Vertical Profiles of Airborne PM in Po Valley During Wheat Harvest Activities

Po Valley and Friuli Plain in Italy and Belgian Plain in Europe, are areas with the highest concentration of solid particulate matter in all the world (European Space Agency, 2004). This implies that those areas does not respect the limits imposed by European Parliament in 2008. Aim of this study is the characterization of the particulate matter, through direct sampling in atmosphere to define physical properties and source of this particulate. A first campaign has been carried out in June-July 2009 in the Po Valley during farming activities of threshing, by means of a small aircraft (Cessna172P), that has been used as platform for collecting measure particles. Particle concentration has been measured for five aerodynamic equivalent diameters (0.5, 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, 10.0µm) using a laser counter (LIGHTHOUSE HH3016). The acquisition has been carried out vertically profiling the atmosphere from 150 to 2400m. SEM, as well as SEM-EDS analysis on single particles, have been carried out with the aim to obtain detailed dimensional and morphological information to define origin, toxicity and the nature of organic matter (Germani & Buseck, 1991; Grassi, Narducci, & Tognotti, 2004).