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Spatial variation of PM elemental composition between and within 20 European study areas: Results of the ESCAPE project

Tsai, Ming-Yi
; 
Hoek, Gerard
; 
Eeftens, Marloes
; 
de Hoogh, Kees
; 
Beelen, Rob
; 
Beregszászi, Timea
; 
Cesaroni, Giulia
; 
Cirach, Marta
; 
Cyrys, Josef
; 
de Nazelle, Audrey
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Author
Tsai, Ming-Yi
Hoek, Gerard
Eeftens, Marloes
de Hoogh, Kees
Beelen, Rob
Beregszászi, Timea
Cesaroni, Giulia
Cirach, Marta
Cyrys, Josef
de Nazelle, Audrey
de Vocht, Frank
Ducret-Stich, Regina
Eriksen, Kirsten Thorup
Galassi, Claudia
Gražulevičienė, Regina
Gražulevicius, Tomas
Grivas, Georgios
Gryparis, Alexandros
Heinrich, Joachim
Hoffmann, Barbara
Iakovides, Minas
Keuken, Menno
Krämer, Ursula
Künzli, Nino
Lanki, Timo
Madsen, Christian
Meliefste, Kees
Merritt, Anne-Sophie
Mölter, Anna
Mosler, Gioia
Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J.
Pershagen, Göran
Phuleria, Harish
Quass, Ulrich
Ranzi, Andrea
Schaffner, Emmanuel
Sokhi, Ranjeet
Stempfelet, Morgane
Stephanou, Euripides
Sugiri, Dorothea
Taimisto, Pekka
Tewis, Marjan
Udvardy, Orsolya
Wang, Meng
Brunekreef, Bert
Abstract
An increasing number of epidemiological studies suggest that adverse health effects of air pollution may be related to particulate matter (PM) composition, particularly trace metals. However, we lack comprehensive data on the spatial distribution of these elements. We measured PM2.5 and PM10 in twenty study areas across Europe in three seasonal two-week periods over a year using Harvard impactors and standardized protocols. In each area, we selected street (ST), urban (UB) and regional background (RB) sites (totaling 20) to characterize local spatial variability. Elemental composition was determined by energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis of all PM2.5 and PM10 filters. We selected a priori eight (Cu, Fe, K, Ni, S, Si, V, Zn) well-detected elements of health interest, which also roughly represented different sources including traffic, industry, ports, and wood burning. PM elemental composition varied greatly across Europe, indicating different regional influences. Average street to urban background ratios ranged from 0.90 (V) to 1.60 (Cu) for PM2.5 and from 0.93 (V) to 2.28 (Cu) for PM10. Our selected PM elements were variably correlated with the main pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, PM2.5 absorbance, NO2 and NOx) across Europe: in general, Cu and Fe in all size fractions were highly correlated (Pearson correlations above 0.75); Si and Zn in the coarse fractions were modestly correlated (between 0.5 and 0.75); and the remaining elements in the various size fractions had lower correlations (around 0.5 or below). This variability in correlation demonstrated the distinctly different spatial distributions of most of the elements. Variability of PM10_Cu and Fe was mostly due to within-study area differences (67% and 64% of overall variance, respectively) versus between-study area and exceeded that of most other traffic-related pollutants, including NO2 and soot, signaling the importance of non-tailpipe (e.g., brake wear) emissions in PM.
Keywords
air pollution, Energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF), trace elements, PM2.5, PM10, PM composition, spatial contrasts, exposure assessment
Date
2015
Type
Journal article
Journal
Environment International
Book
Volume
84
Issue
Page Range
181-192
Article Number
ACU Department
Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research
Faculty of Health Sciences
Collections
Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research
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URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14802/21612
Relation URI
DOI
10.1016/j.envint.2015.04.015
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled
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