012: Distribution of PAH with Aerosol Particle Size
JAN HOVORKA, Jan Topinka, Jan Bendl, Alexandra Baranová, Petra Pokorná, Martin Braniš, Charles University in Prague
Abstract Number: 727 Working Group: Urban Aerosols
Abstract During monthly campaign (25 Jan.-21 Feb. 2012), aimed to characterize comprehensively atmospheric aerosol in city of Ostrava, Northern Silesia, the Czech Republic, size segregated aerosol samples were analyzed for 13 types of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons – PAH. Daily samples were collected by a high-volume cascade impactor (BGI 900), which classifies the particles into coarse (1-10 dae), upper (0.5-1 dae), and lower (0.17-0.5 dae) accumulation, and ultrafine (smaller 0.17 dae) size fractions of aerodynamic diameter dae (in micrometer). The coarse and accumulation fractions were collected on polyurethane foam (PUF) while the ultrafines on Teflon-coated ultrafilters. Also additional PUF were placed below back-up ultrafilter to evaluate sampling artifact. Positive sampling artifacts were in the ranges of 6-30% for Phenanthrene, 7-37% for Anthracene, 1-6% for Fluoranthene, 0.5-2.8% for Pyrene and 2-8% for Benz(a)anthracene while for other low-vapour PAHs, carcinogenic PAH (c-PAH) was negligible. Total c-PAH concentrations went over 100 nanograms per m$^3 during the smog episode. c-PAHs were predominantly bond to upper accumulation size fraction. At the peak days of the smog c-PAH were also enriched in coarse size fraction. Proportionality of different PAH did not vary significantly among size fractions but concentrations of higher-vapor PAHs tend to follow modality of particulate surface size distribution. Alarmingly high concentrations and enrichment in fine aerosol of PAH or c-PAH represent a serious health threat to residents of the city of Ostrava.