Workplace personal exposure to respirable PM fraction: a study in sixteen indoor environments

AbstractThe present paper focuses on respirable particulate matter (RPM) measurements conducted at the breathing zone of adult volunteers in sixteen different working environments: two offices, a house, a chemical laboratory, a non–smoking shop, a pharmacy store, a car garage, a hairdresser's store, a photocopy store, a taxi, a gym, a mall, a restaurant, a bar, a kiosk and a school. The sixteen different cases were categorized according to the location, the type of the activities taking place indoors, the number of occupants, the proximity to heavy traffic roads, the ventilation pattern etc. According to the results, the maximum particle concentration (in average 285μg m−3) was recorded at the hairdresser store while the minimum concentration was measured in the cases of the housewife and the employee in the non–smoking shop (in average 30μg m−3). The results indicated smoking as a factor which strongly influences the exposure levels of both smokers and passive smokers. Furthermore, it was found that the building ventilation pattern comprises an important factor influencing the exposure levels especially in cases of buildings with great number of visitors (resuspension) and smoking

AIRUSE-LIFE +: Estimation of natural source contributions to urban ambient air PM10 and PM2. 5 concentrations in southern Europe - Implications to compliance with limit values

The contribution of natural sources to ambient air particulate matter (PM) concentrations is often not considered; however, it may be significant for certain areas and during specific periods of the year. In the framework of the AIRUSE-LIFE+ project, state-of-the-art methods have been employed for assessing the contribution of major natural sources (African dust, sea salt and forest fires) to PM concentrations, in southern European urban areas. 24h measurements of PM10 and PM2.5 mass and chemical composition were performed over the course of a year in five cities: Porto, Barcelona, Milan, Florence and Athens. Net African dust and sea-salt concentrations were calculated based on the methodologies proposed by the EC (SEC 2011/208). The contribution of uncontrolled forest fires was calculated through receptor modelling. Sensitivity analysis with respect to the calculation of African dust was also performed, in order to identify major parameters affecting the estimated net dust concentrations. African dust contribution to PM concentrations was more pronounced in the eastern Mediterranean, with the mean annual relative contribution to PM10 decreasing from 21% in Athens, to 5% in Florence, and around 2% in Milan, Barcelona and Porto. The respective contribution to PM2. 5 was calculated equal to 14% in Athens and from 1.3 to 2.4% in all other cities. High seasonal variability of contributions was observed, with dust transport events occurring at different periods in the western and eastern Mediterranean basin. Sea salt was mostly related to the coarse mode and also exhibited significant seasonal variability. Sea-salt concentrations were highest in Porto, with average relative contributions equal to 12.3% for PM10. Contributions from uncontrolled forest fires were quantified only for Porto and were low on an annual basis (1.4 and 1.9% to PM10 and PM2. 5, respectively); nevertheless, contributions were greatly increased during events, reaching 20 and 22% of 24h PM10 and PM2. 5 concentrations, respectively. © Author(s) 2017.The authors gratefully acknowledge (i) the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and READY website (http://www.ready.noaa.gov); (ii) the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre for the provision of the BSC-DREAM8b (Dust REgional Atmospheric Model) model (http://www.bsc.es/projects/earthscience/ BSC-DREAM/); and (iii) Andreas Stohl (NILU), Gerhard Wotawa and Petra Seibert (Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics, Vienna) and ECMWF (European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast) for the provision of FLEXTRA model. This work was funded by the AIRUSE LIFE+ (ENV/ES/584) EU project. Financial support from the EnTeC FP7 Capacities programme (REGPOT-2012-2013-1, FP7, ID: 316173) projects is also acknowledgedPeer reviewe

PM10 and PM2.5 Concentrations of chemical tracers for natural sources

The contribution of natural sources in particulate matter (PM) concentrations has been assessed for 5 Southern European cities: Porto (Portugal), Barcelona (Spain), Milan and Florence (Italy) and Athens (Greece). A database on the impact of natural source has been compiled, including concentrations of PM and chemical tracers used for the identification and quantification of African dust and sea salt contributions, as well as the calculated African net dust, and sea salt concentrations for each city. In addition, wildfires’ contribution is provided for Porto. Both PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations are reported for a total of six sites: Porto urban traffic site, POR-TR Barcelona urban background site, BCN-UB Milano urban background site, MLN-UB Florence urban background site, FI-UB Athens suburban site, ATH-SUB Athens urban traffic site, ATH-TR