Fossil and non-fossil sources of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in Göteborg, Sweden
Journal article, 2009

Particulate matter was collected at an urban site in Göteborg (Sweden) in February/March 2005 and in June/July 2006. Additional samples were collected at a rural site for the winter period. Total carbon (TC) concentrations were 2.1–3.6μgm−3, 1.8–1.9μgm−3, and 2.2– 3.0μgm−3 for urban/winter, rural/winter, and urban/summer conditions, respectively. Elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), water-insoluble OC (WINSOC), and watersoluble OC (WSOC) were analyzed for 14C in order to distinguish fossil from non-fossil emissions. As wood burning is the single major source of non-fossil EC, its contribution can be quantified directly. For non-fossil OC, the wood-burning fraction was determined independently by levoglucosan and 14C analysis and combined using Latin-hypercube sampling (LHS). For the winter period, the relative contribution of EC from wood burning to the total EC was >3 times higher at the rural site compared to the urban site, whereas the absolute concentrations of EC from wood burning were elevated only moderately at the rural compared to the urban site. Thus, the urban site is substantially more influenced by fossil EC emissions. For summer, biogenic emissions dominated OC concentrations most likely due to secondary organic aerosol(SOA) formation. During both seasons, a more pronounced fossil signal was observed for G¨oteborg than has previously been reported for Zurich, Switzerland. Analysis of air mass origin using back trajectories suggests that the fossil impact was larger when local sources dominated, whereas longrange transport caused an enhanced non-fossil signal. In comparison to other European locations, concentrations of levoglucosan and other monosaccharide anhydrides were low for the urban and the rural site in the area of G¨oteborg during winter.

Author

S. Szidat

Paul Scherrer Institut

University of Bern

M. Ruff

University of Bern

Paul Scherrer Institut

N. Perron

Paul Scherrer Institut

L. Wacker

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)

H.-A. Synal

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)

Mattias Hallquist

University of Gothenburg

Ardhendu Sekhar Shannigrahi

University of Gothenburg

K. E. Yttri

Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU)

C. Dye

Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU)

David Simpson

Chalmers, Department of Radio and Space Science, Global Environmental Measurements and Modelling

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

1680-7316 (ISSN) 1680-7324 (eISSN)

Vol. 9 5 1521-1535

Subject Categories

Chemical Sciences

DOI

10.5194/acp-9-1521-2009

More information

Latest update

4/11/2018