Organic and Elemental Carbon in the Urban Background in an Eastern Mediterranean City

Atmosphere

Sharif Arar¹  Afnan Al-Hunaiti¹  Zaid Bakri²  Tareq Hussein²  Tuukka Petäjä³  Xinyang Li³  Andres Alastuey⁴  Mar Viana⁴ 

[1] Department of Chemistry, School of Science, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan;Department of Physics, School of Science, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan;Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR/Physics), University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland;Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), 08034 Barcelona, Spain;

关键词: urban air quality;    PM₁₀;    PM_2.5;    OC;    EC;   

DOI  :  10.3390/atmos13020197

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The Mediterranean region is an important area for air pollution as it is the crossroads between three continents; therefore, the concentrations of atmospheric aerosol particles are influenced by emissions from Africa, Asia, and Europe. Here we concentrate on an eleven-month time series of the ambient concentration of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) between May 2018–March 2019 in Amman, Jordan. Such a dataset is unique in Jordan. The results show that the OC and EC annual mean concentrations in PM_2.5 samples were 5.9 ± 2.8 µg m^–3 and 1.7 ± 1.1 µg m^–3, respectively. It was found that the majority of OC and EC concentrations were within the fine particle fraction (PM_2.5). During sand and dust storm (SDS) episodes OC and EC concentrations were higher than the annual means; the mean values during these periods were about 9.6 ± 3.5 µg m^–3 and 2.5 ± 1.2 µg m^–3 in the PM_2.5 samples. Based on this, the SDS episodes were identified to be responsible for an increased carbonaceous aerosol content as well as PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ content, which may have direct implications on human health. This study encourages us to perform more extensive measurements during a longer time period and to include an advanced chemical and physical characterization for urban aerosols in the urban atmosphere of Amman, which can be representative of other urban areas in the region.

【 授权许可】

Unknown