Machine-Learning-Driven Reconstruction of Organic Aerosol Sources across Dense Monitoring Networks in Europe

Fine particulate matter (PM) poses a major threat to public health, with organic aerosol (OA) being a key component. Major OA sources, hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA), biomass burning OA (BBOA), and oxygenated OA (OOA), have distinct health and environmental impacts. However, OA source apportionment via positive matrix factorization (PMF) applied to aerosol mass spectrometry (AMS) or aerosol chemical speciation monitoring (ACSM) data is costly and limited to a few supersites, leaving over 80% of OA data uncategorized in global monitoring networks. To address this gap, we trained machine learning models to predict HOA, BBOA, and OOA using limited OA source apportionment data and widely available organic carbon (OC) measurements across Europe (2010–2019). Our best performing model expanded the OA source data set 4-fold, yielding 85 000 daily apportionment values across 180 sites. Results show that HOA and BBOA peak in winter, particularly in urban areas, while OOA, consistently the dominant fraction, is more regionally distributed with less seasonal variability. This study provides a significantly expanded OA source data set, enabling better identification of pollution hotspots and supporting high-resolution exposure assessments.

JOUANNY Adrien;  UPADHYAY Abhishek;  JIANG Jianhui;  VASILAKOS Petros;  VIA Marta;  CHENG Yun;  FLUECKIGER Benjamin;  UZU Gaëlle;  JAFFREZO J.L.;  VOIRON Céline;  FAVEZ Olivier;  CHEBAICHEB Hasna;  BOURIN Aude;  FONT Anna;  RIFFAULT V.;  FRENEY Evelyn;  MARCHAND Nicolas;  CHAZEAU Benjamin;  CONIL Sébastien;  PETIT Jean-Eudes;  DE LA ROSA J C;  SANCHEZ DE LA CAMPA VERDONA Ana;  SANCHEZ-RODAS NAVARRO Daniel;  CASTILLO Sonia;  ALASTUEY Andres;  QUEROL X.;  RECHE Cristina;  MINGUILLÓN M. C.;  MAASIKMETS Marek;  KEERNIK Hannes;  GIARDI Fabio;  COLOMBI C.;  CUCCIA Eleonora;  GILARDONI S.;  RINALDI Matteo;  PAGLIONE Marco;  POLUZZI Vanes;  MASSABÒ Dario;  BELIS Claudio;  GRANGE Stuart;  HUEGLIN Christoph;  CANONACO Francesco;  TOBLER Anna;  TIMONEN Hilkka;  AURELA M;  EHN Mikael;  STAVROULAS Iasonas;  BOUGIATIOTI Aikaterini;  ELEFTHERIADIS K.;  GINI Maria I.;  ZOGRAFOU Olga;  MANOUSAKAS Manousos-Ioannis;  CHEN Gang I.;  GREEN Christopher;  POKORNA Petra;  VODIČKA Petr;  LHOTKA Radek;  SCHWARZ J.;  SCHEMMEL Andrea;  ATABAKHSH Samira;  HERRMANN Hartmut;  POULAIN Laurent;  FLENTJE Harald;  HEIKKINEN Liine;  KUMAR Varun;  VAN DER GON Hugo Anne Denier;  AAS Wenche;  PLATT Stephen M.;  YTTRI Karl Espen;  SALMA Imre;  VASANITS Anikó;  BERGMANS Benjamin;  SOSEDOVA Yulia;  NECKI Jaroslaw;  OVADNEVAITE Jurgita;  LIN Chunshui;  PAURAITE Julija;  PIKRIDAS Michael;  SCIARE J;  VASILESCU Jeni;  BELEGANTE Livio;  ALVES C;  SLOWIK Jay;  PROBST-HENSCH Nicole;  VIENNEAU Danielle;  PREVOT Andre S. H.;  AIMAN MEDBOUHI Aniss;  BANOS Daniel Trejo;  DE HOOGH Kees;  DAELLENBACH Kaspar;  KRYMOVA Ekaterina;  EL HADDAD Imad; 

2025-11-20

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

JRC144317

2328-8930 (online),   

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.5c00771,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC144317,   

10.1021/acs.estlett.5c00771 (online),