Tracking changes in atmospheric particulate matter at a semi-urban site in Central France over the past decade

Yang Jiao; Yangang Ren; Walid Laroussi; Corinne Robin; Amélie De Filippis; Florent Bordier; Jérôme Rangognio; Abderrazak Yahyaoui; Olivier Favez; Abdelwahid Mellouki

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163807

Tracking changes in atmospheric particulate matter at a semi-urban site in Central France over the past decade

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Aug 10:885:163807. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163807. Epub 2023 May 3.

Affiliations

¹ Environment Research Institute, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China.
² Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing, 100049, China; Institut de Combustion Aérothermique, Réactivité et Environnement, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (ICARE-CNRS), 45071 Orléans cedex02, France. Electronic address: ygren@rcees.ac.cn.
³ Lig'Air- Association de surveillance de la qualité de l'air en région Centre-Val de Loire, 45590 Saint-Cyr-en-Val, France.
⁴ Institut national de l'environnement industriel et des risques, 60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France; French reference laboratory for air quality monitoring (LCSQA), 60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France.
⁵ Environment Research Institute, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China; Institut de Combustion Aérothermique, Réactivité et Environnement, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (ICARE-CNRS), 45071 Orléans cedex02, France; University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P), Ben Guerir, Morocco. Electronic address: mellouki@cnrs-orleans.fr.

PMID: 37146814
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163807

Abstract

Nearly 10-year (2013-2022) data on atmospheric particulate matters (PMs) were collected to investigate the air quality in a suburban site of Orléans city (France). The PM₁₀ concentration decreased slightly between 2013 and 2022. PMs concentrations showed a monthly variation with higher concentration in cold periods. PM₁₀ presented a clear bimodal diurnal variation peaking at morning rush hour and midnight, whereas the fine PMs such as PM_2.5 and PM_1.0 only had significant peaks during nighttime. Further, PM₁₀ had more pronounced week-end effect than other fine PMs. COVID-19 lockdown impact on PMs levels was further investigated, showing that the lockdown during cold season could result in an increase of PMs concentrations because of the enhanced household heating. We concluded that PM₁₀ could originate from biomass burning and fossil fuel related activities, air parcels from the western Europe through Paris were also important source of PM₁₀ in the investigated area. Fine PMs, such as PM_2.5 and PM_1.0, originated mainly from biomass burning in addition to secondary formation at the local scale. This study provides a long-term PMs measurement database to explore the sources and characterization of PMs in central France, which could support future regulation and formulation of air quality standards.

Keywords: Biomass burning; COVID-19 lock-down; Fossil fuel; Long-term; PMs.