Chemical composition and hygroscopic properties of size-segregated aerosol particles collected at the Adriatic coast of Slovenia.

The chemical composition as well as the water uptake characteristics of aerosols was determined in size-segregated samples collected during November 2002 on the Slovenian coast. Major ions, water-soluble organic compounds (WSOC), short-chain carboxylic acids and trace elements were determined in the water-soluble fraction of the aerosol. Total aerosol black carbon (BC) was measured from filter samples. Our results showed that the origin of air masses is an important factor that controls the variation in the size distribution of the main components. Very high concentrations of WSOC as well as higher concentrations of BC were found under mostly continental influence. Besides the main ionic species (SO4(2-), NH4(+), K+) in the finest size fraction (0.17-0.53 microm), the concentration of NO3(-) was also high. The difference between the two different air mass origins is particularly expressed for Cl-, Na+, Mg2+ and Ca2+ determined in particles larger than 1.6 microm. As expected, a very good correlation was found between Na+ and Cl-. A good correlation was found between sea salt elements and elements of crustal origin (Na+, Cl-, Mg2+, Ca2+, Sr). A good relationship between typical anthropogenic tracers (K, V and Pb) was also observed. The mass growth factors, for all size fractions of aerosols collected under continental influence were very low (maximum 2.23 at 94%, 1.6-5.1 microm), while under marine influence the mass growth factors increased significantly with the particle size. At 97% humidity, the mass growth factors were 6.95 for the size fraction 0.53-1.6 microm and 9.78 for larger particles (1.6-5.1 microm).

Measurements of size-segregated emission particles by a sampling system based on the cascade impactor.

A special sampling system for measurements of size-segregated particles directly at the source of emission was designed and constructed. The central part of this system is a low-pressure cascade impactor with 10 collection stages for the size ranges between 15 nm and 16 microm. Its capability and suitability was proven by sampling particles atthe stack (100 degrees C) of a coal-fired power station in Slovenia. These measurements showed very reasonable results in comparison with a commercial cascade impactor for PM10 and PM2.5 and with a plane device for total suspended particulate matter (TSP). The best agreement with the measurements made by a commercial impactor was found for concentrations of TSP above 10 mg m(-3), i.e., the average PM2.5/PM10 ratios obtained by a commercial impactor and by our impactor were 0.78 and 0.80, respectively. Analysis of selected elements in size-segregated emission particles additionally confirmed the suitability of our system. The measurements showed that the mass size distributions were generally bimodal, with the most pronounced mass peak in the 1-2 microm size range. The first results of elemental mass size distributions showed some distinctive differences in comparison to the most common ambient anthropogenic sources (i.e., traffic emissions). For example, trace elements, like Pb, Cd, As, and V, typically related to traffic emissions, are usually more abundant in particles less than 1 microm in size, whereas in our specific case they were found at about 2 microm. Thus, these mass size distributions can be used as a signature of this source. Simultaneous measurements of size-segregated particles at the source and in the surrounding environment can therefore significantly increase the sensitivity of the contribution of a specific source to the actual ambient concentrations.

Aerosols: unexpected disequilibrium phenomena between airborne radio activities of lead-210 and its progenies bismuth-210 and polonium-210.

For the first time, concentrations of the long lived radon progenies (210)Pb, (210)Bi and (210)Po were measured in the mine atmosphere of the so called "healing gallery" in Badgastein, Austria, a region famous for its radioactive springs. These investigations were performed in order to study the radioactive equilibrium between the (210)Pb-(210)Bi and the (210)Pb-(210)Po pairs so as to gain more information about the aerosol-forming processes in the mine. The particle size distribution of the aerosols was determined under different ventilation conditions. Six-stage and eight-stage cascade impactors with working ranges from 0.15 to 5 micro m and from 0.063 to 8 micro m, respectively, were used to collect the mine aerosols. These samples were analysed in the laboratory and measured by liquid scintillation spectrometry. The most surprising results were found under full ventilation, when the total activity concentrations of (210)Pb, (210)Bi and (210)Po were 4.6, 2.0 and 16.5 mBq/m(3), respectively. In this case (210)Po/(210)Pb activity ratios ranged between 1.8+/-0.3 and 4.3+/-0.3. These unexpected results were confirmed by the eight-stage impactor samples. For the smallest particles, between 0.062 and 0.125 micro m, an even higher value of 7.5 was observed. As outside sources could be excluded, such (210)Po enrichments must occur during the aerosol-forming process itself inside the mine.