Size-resolved aerosol chemical composition over the Italian Peninsula during typical summer and winter conditions

In the frame of the MIUR-AEROCLOUDS project (Study of Direct and Indirect Aerosol Effects on Climate), night-time and daytime size-segregated aerosol samples were collected concurrently at five different sites (near-city, urban, rural, marine and mountain background sites). The paper reports on the daily evolution of the main aerosol chemical characteristics as a function of particle size in different environments over the Italian Peninsula, spanning from the Po Valley to the south Tyrrhenian coast.

Two 4-day intensive observation periods (IOPs) were undertaken in July 2007 and February 2008, under meteorological conditions typical of the summer and winter climate for Italy.

In the summer IOP, under stable atmospheric conditions, at the low-altitude continental sites the diurnal evolution of the planetary boundary layer (PBL), induces an atmospheric dilution effect driving the particulate matter (PM) concentrations, while, at the mountain site, it determines the upward motion of polluted air masses from the Po Valley PBL in daytime.

The fine fraction was dominated by ammonium salts and carbonaceous matter (water-soluble organic matter, WSOM, and water-insoluble carbonaceous matter, WINCM). High concentrations of ammonium sulphate and WSOM due to enhanced photochemical activity constituted the background aerosol composition over the whole country, whereas, ammonium nitrate and WINCM were more associated to local emissions (e.g. urban site with concentrations peaking in the finest size range due to strong local traffic-related sources of ultrafine particles).

During the winter IOP in the Po Valley, the shallow PBL depths and low wind velocity, especially at night, favoured the condensation of semi-volatile species (i.e. organic matter and ammonium nitrate), causing the high fine PM concentration observed at ground level.

Citation proposal
Stefano Decesari (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Emanuela Finessi (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Sandro Fuzzi (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Gian Paolo Gobbi (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Federico Angelini (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Maria Cristina Facchini (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Claudio Carbone (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Matteo Rinaldi (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Lara Giulianelli (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Angela Marinoni (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Rocco Duchi (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC) - CNR) - Mihaela Mircea (ENEA) - Cinzia Perrino (CNR - Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research) - Tiziana Sargolini (CNR - Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research) - Massimiliano Vardè (University of Rome Sapienza, Department of Public Health Science "G. Sanarelli") - Francesca Sprovieri (CNR - Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research) (2010) . Size-resolved aerosol chemical composition over the Italian Peninsula during typical summer and winter conditions. Elsevier Science Publishing Company https://geoportal.mountaingenius.org/geonetwork/srv/api/records/ed5cef10-5a6d-4573-9ab3-a4c656b4de78

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File identifier: ed5cef10-5a6d-4573-9ab3-a4c656b4de78 XML

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Protocol: WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-http--download

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Metadata language: eng

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Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere

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Size-segregated , Aerosol , Chemical composition

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Italy , Po valley

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Date ( Publication ): 2010-09-21T00:00:00

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"Size-resolved aerosol chemical composition over the Italian Peninsula during typical summer and winter conditions".

Atmospheric Environment, v. 44, iss. 39, p. 5269-5278.

Carbone, C., Decesari, S., Mircea, M., Giulianelli, L., Finessi, E., Rinaldi, M., Fuzzi, S., Marinoni, A., Duchi, R., Perrino, C., Sargolini, T., Vardè, M., Sprovieri, F., Gobbi, G.P., Angelini, F., Facchini, M.C.