AIR QUALITY MONITORING
Concerning the Air Quality Monitoring in the study area of Barcellona, Marseille, Genoa, Venice and Thessaloniki, the partnership has realised an Intercomparison Campaign in Marseille and an intensive Air Monitoring Campaign in each study area.
Intercomparison Campaign in Marseille
Atmospheric aerosol consists of a highly complex mixture, in constant evolution in the atmosphere, of mineral and organic materials associated to micron and submicron particles. In an urban area atmospheric aerosol are emitted in the atmosphere by a multitude of sources and also formed in situ through gas phase oxidation processes of volatile organic compounds (VOC) or gases such as SO2, NOx. Assessing the source contributions of PM by a top down approach requires advanced analytical and statistical approaches. Because no absolute source apportionment approach exists, intercomparison of the different methodologies used by each scientific partners of APICE is a prerequisite for any comparison between the 5 harbors (Barcelona, Genoa, Marseille, Thessaloniki and Venice) involved in the project.
A six weeks intercomparison campaign has thus been organized in Marseille from the 25th of January to the 2nd of March 2011 in an urban background site. The objectives of this field campaign are to intercompare measurements and source apportionment methodologies that will be carried out in each harbor under study within APICE. Besides this intercomparison exercise of measurements and source apportionments one of the most important issue of this intercomparison campaign is to assess the ability of each partner to apportion the different harbor sources among the numerous other anthropogenic and natural sources.
Concerning this activity, the following reports are available:
Intercomparison Campaign - Progress Report.pdf
Intercomparison Campaign - Final Report.pdf
Intensive Monitoring Campaign:
With the beginning of 2011, intensive air pollution monitoring campaigns have been started in each study area and they will be carried on for the whole year. The main goal is the characterization of pollution sources and their possible link with the harbors activities. A common strategy has been discussed among the partners and it has been finally approved at the First Technical Meeting held in Barcelona in January 2011. The focus is on Particulate Matter, one of the most elusive atmospheric pollutants. PM2.5 and PM10 (Concentration of Particulate Matter with dimension smaller than 10 and 2.5 micron, respectively) levels will be monitored in all the study areas both by sampling on proper collecting media and by automatic monitors. Sampling will be organized on 24 hours and/or longer basis according to the specific speciation techniques foreseen in each study area. Sampling/monitoring period will be one-year long in each study area: during the local campaigns contemporary sampling/monitoring in different sites of the same study area will be carried out. Sampling frequency (i.e. number of collected sample per day, week, etc) will be decided in each study area according to the specific needs and to the constrains posed by the adopted statistical tools to produce firm results. Gaseous pollutants will be monitored in the same sites or nearby the positions of the PM sampling/monitoring stations In each study area the sampling strategy and the speciation techniques will be addressed to single out and characterize the following anthropogenic/natural sources of PM and gaseous compounds:
- Marine Aerosol
- Saharan Dust
- Soil Dust
- Heavy Oil Combustion
- Secondary Sulphates
- Secondary Nitrates
- Traffic
- Biomass Burning
- Main Industries (if present)
- Loading/Unloading of dusty goods (if present)
At the conclusion of the monitoring period hundreds of samples will be collected and analyzed in each study area, thus producing an extremely large and complete data base which will constitute a firm reference for any future study and/or development.
Number, emission profile (i.e. the chemical composition of the pollutants emitted by a specific source) and impact of the major pollution sources in each study area will be identified on the basis of the outputs of the monitoring campaigns using the worldwide most advanced statistical tools as Chemical Mass Balance (CMB) and/or the Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF).
More details concerning the intensive monitoring campaign in each pilot area are available here:
Air monitoring campaign in Venice.pdf
Air monitoring campaign in Genoa.pdf
Air monitoring campaign in Thessaloniki.pdf
Air monitoring campaign Marseille.pdf
Air monitoring campaign in Barcelona.pdf
