title: Aerosol particle number concentration measurements in five European cities using TSI-3022 condensation particle counter over a three-year period during health effects of air pollution on susceptible subpopulations.
abstract: In this study, long-term aerosol particle total number concentration measurements in five metropolitan areas across Europe are presented. The measurements have been carried out in Augsburg, Barcelona, Helsinki, Rome, and Stockholm using the same instrument, a condensation particle counter (TSI model 3022). The results show that in all of the studied cities, the winter concentrations are higher than the summer concentrations. In Helsinki and in Stockholm, winter concentrations are higher by a factor of two and in Augsburg almost by a factor of three compared with summer months. The winter maximum of the monthly average concentrations in these cities is between 10,000 cm(-3) and 20,000 cm(-3), whereas the summer min is approximately 5000-6000 cm(-3). In Rome and in Barcelona, the winters are more polluted compared with summers by as much as a factor of 4-10. The winter maximum in both Rome and Barcelona is close to 100,000 cm(-3), whereas the summer minimum is > 10,000 cm(-3). During the weekdays the maximum of the hourly average concentrations in all of the cities is detected during the morning hours between 7 and 10 a.m. The evening maxima were present in Barcelona, Rome, and Augsburg, but these were not as pronounced as the morning ones. The daily maxima in Helsinki and Stockholm are close or even lower than the daily minima in the more polluted cities. The concentrations between these two groups of cities are different with a factor of about five during the whole day. The study pointed out the influence of the selection of the measurement site and the configuration of the sampling line on the observed concentrations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Pasi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aalto
authors.forename: Kaarle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hämeri
authors.forename: Pentti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paatero
authors.forename: Markku
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kulmala
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bellander
authors.forename: Niklas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Berglind
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bouso
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Castaño-Vinyals
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sunyer
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cattani
authors.forename: Achille
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marconi
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cyrys
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: von Klot
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zetzsche
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lanki
authors.forename: Juha
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pekkanen
authors.forename: Fredrik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nyberg
authors.forename: Billy
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sjövall
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Forastiere
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis*; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D002947:Cities; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D004391:Dust