Seasonal Characteristics of Long-Range Transport and Potential Associated Sources of Particulate Matter (Pm<sub>10</sub>) Pollution at the Station Elk, Poland, on 2021-2022 Data
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引用次数: 1
Abstract
The current study aimed to determine the potential sources of distant emissions of PM10 particles that significantly affect PM10 levels at a given site in southeastern Baltic. The EEA Air Quality Monitoring Station in Elk City, northeastern Poland, was selected for this study. This station is located approximately 50 km from the border of the Russian exclave (Kaliningrad Region). In this study, the NOAA HYSPLIT_4 trajectory model, potential source contribution function (PSCF), and concentration-weight trajectory (CWT) were employed to investigate the origin of the measured PM10 mass at a receptor site. PSCF and CWT utilize back-trajectory analysis and Lagrangian particle dispersion simulations to reconstruct the advection pathways of air masses arriving at the site. These reconstructed retroplumes provide detailed information regarding the geographic locations traversed by polluted air masses on their way to the receptor. By integrating trajectory information with concurrent pollutant concentration data, the PSCF and CWT enable the identification of potential source regions and quantification of their impact on the observed atmospheric levels. From January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2022, at 200 m the 72h backward trajectories of air masses entering the receptor point were calculated and categorized by clustering them into 5-4-4-5 clusters. Subsequently, the PM10 levels at the Elk site associated with each air mass cluster were examined during the observation period. The seasonal variation in PM10 was generally characterized by a peak in winter and minimum values in summer. PM10 was lower during warmer periods, particularly during summer, and significantly, higher concentrations were observed during colder periods. Cluster analyses showed that airflow followed a seasonal pattern, with different results obtained in different seasons. According to the PSCF and CWT results, in winter and spring, the receptor site was influenced more by long-range PM10 pollution, particularly from heavily industrialized areas in Central-Eastern Europe. In contrast, in summer and autumn, the receptor site was less influenced by long-range pollution. The findings demonstrate that the seasonal distributions of PM10 source areas obtained using these two methods generally share similar characteristics, suggesting the credibility and accuracy of the analytical results.
期刊介绍:
Journal “GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY” is founded by the Faculty of Geography of Lomonosov Moscow State University, The Russian Geographical Society and by the Institute of Geography of RAS. It is the official journal of Russian Geographical Society, and a fully open access journal. Journal “GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY” publishes original, innovative, interdisciplinary and timely research letter articles and concise reviews on studies of the Earth and its environment scientific field. This goal covers a broad spectrum of scientific research areas (physical-, social-, economic-, cultural geography, environmental sciences and sustainable development) and also considers contemporary and widely used research methods, such as geoinformatics, cartography, remote sensing (including from space), geophysics, geochemistry, etc. “GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY” is the only original English-language journal in the field of geography and environmental sciences published in Russia. It is supposed to be an outlet from the Russian-speaking countries to Europe and an inlet from Europe to the Russian-speaking countries regarding environmental and Earth sciences, geography and sustainability. The main sections of the journal are the theory of geography and ecology, the theory of sustainable development, use of natural resources, natural resources assessment, global and regional changes of environment and climate, social-economical geography, ecological regional planning, sustainable regional development, applied aspects of geography and ecology, geoinformatics and ecological cartography, ecological problems of oil and gas sector, nature conservations, health and environment, and education for sustainable development. Articles are freely available to both subscribers and the wider public with permitted reuse.