Total carbon and benzo(a)pyrene in particulate matter over a Polish urban site – A combined effect of major anthropogenic sources and air mass transport

Özet

Anthropogenic sources have a significant impact on air quality in urbanized areas and can contribute to largevariability of atmospheric particle sizes, its matrix composition and potential for toxicological effects on environmentand public health. This paper presents data from one-year measurements of total carbon (TC) andparticulate phase benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) in aerosol samples collected at the urban site in central Poland, in 2014.The role of meteorological conditions and different local/regional sources in the intraannual variability of TCand BaP in total suspended particles was examined. Atmospheric concentrations of TC and BaP were higherduring the cold sampling period (winter and fall) than in summer, suggesting significant contribution of localcombustion processes (mostly related to industrial activities, coal/wood burning for residential heating, trafficemission) to wintertime aerosol loading. Also, high TC and BaP concentrations in particulate matter duringwintertime observations were forced by specific meteorological conditions, i.e. below zero ambient air temperature,lower solar radiation, lower height of urban mixing boundary layer, stable atmospheric conditions. Incontrast to the winter study period, in summer the particulate phase BaP showed small variation and lowerconcentrations, probably as an effect of considerable reduction in emission related to residential sector, photochemicalreaction with oxidizing agents, higher partitioning towards the gas phase and higher precipitationheight.