AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
Chemical Characterization of PM2.5 for the Year 2013 for 5 Rural Background Sites in France
ANTOINE WAKED, Jean-Luc Jaffrezo, Jean-Luc Besombes, Emmanuelle Drab-Sommesous, Eve Chretien, Pierre-Yves Robic, Sebastien Conil, Géraldine Guillaud, Jérôme Rangognio, Quentin Poinsignon, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, LGGE, F-38000 Grenoble, France
Abstract Number: 212 Working Group: Aerosol Chemistry
Abstract The chemical characterization of PM2.5 was conducted at 5 rural background sites in France for the year 2013. Chemical analysis of weekly samples included the measurements of organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), ionic species, monosaccharide’s anhydrous and polyols. The sampling sites were spatially distributed to cover many parts of the French territory. The results obtained showed well identified temporal variations common to all the 5 sampling sites. During winter, concentrations of biomass burning markers such as levoglucosan, EC, and potassium are significantly increased indicating the strong impact of this source on the large scale. During summer, concentrations of the marine biogenic tracer methane sulfonic acid (MSA) and primary biogenic markers such as arabitol and mannitol were increased due to higher biological activities and photo-oxidation processes. Episodes of high sea salts as well as ammonium nitrate were mostly observed during winter, with variable synchronicity among sites. This study gives for the first time some comprehensive information on the chemical characterization of PM2.5 at rural background sites in France. The use of markers of biogenic aerosols such as MSA in continental areas such as France also brings new insights into the composition and sources influencing the atmospheric background.