title: Characterization of events by aerosol mass size distributions.
abstract: Continuous measurements of particle mass size distributions were carried out in summer 2004 at an urban location in the western Mediterranean using an optical particle counter. In this work we propose a simple methodology to identify PM episodes and determine their influence on mass size distributions. During the study period three types of event produced a significant increase in TSP daily levels: Saharan dust intrusions, firework displays and strong winds, modifying size distributions in different ways. As well, a traffic-related mass size spectrum was obtained showing road dust particles injected into the atmosphere by vehicle-induced resuspension having mainly aerodynamic diameters between 5 and 15 microm. This was confirmed by principal component and conditional probability function analyses.
authors.affiliation: Atmospheric Pollution Laboratory, Department of Physics, Miguel Hernández University, Avda. de la Universidad S/N, 03202 Elche, Spain. j.nicolas@umh.es
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nicolás
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yubero
authors.forename: Nuria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Galindo
authors.forename: Joaquín
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Giménez
authors.forename: Ramón
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Castañer
authors.forename: Adoración
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carratalá
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Crespo
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pastor
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis*; D000352:Africa, Northern; D000388:Air / Q000032:analysis*; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D010316:Particle Size; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D013030:Spain; D014919:Wind
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D004391:Dust