Source Contributions to Rural Carbonaceous Winter Aerosol in North-Eastern Poland

• Main Authors: Adam Kristensson, Stina Ausmeel, Julija Pauraite, Axel Eriksson, Erik Ahlberg, Steigvilė Byčenkienė, Anna Degórska
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-03-01
• Series: Atmosphere
• Subjects: source apportionment; aethalometer; aae; oc/ec; levoglucosan; wood combustion; coal combustion; domestic; bc; pm2.5
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/11/3/263

Concentrations of aerosol particles in Poland and their sources are rarely discussed in peer-reviewed journal articles despite serious air quality issues. A source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosol particles was performed during winter at a rural background environment field site in north-eastern Poland. Data were used of light absorption at seven wavelengths and levoglucosan concentrations along existing monitoring of PM_2.5, organic carbon and elemental carbon (OC/EC) at the Diabła Góra EMEP monitoring site between January 17 and March 19 during the EMEP intensive winter campaign of 2018. Average PM_2.5, OC, EC, equivalent black carbon (eBC) and levoglucosan concentrations and standard deviations amounted to 18.5 ± 9.3, 4.5 ± 2.5, 0.57 ± 0.28, 1.04 ± 0.62 and 0.134 ± 0.084 µg m^−3 respectively. Various tools for source apportionment were used to obtain a source contribution to carbonaceous matter (CM) with three components. The wood combustion source component contributed 1.63 µg m^−3 (21%), domestic coal combustion 3.3 µg m^−3 (41%) and road transport exhaust 2.9 µg m^−3 (38%). Similar levels and temporal variability were found for the nearby Lithuanian site of Preila, corroborating the Polish results.