Investigating the Sensitivity of Low-Cost Sensors in Measuring Particle Number Concentrations across Diverse Atmospheric Conditions in Greece and Spain
Low-cost sensors (LCSs) for particulate matter (PM) concentrations have attracted the interest of researchers, supplementing their efforts to quantify PM in higher spatiotemporal resolution. The precision of PM mass concentration measurements from PMS 5003 sensors has been widely documented, though...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/14/6541 |
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| author | Georgios Kosmopoulos Vasileios Salamalikis Stefan Wilbert Luis F. Zarzalejo Natalie Hanrieder Stylianos Karatzas Andreas Kazantzidis |
| author_facet | Georgios Kosmopoulos Vasileios Salamalikis Stefan Wilbert Luis F. Zarzalejo Natalie Hanrieder Stylianos Karatzas Andreas Kazantzidis |
| author_sort | Georgios Kosmopoulos |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Low-cost sensors (LCSs) for particulate matter (PM) concentrations have attracted the interest of researchers, supplementing their efforts to quantify PM in higher spatiotemporal resolution. The precision of PM mass concentration measurements from PMS 5003 sensors has been widely documented, though limited information is available regarding their size selectivity and number concentration measurement accuracy. In this work, PMS 5003 sensors, along with a Federal Referral Methods (FRM) sampler (Grimm spectrometer), were deployed across three sites with different atmospheric profiles, an urban (Germanou) and a background (UPat) site in Patras (Greece), and a semi-arid site in Almería (Spain, PSA). The LCSs particle number concentration measurements were investigated for different size bins. Findings for particles with diameter between 0.3 and 10 μm suggest that particle size significantly affected the LCSs’ response. The LCSs could accurately detect number concentrations for particles smaller than 1 μm in the urban (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.9) and background sites (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.92), while a modest correlation was found with the reference instrument in the semi-arid area (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.69). However, their performance was rather poor (R<sup>2</sup> < 0.31) for coarser aerosol fractions at all sites. Moreover, during periods when coarse particles were dominant, i.e., dust events, PMS 5003 sensors were unable to report accurate number distributions (R<sup>2</sup> values < 0.47) and systematically underestimated particle number concentrations. The results indicate that several questions arise concerning the sensors’ capabilities to estimate PM<sub>2.5</sub> and PM<sub>10</sub> concentrations, since their size distribution did not agree with the reference instruments. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T00:39:43Z |
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| id | doaj.art-1aa10d5ea7df469a95158ace43b8af96 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T00:39:43Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-1aa10d5ea7df469a95158ace43b8af962023-11-18T21:19:10ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202023-07-012314654110.3390/s23146541Investigating the Sensitivity of Low-Cost Sensors in Measuring Particle Number Concentrations across Diverse Atmospheric Conditions in Greece and SpainGeorgios Kosmopoulos0Vasileios Salamalikis1Stefan Wilbert2Luis F. Zarzalejo3Natalie Hanrieder4Stylianos Karatzas5Andreas Kazantzidis6Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics, Department of Physics, University of Patras, GR 26500 Patras, GreeceNILU—Norwegian Institute for Air Research, P.O. Box 100, 2027 Kjeller, NorwayInstitute of Solar Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Paseo de Almería 73, 04001 Almería, SpainRenewable Energy Division, CIEMAT Energy Department, Avenida Complutense, 40, 28040 Madrid, SpainInstitute of Solar Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Paseo de Almería 73, 04001 Almería, SpainCivil Engineering Department, University of Patras, GR 26500 Patras, GreeceLaboratory of Atmospheric Physics, Department of Physics, University of Patras, GR 26500 Patras, GreeceLow-cost sensors (LCSs) for particulate matter (PM) concentrations have attracted the interest of researchers, supplementing their efforts to quantify PM in higher spatiotemporal resolution. The precision of PM mass concentration measurements from PMS 5003 sensors has been widely documented, though limited information is available regarding their size selectivity and number concentration measurement accuracy. In this work, PMS 5003 sensors, along with a Federal Referral Methods (FRM) sampler (Grimm spectrometer), were deployed across three sites with different atmospheric profiles, an urban (Germanou) and a background (UPat) site in Patras (Greece), and a semi-arid site in Almería (Spain, PSA). The LCSs particle number concentration measurements were investigated for different size bins. Findings for particles with diameter between 0.3 and 10 μm suggest that particle size significantly affected the LCSs’ response. The LCSs could accurately detect number concentrations for particles smaller than 1 μm in the urban (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.9) and background sites (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.92), while a modest correlation was found with the reference instrument in the semi-arid area (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.69). However, their performance was rather poor (R<sup>2</sup> < 0.31) for coarser aerosol fractions at all sites. Moreover, during periods when coarse particles were dominant, i.e., dust events, PMS 5003 sensors were unable to report accurate number distributions (R<sup>2</sup> values < 0.47) and systematically underestimated particle number concentrations. The results indicate that several questions arise concerning the sensors’ capabilities to estimate PM<sub>2.5</sub> and PM<sub>10</sub> concentrations, since their size distribution did not agree with the reference instruments.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/14/6541particulate mattermass concentrationnumber concentrationlow-cost sensorssensors’ particle-size selectivity |
| spellingShingle | Georgios Kosmopoulos Vasileios Salamalikis Stefan Wilbert Luis F. Zarzalejo Natalie Hanrieder Stylianos Karatzas Andreas Kazantzidis Investigating the Sensitivity of Low-Cost Sensors in Measuring Particle Number Concentrations across Diverse Atmospheric Conditions in Greece and Spain Sensors particulate matter mass concentration number concentration low-cost sensors sensors’ particle-size selectivity |
| title | Investigating the Sensitivity of Low-Cost Sensors in Measuring Particle Number Concentrations across Diverse Atmospheric Conditions in Greece and Spain |
| title_full | Investigating the Sensitivity of Low-Cost Sensors in Measuring Particle Number Concentrations across Diverse Atmospheric Conditions in Greece and Spain |
| title_fullStr | Investigating the Sensitivity of Low-Cost Sensors in Measuring Particle Number Concentrations across Diverse Atmospheric Conditions in Greece and Spain |
| title_full_unstemmed | Investigating the Sensitivity of Low-Cost Sensors in Measuring Particle Number Concentrations across Diverse Atmospheric Conditions in Greece and Spain |
| title_short | Investigating the Sensitivity of Low-Cost Sensors in Measuring Particle Number Concentrations across Diverse Atmospheric Conditions in Greece and Spain |
| title_sort | investigating the sensitivity of low cost sensors in measuring particle number concentrations across diverse atmospheric conditions in greece and spain |
| topic | particulate matter mass concentration number concentration low-cost sensors sensors’ particle-size selectivity |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/14/6541 |
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