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Long-term Observations of Submicron Atmospheric Aerosol Concentrations - Effect of Legislative Regulations and Economic Transformations
NADEŽDA ZÍKOVÁ, Petra Pokorná, Zdenek Wagner, Jakub Ondráček, Philip K. Hopke, Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals CAS
Abstract Number: 16
Working Group: Urban Aerosols
Abstract
Atmospheric pollutant concentrations have mostly been decreasing in the last decades in the developed parts of the world, for example in Central Europe, due to legislative mandates and subsequent regulations as well as economic transformations. For some pollutants, however, the decreases have slowed in the recent years. An example of such a pollutant is submicron atmospheric particles.
In the Czech Republic, long-term submicron measurements of the atmospheric aerosol were established in 11/2007 at Prague-Suchdol, an urban background station. Five-minute particle number size distributions from 10 to 500 nm were measured using a scanning mobility particle spectrometer (3034 TSI SMPS) that was later upgraded to ACTRIS project standards. Even earlier, in 2002, submicron measurements begun in Rochester, NY with a very similar system.
In the over 12-years long dataset (2007-2019), the temporal trends were analyzed and compared to the legislative, economic, and source structure changes both in Prague and Rochester. Mitigation strategies and economic factors affecting the atmospheric aerosol concentrations [1] differ at the two locations. Zhou et al [2] showed that a closure of a coal-fired power plant and promulgation of fuel quality policies reduced local mercury emissions in Rochester. In Prague, preliminary results show the total number concentrations increased from 2011 to 2016, in parallel with the industrial production index.
Substantial changes have been observed in the concentrations of the smallest diameter particles [3], with an expected influence of new particle formation events, such as midday peaks (apart from the two traffic-related ones) observed in Prague data.
Project LTAUSA19006 of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic is acknowledged for financial support.
[1] Squizzato et al., Atmos. Environ., 183, 209–224, 2018.
[2] Zhou et al., Sci. Total Environ.,. 650, 1327–1337, 2019.
[3] Masiol et al., Sci. Total Environ., 633, 59–70, 2018.