5-year analysis of submicron aerosol chemical composition and organic aerosol source apportionment at a suburban site in North-Western Europe
Résumé
In Europe, more than 307 000 premature deaths have
been attributed to fine particle exposure (EEA, 2021). In
particular, northern France is affected by relatively high
particle matter (PM) concentrations, frequently
exceeding the new annual PM2.5 concentration of 5
μg m-3 recommended by the WHO (EEA, 2021).
Therefore, the study of aerosol particle sources is
essential to improve air quality and to better develop
effective mitigation policies.
In this context, an Aerosol Chemical Speciation
Monitor (ACSM) and an aethalometer (AE33) have been
running quasi continuously since 2016 at a suburban
site in Lille, known as the ATOLL (Atmospheric
Observations in liLLe) platform, located on the
University of Lille campus. The objective is to provide a
comprehensive dataset of the chemical composition of
submicron aerosol particles (PM1), and to investigate
Organic Aerosol (OA) sources in the region through
source apportionment analysis using Positive Matrix
Factorization (PMF). Wind and back-trajectory analysis
are also used to help identifying the geographical origins
of advected aerosol particles, especially since Lille is at
the crossroads of transnational pollution transport from
Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.
Here, we present the first long-term analysis of
non-refractory PM1 (NR-PM1) from October 2016 until
December 2020. The average NR-PM1 concentration
was 9.7 μg m-3, which was dominated by OA (45.4 %)
followed by nitrate (31.4 %), ammonium (13.4 %) and
sulfate (9.4 %). To study OA origins, we used the rolling
PMF algorithm, analyzing one-month windows shifted
by one-week step. Such approach combined with welldefined
constraints has the advantage of capturing the
potential temporal changes in the source profiles
throughout the seasons and years.
The OA PMF analysis yielded two primary OA
factors: a traffic related hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA) and
biomass burning OA (BBOA), and two oxygenated OA
(OOA) factors. HOA showed a fairly constant
contribution to OA throughout the seasons (with an
average contribution of 12 %), while BBOA varied from
8 % to 18.5 %, with a peak in winter due to increased
emissions from residential wood combustion. The OOA
factors were distinguished between their less and more
oxidized fractions (LO-OOA and MO-OOA, respectively).
They contributed substantially to the total OA mass,
with an average of 74 % (32 % and 42 % for LO-OOA and
MO-OOA, respectively), indicating a strong participation
of aged/secondary processes to local aerosol levels. A
regional signature of those OOA factors is confirmed via
wind and trajectory analysis, identifying the impact of
polluted continental air masses from central Europe.
During winter, the correlation between BBOA and LOOOA
suggests the influence of aged biomass burning on
the latter, identifying at least half of OA to be associated
to wood combustion during wintertime. This was
confirmed by complementary PMF analyses including
inorganic and black carbon components.
Overall, this study provides a thorough analysis of
submicron aerosol sources at the recently established
ATOLL platform, depicting complex interactions
between regional traffic, wood burning, and agricultural
activities in the highly urbanized North-Western
European region.
This work was supported by the French Ministry of
Environment, through the CARA program. It is also part
of the Labex CaPPA project (ANR-11-LABX-0005-01), and
the CLIMIBIO project, both also funded by the Regional
Council “Hauts-de-France” and the European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF).