Reconstructing elemental carbon long-term trend in the Po Valley (Italy) from fog water samples

Elemental carbon (EC) a ubiquitous component of fine atmospheric aerosol derived from 21 incomplete combustion is an important player for both climate change and air quality deterioration. 22 Several policy measures have been implemented over the last decades to reduce EC emissions from 23 anthropogenic sources, but still long term EC measurements to verify the efficacy of such 24 measurements are limited. In this study, we analyze the concentration of EC suspended in fog water 25 samples collected over the period 1997-2016 in a rural background site of the southern Po Valley. 26 The comparison between EC in fog water and EC atmospheric aerosol concentration measured since 27 2012 allowed us to reconstruct EC atmospheric concentration from fog water chemical composition 28 back to 1997. The results agree with EC atmospheric observations performed at the EMEP station of 29 Ispra in the northern part of the Po Valley since 2002, and confirm that the Po Valley is a pollution 30 hot spot, not only in urban areas, but also in rural locations. The reconstructed trend over the period 31 1997-2016 indicates that EC concentration during the winter season have decreased on average by 32 6% per year, in agreement with the emission reduction rate, confirming the effectiveness of air 33 quality measures implemented during the past 20 years.

GILARDONI Stefania;  TAROZZI Leone;  SANDRINI Silvia;  IELPO Pierina;  CONTINI Daniele;  PUTAUD Jean-Philippe;  CAVALLI Fabrizia;  POUZZI Vanes;  BACCO Dimitri;  LEONARDI Cristina;  GENGA Alessandra;  LANGONE Leonardo;  FUZZI Sandro; 

2021-02-04

MDPI

JRC121378

2073-4433 (online),   

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/11/6/580,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC121378,   

10.3390/atmos11060580 (online),