Sources and elemental composition of ambient PM(2.5) in three European cities.
Source apportionment of urban fine particle mass (PM(2.5)) was performed from data collected during 1998-1999 in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Erfurt (Germany) and Helsinki (Finland), using principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple linear regression. Six source categories of PM(2.5) were identified in Amsterdam. They were traffic-related particles (30% of the average PM(2.5)), secondary particles (34%), crustal material (7%), oil combustion (11%), industrial and incineration processes (9%), and sea salt (2%). The unidentified PM(2.5) fraction was 7% on the average. In Erfurt, four source categories were extracted with some difficulties in interpretation of source profiles. They were combustion emissions related to traffic (32%), secondary PM (32%), crustal material (21%) and industrial processes (8%). In Erfurt, 3% of PM(2.5) remained unidentified. Air pollution data and source apportionment results from the two Central European cities were compared to previously published results from Helsinki, where about 80% of average PM(2.5) was attributed to transboundary air pollution and particles from traffic and other regional combustion sources. Our results indicate that secondary particles and local combustion processes (mainly traffic) were the most important source categories in all cities; their impact on the average PM(2.5) was almost equal in Amsterdam and Erfurt whereas, in Helsinki, secondary particles made up for as much as half of the total average PM(2.5).
Vallius
M
M
Unit of Environmental Epidemiology, National Public Health Institute, P.O. Box 95, 70701 Kuopio, Finland. marko.vallius@ktl.fi
Janssen
N A H
NA
Heinrich
J
J
Hoek
G
G
Ruuskanen
J
J
Cyrys
J
J
Van Grieken
R
R
de Hartog
J J
JJ
Kreyling
W G
WG
Pekkanen
J
J
D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002947:Cities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005387:Finland; D005579:Fossil Fuels; D005858:Germany; D017745:Incineration; D007221:Industry; D009426:Netherlands; D010316:Particle Size; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D001335:Vehicle Emissions
D005579:Fossil Fuels; D001335:Vehicle Emissions