Assessment of fine and sub-micrometer aerosols at an urban environment of Argentina

Abstract

Bulk aerosol samples collected during 2010 and 2011 at one receptor site in Córdoba City, Argentina, havebeen quantitatively analyzed to determine aerosol elemental composition by using SR-XRF. A receptormodel analysis has been applied to ambient PM2.5 measurements. Four sources have been identifiedbeing their contributions: traffic: (13 2)mgm 3,SO42 /combustion processes, including biomassburning: (15 1)mgm 3, mineral dust: (7 2)mgm 3and industry: (8 1)mgm 3. Source identifi-cation was carried out by inspection of key species in source profiles, seasonality of source contributions,comparison with literature data and the knowledge of the city; for the biomass burning contribution theMODIS burned area daily product was used to confirm wildfire events along the year. In addition, fromMay to August 2011, aerosols were collected in two additional size fractions (PM0.25e0.5, PM0.5e1) toinvestigate the toxic metal contributions to thefiner fractions. An important result of this work is thattoxic metals make an important contribution to thefinest (PM0.25e0.5) size fraction. The results of thepresent analysis can help to demonstrate to local and national authorities the urgent need to carry outemission inventories, to implement air quality monitoring systems and to set regulations for PM2.5.