Source contributions to 2012 summertime aerosols in the Euro-Mediterranean region
In the Mediterranean area, aerosols may originate from anthropogenic or natural emissions (biogenic, mineral dust, fire and sea salt) before undergoing complex chemistry. In case of a huge pollution event, it is important to know whether European pollution limits are exceeded and, if so, whether the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2015-07-01
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| Series: | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
| Online Access: | http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/15/8013/2015/acp-15-8013-2015.pdf |
| _version_ | 1828728014361329664 |
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| author | G. Rea S. Turquety L. Menut R. Briant S. Mailler G. Siour |
| author_facet | G. Rea S. Turquety L. Menut R. Briant S. Mailler G. Siour |
| author_sort | G. Rea |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In the Mediterranean area, aerosols may originate from anthropogenic or
natural emissions (biogenic, mineral dust, fire and sea salt) before
undergoing complex chemistry. In case of a huge pollution event, it is
important to know whether European pollution limits are exceeded and, if so,
whether the pollution is due to anthropogenic or natural sources. In this
study, the relative contribution of emissions to surface PM<sub>10</sub>, surface
PM<sub>2.5</sub> and total aerosol optical depth (AOD) is quantified. For Europe
and the Mediterranean regions and during the summer of 2012, the WRF and
CHIMERE models are used to perform a sensitivity analysis on a 50 km
resolution domain (from −10° W to 40° E and from
30° N to 55° N): one simulation with all sources
(reference) and all others with one source removed. The reference simulation
is compared to data from the AirBase network and two ChArMEx stations, and
from the AERONET network and the MODIS satellite instrument, to quantify the
ability of the model to reproduce the observations. It is shown that the
correlation ranges from 0.19 to 0.57 for surface particulate matter and from
0.35 to 0.75 for AOD. For the summer of 2012, the model shows that the region
is mainly influenced by aerosols due to mineral dust and anthropogenic
emissions (62 and 19 %, respectively, of total surface PM<sub>10</sub> and 17
and 52 % of total surface PM<sub>2.5</sub>). The western part of the
Mediterranean is strongly influenced by mineral dust emissions (86 % for
surface PM<sub>10</sub> and 44 % for PM<sub>2.5</sub>), while anthropogenic emissions
dominate in the northern Mediterranean basin (up to 75 % for PM<sub>2.5</sub>).
Fire emissions are more sporadic but may represent 20 % of surface
PM<sub>2.5</sub>, on average, during the period near local sources. Sea salt mainly
contributes for coastal sites (up to 29 %) and biogenic emissions mainly
in central Europe (up to 20 %).
<br><br>
The same analysis was undertaken for the number of daily exceedances of the
European Union limit of 50 μg m<sup>−3</sup> for PM<sub>10</sub> (over the
stations), and for the number of daily exceedances of the WHO recommendation
for PM<sub>2.5</sub> (25 μg m<sup>−3</sup>), over the western part of Europe
and the central north. This number is generally overestimated by the model,
particularly in the northern part of the domain, but exceedances are captured
at the right time. Optimized contributions are computed with the
observations, by subtracting the background bias at each station and the
specific peak biases from the considered sources. These optimized
contributions show that if natural sources such as mineral dust and fire
events are particularly difficult to estimate, they were responsible
exclusively for 35.9 and 0.7 %, respectively, of the exceedances for
PM<sub>10</sub> during the summer of 2012. The PM<sub>25</sub> recommendation of
25 μg m<sup>−3</sup> is exceeded in 21.1 % of the cases because of
anthropogenic sources exclusively and in 0.02 % because of fires. The
other exceedances are induced by a mixed contribution between mainly mineral
dust (49.5–67 % for PM<sub>10</sub> exceedance contributions, 4.4–13.8 %
for PM<sub>2.5</sub>), anthropogenic sources (14.9–24.2 % and
46.3–80.6 %), biogenic sources (4.1–15.7 % and 12.6–30 %) and
fires (2.2–7.2 % and 1.6–12.4 %). |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T14:07:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-878b4753213645fc9a51f81baa3f468e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1680-7316 1680-7324 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T14:07:49Z |
