title: Spatial and seasonal variability of the mass concentration and chemical composition of PM2.5in Poland.
abstract: The seasonal changes in ambient mass concentrations and chemical composition of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) were investigated in three locations in Poland. The analyses included PM2.5-bound hazardous benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), As, Ni, Cd, and Pb. The samples of PM2.5were collected daily in Katowice (southern Poland, urban background site), Gdańsk, and Diabla Góra (northern Poland, urban and regional background sites, respectively) during 1-year-long campaign in 2010. Based on monthly ambient concentrations of PM2.5-bound carbon (organic and elemental), water-soluble ions (Na+, NH4+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Cl-, NO3-, SO42-), and elements As, Ni, Cd, Pb, Ti, Al, Fe, the chemical mass closure of PM2.5was checked for each of the four seasons of the year and for the heating and non-heating periods at each site. Also, the annual concentrations of PM2.5were determined and the annual PM2.5mass closure checked. At each measuring point, the PM2.5concentrations were high compared to its Polish yearly permissible value, 25 μg/m3, and its concentrations elsewhere in Europe. The highest annual PM2.5concentration, 43 μg/m3, occurred in Katowice; it was twice the annual PM2.5concentration in Gdańsk, and thrice the one in Diabla Góra. The high annual averages were due to very high monthly concentrations in the heating period, which were highest in the winter. PM2.5consisted mainly of carbonaceous matter (elemental carbon (EC) + organic matter (OM), the sum of elemental carbon, EC, and organic matter, OM; its annual mass contributions to PM2.5were 43, 31, and 33 % in Katowice, Gdansk, and Diabla Góra, respectively), secondary inorganic aerosol (SIA), the Na_Cl group, and crustal matter (CM)-in the decreasing order of their yearly mass contributions to PM2.5. OM, EC, SIA, Na_Cl, and CM accounted for almost 81 % of the PM2.5mass in Katowice, 74 % in Gdańsk, and 90 % in Diabla Góra. The annual average toxic metal contribution to the PM2.5mass was not greater than 0.2 % at each site. In Katowice and Gdańsk, the yearly ambient BaP concentrations were high (15.4 and 3.2 ng/m3, respectively); in rural Diabla Góra, the concentrations of BaP were almost equal to 1 ng/m3, the Polish BaP annual limit. The great seasonal fluctuations of the shares of the component groups in PM2.5and of the concentrations of PM2.5and its components are due to the seasonal fluctuations of the emissions of PM and its precursors from hard and brown coal combustion for energy production, growing in a heating season, reaching maximum in winter, and decreasing in a non-heating period. In Gdańsk, northern Poland, especially in the spring and autumn, sea spray might have affected the chemical composition of PM2.5. The greatest hazard from PM2.5occurs in Katowice, southern Poland, in winter, when very high concentrations of PM2.5and PM2.5-related carbonaceous matter, including BaP, are maintained by poor natural ventilation in cities, weather conditions, and the highest level of industrialization in Poland. In less industrialized northern Poland, where the aeration in cities is better and rather gaseous than solid fuels are used, the health hazard from ambient PM2.5is much lower.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences, 34 M. Skłodowska-Curie St., 41-819 Zabrze, Poland.
authors.forename: Wioletta
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rogula-Kozłowska
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences, 34 M. Skłodowska-Curie St., 41-819 Zabrze, Poland.
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Klejnowski
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences, 34 M. Skłodowska-Curie St., 41-819 Zabrze, Poland.
authors.forename: Patrycja
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rogula-Kopiec
authors.affiliation: Monitoring and Modeling of Air Pollution Department, Institute of Meteorology and Water Management-National Research Institute, 10 Bratków St., 40-045 Katowice, Poland.
authors.forename: Leszek
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ośródka
authors.affiliation: Monitoring and Modeling of Air Pollution Department, Institute of Meteorology and Water Management-National Research Institute, 10 Bratków St., 40-045 Katowice, Poland.
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Krajny
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences, 34 M. Skłodowska-Curie St., 41-819 Zabrze, Poland.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Błaszczak
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences, 34 M. Skłodowska-Curie St., 41-819 Zabrze, Poland.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mathews
keywords: Benzo(a)pyrene; Chemical mass closure; Elemental carbon; Fine particulate matter; Secondary inorganic aerosol; Toxic metals