Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Aerosol Measurements and Analysis

Blomdell, Maj LU and Lundin, Ida LU (2012) FYSK01 20121
Department of Physics
Abstract
Abstract
The greatest source of hazardous airborne particles in an urban environment comes from traffic
exhaust. Air pollution has a great impact on human health; estimated to cause 1.3 million deaths
worldwide per year. About half of all mortality caused by air pollution can be linked to motorized
traffic. There are several other sources that contribute to our polluted environment; from both
natural and anthropogenic origin.
The aim of this bachelor thesis is to determine the size distribution of aerosol particles, study
variations in particle size and concentration over time and study diurnal variation and other trends,
caused by meteorological conditions. This thesis analysis is made on the data from an Exposure
study in... (More)
Abstract
The greatest source of hazardous airborne particles in an urban environment comes from traffic
exhaust. Air pollution has a great impact on human health; estimated to cause 1.3 million deaths
worldwide per year. About half of all mortality caused by air pollution can be linked to motorized
traffic. There are several other sources that contribute to our polluted environment; from both
natural and anthropogenic origin.
The aim of this bachelor thesis is to determine the size distribution of aerosol particles, study
variations in particle size and concentration over time and study diurnal variation and other trends,
caused by meteorological conditions. This thesis analysis is made on the data from an Exposure
study in Copenhagen, which was collaboration between the Health Department in Copenhagen and
Ergonomics- and Aerosol Technology, Lund University. Our analysis of the measurement data was
made from 20/12/2011-2/2/2012. Since the period is over New Year’s Eve, this specifically will be
studied. The technique of trajectories is used to track the particles and try to determine where the
air parcel comes from.
From the SMPS data we can see different trends in the size distribution and particle number
depending on meteorology and diurnal variations. New Year’s Eve shows a very different particle
size distribution in comparison with other nights, the size of the particles is much larger this night
and the number of particles shows a significant peak between 24.00-01.00.
We can see that the average particle number distribution does not differ so much between the three
months, even though we have two peaks over 40,000 particles in December. In the end of January
the volume increases and we can see a correlation with decreasing temperature and winds coming
from East. We can observe larger amount of particles every time the wind changes direction.
The highest concentration of particles is in the range between 10-100 nm, which corresponds well
with the theory. The particles in this range are the most hazardous to human health since they are
small and deposit in the deep lung. This is favorable when doing human exposure studies.
The diurnal pattern in concentration due to traffic is not as distinct as we thought during rush hours;
instead we have an increase in concentration during daytime. This can be due to road works and the
local topography with the open street space and the four lakes, which contribute to a large mixing
volume.
When we see an increase of particles during night time it can be correlated to change in wind
directions. When the wind blows from the east we can see an increase in larger particles which is
correlated to long range transport, likely explained by observations made of a lot of industries with
strong emissions located in Poland, Germany and other locations where the wind has travelled over. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Blomdell, Maj LU and Lundin, Ida LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Categorization of Airborne Particles in an Urban Environment
course
FYSK01 20121
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Aerosol particles, particle size distributions, diurnal variations.
language
English
id
2861092
date added to LUP
2012-08-29 15:56:59
date last changed
2012-11-12 22:19:05
@misc{2861092,
  abstract     = {{Abstract
The greatest source of hazardous airborne particles in an urban environment comes from traffic
exhaust. Air pollution has a great impact on human health; estimated to cause 1.3 million deaths
worldwide per year. About half of all mortality caused by air pollution can be linked to motorized
traffic. There are several other sources that contribute to our polluted environment; from both
natural and anthropogenic origin.
The aim of this bachelor thesis is to determine the size distribution of aerosol particles, study
variations in particle size and concentration over time and study diurnal variation and other trends,
caused by meteorological conditions. This thesis analysis is made on the data from an Exposure
study in Copenhagen, which was collaboration between the Health Department in Copenhagen and
Ergonomics- and Aerosol Technology, Lund University. Our analysis of the measurement data was
made from 20/12/2011-2/2/2012. Since the period is over New Year’s Eve, this specifically will be
studied. The technique of trajectories is used to track the particles and try to determine where the
air parcel comes from.
From the SMPS data we can see different trends in the size distribution and particle number
depending on meteorology and diurnal variations. New Year’s Eve shows a very different particle
size distribution in comparison with other nights, the size of the particles is much larger this night
and the number of particles shows a significant peak between 24.00-01.00.
We can see that the average particle number distribution does not differ so much between the three
months, even though we have two peaks over 40,000 particles in December. In the end of January
the volume increases and we can see a correlation with decreasing temperature and winds coming
from East. We can observe larger amount of particles every time the wind changes direction.
The highest concentration of particles is in the range between 10-100 nm, which corresponds well
with the theory. The particles in this range are the most hazardous to human health since they are
small and deposit in the deep lung. This is favorable when doing human exposure studies.
The diurnal pattern in concentration due to traffic is not as distinct as we thought during rush hours;
instead we have an increase in concentration during daytime. This can be due to road works and the
local topography with the open street space and the four lakes, which contribute to a large mixing
volume.
When we see an increase of particles during night time it can be correlated to change in wind
directions. When the wind blows from the east we can see an increase in larger particles which is
correlated to long range transport, likely explained by observations made of a lot of industries with
strong emissions located in Poland, Germany and other locations where the wind has travelled over.}},
  author       = {{Blomdell, Maj and Lundin, Ida}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Aerosol Measurements and Analysis}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}