| publishDate | 2015-07-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-878b4753213645fc9a51f81baa3f468e2022-12-22T03:30:01ZengCopernicus PublicationsAtmospheric Chemistry and Physics1680-73161680-73242015-07-0115148013803610.5194/acp-15-8013-2015Source contributions to 2012 summertime aerosols in the Euro-Mediterranean regionG. Rea0S. Turquety1L. Menut2R. Briant3S. Mailler4G. Siour5Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, UMR CNRS 8539, Université Pierre et Marie Curie – Paris 6, ENPC, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, FranceLaboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, UMR CNRS 8539, Université Pierre et Marie Curie – Paris 6, ENPC, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, FranceLaboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, UMR CNRS 8539, Université Pierre et Marie Curie – Paris 6, ENPC, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, FranceLaboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, UMR CNRS 8539, Université Pierre et Marie Curie – Paris 6, ENPC, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, FranceLaboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, UMR CNRS 8539, Université Pierre et Marie Curie – Paris 6, ENPC, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, FranceLaboratoire Inter-Universitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques, UMR CNRS 7583, Université Paris Est Créteil et Université Paris Diderot, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, Créteil, FranceIn the Mediterranean area, aerosols may originate from anthropogenic or natural emissions (biogenic, mineral dust, fire and sea salt) before undergoing complex chemistry. In case of a huge pollution event, it is important to know whether European pollution limits are exceeded and, if so, whether the pollution is due to anthropogenic or natural sources. In this study, the relative contribution of emissions to surface PM<sub>10</sub>, surface PM<sub>2.5</sub> and total aerosol optical depth (AOD) is quantified. For Europe and the Mediterranean regions and during the summer of 2012, the WRF and CHIMERE models are used to perform a sensitivity analysis on a 50 km resolution domain (from −10° W to 40° E and from 30° N to 55° N): one simulation with all sources (reference) and all others with one source removed. The reference simulation is compared to data from the AirBase network and two ChArMEx stations, and from the AERONET network and the MODIS satellite instrument, to quantify the ability of the model to reproduce the observations. It is shown that the correlation ranges from 0.19 to 0.57 for surface particulate matter and from 0.35 to 0.75 for AOD. For the summer of 2012, the model shows that the region is mainly influenced by aerosols due to mineral dust and anthropogenic emissions (62 and 19 %, respectively, of total surface PM<sub>10</sub> and 17 and 52 % of total surface PM<sub>2.5</sub>). The western part of the Mediterranean is strongly influenced by mineral dust emissions (86 % for surface PM<sub>10</sub> and 44 % for PM<sub>2.5</sub>), while anthropogenic emissions dominate in the northern Mediterranean basin (up to 75 % for PM<sub>2.5</sub>). Fire emissions are more sporadic but may represent 20 % of surface PM<sub>2.5</sub>, on average, during the period near local sources. Sea salt mainly contributes for coastal sites (up to 29 %) and biogenic emissions mainly in central Europe (up to 20 %). <br><br> The same analysis was undertaken for the number of daily exceedances of the European Union limit of 50 μg m<sup>−3</sup> for PM<sub>10</sub> (over the stations), and for the number of daily exceedances of the WHO recommendation for PM<sub>2.5</sub> (25 μg m<sup>−3</sup>), over the western part of Europe and the central north. This number is generally overestimated by the model, particularly in the northern part of the domain, but exceedances are captured at the right time. Optimized contributions are computed with the observations, by subtracting the background bias at each station and the specific peak biases from the considered sources. These optimized contributions show that if natural sources such as mineral dust and fire events are particularly difficult to estimate, they were responsible exclusively for 35.9 and 0.7 %, respectively, of the exceedances for PM<sub>10</sub> during the summer of 2012. The PM<sub>25</sub> recommendation of 25 μg m<sup>−3</sup> is exceeded in 21.1 % of the cases because of anthropogenic sources exclusively and in 0.02 % because of fires. The other exceedances are induced by a mixed contribution between mainly mineral dust (49.5–67 % for PM<sub>10</sub> exceedance contributions, 4.4–13.8 % for PM<sub>2.5</sub>), anthropogenic sources (14.9–24.2 % and 46.3–80.6 %), biogenic sources (4.1–15.7 % and 12.6–30 %) and fires (2.2–7.2 % and 1.6–12.4 %).http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/15/8013/2015/acp-15-8013-2015.pdf |
| spellingShingle | G. Rea S. Turquety L. Menut R. Briant S. Mailler G. Siour Source contributions to 2012 summertime aerosols in the Euro-Mediterranean region Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
| title | Source contributions to 2012 summertime aerosols in the Euro-Mediterranean region |
| title_full | Source contributions to 2012 summertime aerosols in the Euro-Mediterranean region |
| title_fullStr | Source contributions to 2012 summertime aerosols in the Euro-Mediterranean region |
| title_full_unstemmed | Source contributions to 2012 summertime aerosols in the Euro-Mediterranean region |
| title_short | Source contributions to 2012 summertime aerosols in the Euro-Mediterranean region |
| title_sort | source contributions to 2012 summertime aerosols in the euro mediterranean region |
| url | http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/15/8013/2015/acp-15-8013-2015.pdf |
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