Continuous measurements of aerosol physical parameters at the Mt. Cimone GAW Station (2165 m asl, Italy)

Particle size distribution in the range 0.3 < Dp < 20 µm, has been analysed from August 2002 to July 2006 at the GAW Station of Mt. Cimone (44.10 N, 10.42 E; 2165 m asl) in the northern Italian Apennines. The seasonal aerosol number size distribution, characterized by a bimodal shape, showed a behaviour typical for background conditions, characterized by highest values in summer and lowest in winter. The seasonal and diurnal variations of the larger accumulation mode (0.3 < Dp < 1 µm average values: 26.15 cm- 3) and the coarse mode (1 < Dp < 20 µm, average value: 0.17 cm-3) particle number concentrations (N0.3–1 and N1–20, respectively) exhibited a seasonal cycle with the highest values in spring–summer and the lowest value in autumn–winter. Except in winter, N0.3–1 showed a clear diurnal variation with high values during day-time. N1–20 showed a less marked diurnal variation (but with higher variability), suggesting the influence of non-continuous sources of coarse particle (i.e. Saharan dust events). Since July 2005, continuous measurement of black carbon (BC) concentrations was also available at the measurement site. On average low BC concentrations were recorded (average value: 0.28 µg m-3) even if a few events of high concentrations were recorded both in warm and cold season. Apart from wet scavenging processes which strongly affected aerosol concentrations, combined analysis of N0.3–1, BC, meteorological parameters and air mass back-trajectories, suggests that the transport of polluted air masses from the lower troposphere (by local, regional or long-range transport) represents an important mechanism favouring N0.3–1 and BC increases at Mt. Cimone. In particular, a trajectory statistical analysis for the period July 2005–July 2006 allowed the identification of the main source regions of BC and N0.3–1 for Mt. Cimone: north Italy, west Europe and east Europe.

Citation proposal
Angela Marinoni (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Paolo Cristofanelli (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Paolo Bonasoni (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Francescopiero Calzolari (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Fabrizio Roccato (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Ubaldo Bonafè (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) (2006) . Continuous measurements of aerosol physical parameters at the Mt. Cimone GAW Station (2165 m asl, Italy). Elsevier Science Publishing Company https://geoportal.mountaingenius.org/geonetwork/srv/api/records/a26e0e0a-d5fe-45ea-a1ef-4f37875c93f4

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File identifier: a26e0e0a-d5fe-45ea-a1ef-4f37875c93f4 XML

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Protocol: WWW:LINK-1.0-http--related

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Metadata language: eng

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code: WGS84

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Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere
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Environment

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Coupled resource

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Keywords ( Theme )

Share , GAW

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Research , High Altitude Station

Keywords ( Theme )

Aerosol , Back-trajectories , Size distribution , Black carbon , Pollution , Transport processes

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Date ( Publication ): 2006-09-11T00:00:00

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“Continuous measurements of aerosol physical parameters at the Mt. Cimone GAW Station (2165 m asl, Italy)”.

A. Marinoni, P. Cristofanelli, F. Calzolari, F. Roccato, U. Bonafè, P. Bonasoni. Science of The Total Environment Volume 391, Issues 2-3, 1 March 2008, Pages 241-251