Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Measurement report : Black carbon properties and concentrations in southern Sweden urban and rural air-the importance of long-range transport

Ahlberg, Erik LU ; Ausmeel, Stina LU ; Nilsson, Lovisa LU ; Spanne, Mårten LU ; Pauraite, Julija ; Klenø Nøjgaard, Jacob ; Bertò, Michele ; Skov, Henrik ; Roldin, Pontus LU and Kristensson, Adam LU , et al. (2023) In Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 23(5). p.3051-3064
Abstract

Soot, or black carbon (BC), aerosol is a major climate forcer with severe health effects. The impacts depend strongly on particle number concentration, size and mixing state. This work reports on two field campaigns at nearby urban and rural sites, 65gkm apart, in southern Sweden during late summer 2018. BC was measured using a single-particle soot photometer (SP2) and Aethalometers (AE33). Differences in BC concentrations between the sites are driven primarily by local traffic emissions. Equivalent and refractory BC mass concentrations at the urban site were on average a factor 2.2 and 2.5, with peaks during rush hour up to a factor g1/44, higher than the rural background levels. The number fraction of particles containing a soot core... (More)

Soot, or black carbon (BC), aerosol is a major climate forcer with severe health effects. The impacts depend strongly on particle number concentration, size and mixing state. This work reports on two field campaigns at nearby urban and rural sites, 65gkm apart, in southern Sweden during late summer 2018. BC was measured using a single-particle soot photometer (SP2) and Aethalometers (AE33). Differences in BC concentrations between the sites are driven primarily by local traffic emissions. Equivalent and refractory BC mass concentrations at the urban site were on average a factor 2.2 and 2.5, with peaks during rush hour up to a factor g1/44, higher than the rural background levels. The number fraction of particles containing a soot core was significantly higher in the city. BC particles at the urban site were on average smaller by mass and had less coating owing to fresh traffic emissions. The organic components of the fresh traffic plumes were similar in mass spectral signature to hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol (HOA), commonly associated with traffic. Despite the intense local traffic (g1/4g30g000 vehicles passing per day), PM1, including organic aerosol, was dominated by aged continental air masses even at the curbside site. The fraction of thickly coated particles at the urban site was highly correlated with the mass concentrations of all measured chemical species of PM1, consistent with aged, internally mixed aerosol. Trajectory analysis for the whole year showed that air masses arriving at the rural site from eastern Europe contained approximately double the amount of BC compared to air masses from western Europe. Furthermore, the largest regional emissions of BC transported to the rural site, from the Malmö-Copenhagen urban area, are discernible above background levels only when precipitation events are excluded. We show that continental Europe and not the Malmö-Copenhagen region is the major contributor to the background BC mass concentrations in southern Sweden.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
volume
23
issue
5
pages
14 pages
publisher
Copernicus GmbH
external identifiers
  • scopus:85150210490
ISSN
1680-7316
DOI
10.5194/acp-23-3051-2023
project
Continental Biosphere Aerosol Cloud climate feedback loop during the Anthropocene
Modelling atmospheric new particle formation from first principles – The role of Highly Oxygenated organic Molecules in clean and polluted air
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
09f579ee-c8af-4e1a-8579-d23117cd61fa
date added to LUP
2023-05-05 09:17:34
date last changed
2023-11-21 02:59:46
@article{09f579ee-c8af-4e1a-8579-d23117cd61fa,
  abstract     = {{<p>Soot, or black carbon (BC), aerosol is a major climate forcer with severe health effects. The impacts depend strongly on particle number concentration, size and mixing state. This work reports on two field campaigns at nearby urban and rural sites, 65gkm apart, in southern Sweden during late summer 2018. BC was measured using a single-particle soot photometer (SP2) and Aethalometers (AE33). Differences in BC concentrations between the sites are driven primarily by local traffic emissions. Equivalent and refractory BC mass concentrations at the urban site were on average a factor 2.2 and 2.5, with peaks during rush hour up to a factor g1/44, higher than the rural background levels. The number fraction of particles containing a soot core was significantly higher in the city. BC particles at the urban site were on average smaller by mass and had less coating owing to fresh traffic emissions. The organic components of the fresh traffic plumes were similar in mass spectral signature to hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol (HOA), commonly associated with traffic. Despite the intense local traffic (g1/4g30g000 vehicles passing per day), PM1, including organic aerosol, was dominated by aged continental air masses even at the curbside site. The fraction of thickly coated particles at the urban site was highly correlated with the mass concentrations of all measured chemical species of PM1, consistent with aged, internally mixed aerosol. Trajectory analysis for the whole year showed that air masses arriving at the rural site from eastern Europe contained approximately double the amount of BC compared to air masses from western Europe. Furthermore, the largest regional emissions of BC transported to the rural site, from the Malmö-Copenhagen urban area, are discernible above background levels only when precipitation events are excluded. We show that continental Europe and not the Malmö-Copenhagen region is the major contributor to the background BC mass concentrations in southern Sweden.</p>}},
  author       = {{Ahlberg, Erik and Ausmeel, Stina and Nilsson, Lovisa and Spanne, Mårten and Pauraite, Julija and Klenø Nøjgaard, Jacob and Bertò, Michele and Skov, Henrik and Roldin, Pontus and Kristensson, Adam and Swietlicki, Erik and Eriksson, Axel}},
  issn         = {{1680-7316}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{3051--3064}},
  publisher    = {{Copernicus GmbH}},
  series       = {{Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics}},
  title        = {{Measurement report : Black carbon properties and concentrations in southern Sweden urban and rural air-the importance of long-range transport}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3051-2023}},
  doi          = {{10.5194/acp-23-3051-2023}},
  volume       = {{23}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}