Using monosaccharide anhydrides to estimate the impact of wood combustion on fine particles in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area

The spatiotemporal variation of ambient particles under the influence of biomass burning emissions was studied in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (HMA) in selected periods during 2005-2009. Monosaccharide anhydrides (MAs; levoglucosan, mannosan and galactosan), commonly known biomass burning tracers,...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Saarnio, Karri, Niemi, Jarkko V., Saarikoski, Sanna, Aurela, Minna, Timonen, Hilkka, Teinilä, Kimmo, Myllynen, Maria, Frey, Anna, Lamberg, Heikki, Jokiniemi, Jorma, Hillamo, Risto
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2012
Subjects:
/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/sustainable_cities_and_communities
name=SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Boreal Environment Research
Online Access:https://cris.vtt.fi/en/publications/e01a4714-f798-4c71-8bb5-89f14f02f9cb
http://hdl.handle.net/10138/229866
Description
Summary:The spatiotemporal variation of ambient particles under the influence of biomass burning emissions was studied in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (HMA) in selected periods during 2005-2009. Monosaccharide anhydrides (MAs; levoglucosan, mannosan and galactosan), commonly known biomass burning tracers, were used to estimate the wood combustion contribution to local particulate matter (PM) concentration levels at three urban background sites close to the city centre, and at three suburban sites influenced by local small-scale wood combustion. In the cold season (October-March), the mean MAs concentrations were 115-225 ng m -3 and 83-98 ng m -3 at the suburban and urban sites, respectively. In the warm season, the mean MAs concentrations were low (19-78 ng m -3 ), excluding open land fire smoke episodes (222-378 ng m -3 ). Regionally distributed wood combustion particles raised the levels over the whole HMA while particles from local wood combustion sources raised the level at suburban sites only. The estimated average contribution of wood combustion to fine particles (PM 2.5 ) ranged from 18% to 29% at the urban sites and from 31% to 66% at the suburban sites in the cold season. The PM measurements from ambient air and combustion experiments showed that the proportions of the three MAs can be utilised to separate the wildfire particles from residential wood combustion particles.

Similar Items