Carbon isotope compositions and TC/OC/EC levels in atmospheric PM10 from Lower Silesia (SW Poland): Spatial variations, seasonality, sources and implications

Özet

PM10 samples were collected at eight monitoring (urban, industrial and regional background) stations during2011 in SW Poland (Voivodeship of Lower Silesia) with the objectives of identifying their potential sources, aswell as of quantitatively estimating the anthropogenic impact on their carbon content by coupling carbon stableisotope compositions of the total carbon (TC) with organic (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) concentrations.Results showed that (i) the highest OC and EC concentrations measured at the five urban background stationswere 11.9 and 1.9 μg m−3, respectively, with an average δ13CTC of −26.5 ± 1.13‰. Annual average concentrations measured (ii) at the industrial and (iii) the two regional stations were similar for OC (6.9 and6.4 μg m−3, respectively) and EC (0.9 and 0.8 μg m−3, respectively) with average δ13CTC of −27.4 ± 0.81 and−27.6 ± 0.99‰, respectively. This indicates that similar contamination sources explain the PM10 levels atstations (ii) and (iii), however significantly different from the source(s) influencing station (i). Moreover, usingan isotope mass balance that incorporates δ13CTC and OC and EC concentrations, we show that while during theheating season coal is the dominant source of aerosol contamination (with contributions ranging from 5.1 to73.8 μg m−3), during the vegetative season road traffic is the dominant one (with contributions ranging from 2.2to 20.2 μg m−3). These large ranges confirm the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of air contamination, even withinsuch a small monitoring area, and should be taken into consideration for future implementation of air qualitymanagement measures at larger, e.g. national and international, scales.