Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Oxidative Potential of Particulate Matter: Case of Athens (Greece).

This work evaluates the aerosol oxidative potential (OP) and its changes from modified air pollution emissions during the COVID-19 lockdown period in 2020, with the intent of elucidating the contribution of aerosol sources and related components to aerosol OP. For this, daily particulate matter (PM) samples at an urban background site were collected and analyzed with a chemical (acellular) assay based on Dithiothreitol (DTT) during the COVID-19 restriction period in Athens (Greece). The obtained time-series of OP, PM2.5, organic matter (OM) and SO42- of the pre-, post- and lockdown periods were also compared to the data of the same time periods during the years 2017-2019. Even though all traffic-related emissions have been significantly reduced during the lockdown period (by 30%), there is no reduction in water-soluble OP, organics and sulfate concentrations of aerosol during 2020. The results reveal that the decrease in traffic was not sufficient to drive any measurable change on OP, suggesting that other sources-such as biomass burning and secondary aerosol from long-range transport, which remained unchanged during the COVID lockdown-are the main contributors to OP in Athens, Greece.

Water soluble reactive phosphate (SRP) in atmospheric particles over East Mediterranean: The importance of dust and biomass burning events.

The importance of dust and biomass burning episodes on the atmospheric concentration of water-soluble reactive phosphate (SRP) was determined in the eastern Mediterranean. SRP was measured with a new rapid real-time automated analytical system with a time resolution of a few minutes per sample and with an extremely low detection limit. The average atmospheric concentration of SRP during the sampling campaign was estimated at 0.35 ± 0.25 (median 0.30) nmol P m-3. The maximum concentration of SRP (3.08 nmol P m-3) was recorded during an intense dust episode, and was almost ten times higher than the campaign average, confirming that Saharan dust was an important primary source of bioavailable P to the eastern Mediterranean, especially during the spring period when 60% of the events occurred. Predicted increases in the frequency and intensity of dust storms in the area will enhance the role of the atmosphere as a source of bioavailable P for the Mediterranean marine ecosystem. During the warm period, when Northerly winds prevailed, biomass burning processes contributed significantly to soluble phosphorus delivered from atmospheric sources to the eastern Mediterranean. These inputs during warm periods are especially important for the Eastern Mediterranean, where biological productivity is strongly limited by nutrient availability.

Links between airborne microbiome, meteorology, and chemical composition in northwestern Turkey.

The composition of atmospheric aerosols is dynamic and influenced by their emission sources, organic and inorganic composition, transport pathways, chemical and physical processes, microorganisms' content and more. Characterization of such factors can improve the ability to evaluate air quality and health risks under different atmospheric scenarios. Here we investigate the microbial composition of the atmospheric particulate matter (<10 µm; PM10), sampled in Bolu, Turkey, and the linkage to the chemical composition changes, and different environmental factors. We show distinct differences between aerosol composition of different sources and air-mass transport patterns, sampled in July-August 2017 and in February 2018. The summer samples had a typical northern component air mass trajectories and higher local wind speed. They were characterized by high PM10 levels, marine and mineral dust tracers and high relative abundance of Ascomycota, suggesting long-range transport of the particles from remote sources. In contrast, samples collected in February were characterized by a dominant contribution of southern air masses, and low wind speed. They had low PM10 values, higher relative abundance of antibiotic resistance genes and anthropogenic ions related to local industries and farming, suggesting a dominance of local sources. With the microbiome analyses reported here for the first time for this region, we show good agreement between airborne microbial composition, aerosol mass load, chemistry, and meteorology. These results allow better air quality evaluation and prediction capabilities.

Effects of Atmospheric Processing on the Oxidative Potential of Biomass Burning Organic Aerosols.

Oxidative potential (OP), which is the ability of certain components in atmospheric particles to generate reactive oxidative species (ROS) and deplete antioxidants in vivo, is a prevailing toxicological mechanism underlying the adverse health effects associated with exposure to ambient aerosols. While previous studies have identified the high OP of fresh biomass burning organic aerosols (BBOA), it remains unclear how it evolves throughout atmospheric transport. Using the dithiothreitol (DTT) assay as a measure of OP, a combination of field observations and laboratory experiments is used to determine how atmospheric aging transforms the intrinsic OP (OPmassDTT) of BBOA. For ambient BBOA collected during the fire seasons in Greece, OPmassDTT was observed to increase by a factor of 2.1 ± 0.9 for samples of atmospheric ages up to 68 h. Laboratory experiments indicate that aqueous photochemical aging (aging by UVB and UVA photolysis; as well as OH oxidation), as well as aging by ozone and atmospheric dilution can transform the OPmassDTT of the water-soluble fraction of wood smoke within 2 days of atmospheric transport. The results from this work suggest that the air quality impacts of biomass burning emissions can extend beyond regions near fire sites and should be accounted for.