title: Carbonaceous and ionic compositional patterns of fine particles over an urban Mediterranean area.
abstract: A carefully designed experimental study based on the monitoring of fine airborne particles, was carried out at three different locations (suburban background, traffic-industrial, coastal background) of an urban Mediterranean area, the Athens Basin. Understanding of the PM(2.5) and PM(1) nature has an important policy implication. In total, five hundred and nineteen samples were chemically analyzed with respect to carbonaceous (organic/elemental carbon) and ionic (NH(4)(+), K(+), Mg(2+), Ca(2+), NO(3)(-), Cl(-), SO(4)(2-)) species. The dataset consists one of the very few in the Mediterranean which simultaneously deals with the carbonaceous and ionic components of fine aerosol fractions, especially for PM(1). Daily PM(2.5) averages often exceeded the E.U. limit values, with their mass being mainly composed of PM(1). The most important constituents of secondary particles were SO(4)(2-) and organic carbon, with both accounting for 56.4%-64.3% and 60.5%-62.3% of the total PM(2.5) and PM(1) mass, respectively. Regional sources, marine/crustal elements, combustion sources and traffic were indicated by factor analysis as the greatest contributors to the mass of both PM(2.5) and PM(1) fractions, accounting for 85.3% and 83.6%, respectively of the total variance in the system. It is worthy to note, the key role of the prevailing atmospheric conditions to the configuration of the obtained picture of the particulate pollution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Physics, University of Athens, University Campus, building PHYS-5, 157 84, Athens, Greece. stella@ipta.demokritos.gr
authors.forename: St
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pateraki
authors.forename: V D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Assimakopoulos
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bougiatioti
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kouvarakis
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mihalopoulos
authors.forename: Ch
authors.initials: Ch
authors.lastname: Vasilakos
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis*; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis*; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange; D002947:Cities; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006115:Greece; D007477:Ions / Q000032:analysis; D010316:Particle Size; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis*; D012621:Seasons
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D007477:Ions; D052638:Particulate Matter; D002244:Carbon