Nucleation and Growth of New Particles in the Rural Atmosphere of Northern Italy - Relationship to Air Quality Monitoring

This study investigates the relationship between aerosols numer size distribution, particulate black carbon and PM mass as well as gaseous pollutants recorded at the ISPRA rural site. The daily mean levels of the aerosol properties at ISPRA rural site are well correlated with the PM-mass concentrations (PM10 & TSP) at other regional air quality monitoring sites. The mean particle size is observed to increase with PM levels. Condensation and nucleation processes exert a significant influence on the daily and seasonal evolution, as well as in the day-to-day variations, of the submicron aerosol size distribution. Nucleation episodes occur frequently during Northern Foehn events. The anti-correlation between the aerosol V and the number of ultrafine particles we have observed, has important implications on the strategies for the air quality monitoring which are discusses in this paper.

RODRIGUEZ Sergio;  VAN DINGENEN Rita;  PUTAUD Jean-Philippe;  MARTINS DOS SANTOS Sebastiao;  ROSELLI Davide; 

2005-10-26

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

JRC30750