title: Standardisation of a European measurement method for the determination of anions and cations in PM2.5: results of field trial campaign and determination of measurement uncertainty.
abstract: European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) Technical Committee 264 'Air Quality' has recently produced a standard method for the measurements of anions and cations in PM2.5within its Working Group 34 in response to the requirements of European Directive 2008/50/EC. It is expected that this method will be used in future by all Member States making measurements of the ionic content of PM2.5. This paper details the results of a field measurement campaign and the statistical analysis performed to validate this method, assess its uncertainty and define its working range to provide clarity and confidence in the underpinning science for future users of the method. The statistical analysis showed that, except for the lowest range of concentrations, the expanded combined uncertainty is expected to be below 30% at the 95% confidence interval for all ions except Cl-. However, if the analysis is carried out on the lower concentrations found at rural sites the uncertainty can be in excess of 50% for Cl-, Na+, K+, Mg2+and Ca2+. An estimation of the detection limit for all ions was also calculated and found to be 0.03 μg m-3or below.
authors.affiliation: Environment Division, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 0LW, UK. richard.brown@npl.co.uk.
authors.forename: Sonya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Beccaceci
authors.affiliation: Environment Division, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 0LW, UK. richard.brown@npl.co.uk.
authors.forename: Richard J C
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Environment Division, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 0LW, UK. richard.brown@npl.co.uk.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Butterfield
authors.affiliation: Environment Division, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 0LW, UK. richard.brown@npl.co.uk.
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, 1755 LE Petten, Netherlands.
authors.forename: René P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Otjes
authors.affiliation: NEN, Netherlands Standardization Institute, Delft, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van Hoek
authors.affiliation: Finnish Meteorological Institute, 00560, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Ulla
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Makkonen
authors.affiliation: CNR IIA, CNR-Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Catrambone
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Rosalía Fernández
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Patier
authors.affiliation: TNO, Netherlands Organization of Applied Science Research, Princetonlaan 6, NL-3508 TA Utrecht, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marc M G
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Houtzager
authors.affiliation: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Directorate for Energy, Transport and Climate, Air and Climate Unit, Via E. Fermi 2749, I-21027 Ispra, VA, Italy.
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Putaud
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000592:standards*; D000838:Anions / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards*; D002412:Cations / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000379:methods; D005060:Europe; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis / Q000592:standards*; D012015:Reference Standards
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D000838:Anions; D002412:Cations; D052638:Particulate Matter