Mass distributions and morphological and chemical characterization of urban aerosols in the continental Balkan area (Belgrade).
This work presents characteristics of atmospheric aerosols of urban central Balkans area, using a size-segregated aerosol sampling method, calculation of mass distributions, SEM/EDX characterization, and ICP/MS analysis. Three types of mass distributions were observed: distribution with a pronounced domination of coarse mode, bimodal distribution, and distribution with minimum at 1 μm describing the urban aerosol. SEM/EDX analyses have shown morphological difference and variation in the content of elements in samples. EDX spectra demonstrate that particles generally contain the following elements: Al, Ca, K, Fe, Mg, Ni, K, Si, S. Additionally, the presence of As, Br, Sn, and Zn found in air masses from southeast segment points out the anthropogenic activities most probably from mining activities in southeastern part of Serbia. The ratio Al/Si equivalent to the ratio of desert dust was associated with air masses coming from southeastern and southwestern segments, pointing to influences from North Africa and Middle East desert areas whereas the Al/Si ratio in other samples is significantly lower. In several samples, we found high values of aluminum in the nucleation mode. Samples with low share of crustal elements in the coarse mode are collected when Mediterranean air masses prevailed, while high share in the coarse mode was associated with continental air masses that could be one of the approaches for identification of the aerosol origin. Graphical abstract ᅟ.
University of Belgrade, Centre of Chemistry - ICTM, Studentski trg 14-16, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia. dragadj@chem.bg.ac.rs.
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Đorđević
Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology, Dübendorf, 8600, Switzerland.|Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, 8093, Switzerland.|Technology and Society Laboratory, Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology, St. Gallen, 9014, Switzerland.
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Buha
Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, University Ca' Foscari of Venice, Dorsoduro 2137, 30123, Venice, Italy.
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Stortini
University of Belgrade, Centre of Chemistry - ICTM, Studentski trg 14-16, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia.
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Mihajlidi-Zelić
Faculty of Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 12-16, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia.
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Relić
Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University Ca' Foscari of Venice, Dorsoduro 2137, 30123, Venice, Italy.|Institute for the Dynamics of Environmental Processes - National Research Council (CNR-IDPA), Dorsoduro 2137, 30123, Venice, Italy.
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Barbante
Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University Ca' Foscari of Venice, Dorsoduro 2137, 30123, Venice, Italy.|Institute for the Dynamics of Environmental Processes - National Research Council (CNR-IDPA), Dorsoduro 2137, 30123, Venice, Italy.
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Gambaro
D000336:Aerosols / Q000737:chemistry; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D063368:Balkan Peninsula; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods
D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D004391:Dust
Continental urban aerosols; Morphologies; Size distributions