Analysis of source regions and transport pathways of sub-micron aerosol components in Europe

It is important to study aerosols and their origins, as they pose various negative health and environmental impacts. In this study, we combined year-long datasets from 15 different countries with Trajectory Statistical Methods (TSMs) for the first time at this comprehensive scale. We found possible source regions and seasonal variations of various particulate matter (PM) components in Europe, including total organic aerosol (OA), biomass burning OA (BBOA), oxygenated OA (OOA), ammonium (NH<sub>4</sub>), nitrate (NO<sub>3</sub>), and sulphate (SO<sub>4</sub>). We found that for all of the studied components, Eastern Europe was among the highest contributors. For NO<sub>3</sub>, other important source regions were Northern France and the Benelux, while for SO<sub>4</sub> there were significant contributions from the Mediterranean region. We also compared our measurement-based model with simulated concentrations of an atmospheric chemistry transport model (CAMx). We observed a satisfactory agreement in regions where we had sufficient coverage with air pollution monitoring stations. The main deviations for OA were found around the Po Valley, where CAMx consistently estimated higher concentrations, while the TSM analysis did not highlight it as a hotspot because long-term monitoring datasets in this region are lacking. CAMx also underestimated the concentrations around Poland, mainly from residential burning. Our results provide opportunities to refine European emission inventories and deliver valuable information on long-range transported air pollutants. This work suggests that policies mitigating air pollution in Eastern Europe and the Benelux could help improve overall air quality in entire Europe more efficiently.

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Publication Details

Journal
Environmental Pollution
Published
2025-09-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2025.127110
Primary Topic
Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
Type
article
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article

Analysis of source regions and transport pathways of sub-micron aerosol components in Europe

Hannes Keernik, Petra Pokorná, Petr Vodička, Andrê S. H. Prévôt et al.
Environmental Pollution
Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
article

Analysis of source regions and transport pathways of sub-micron aerosol components in Europe

Hannes Keernik, Petra Pokorná, Petr Vodička, Andrê S. H. Prévôt, Olivier Favez, Wenche Aas, Samira Atabakhsh, Benjamin Chazeau, Matteo Rinaldi, Stephen M. Platt, Julija Pauraitė, Yulia Sosedova, Mikael Ehn, Laurent Poulain, Minna Aurela, Maria I. Gini, Anna Font, Abhishek Upadhyay, Hasna Chebaicheb, Michael Pikridas, Liine Heikkinen, Radek Lhotka, Claudio A. Belis, David C. Green, Gang Chen, Vanes Poluzzi, Stefania Gilardoni, María Cruz Minguillón, Véronique Riffault, Marta Via, Aikaterini Bougiatioti, H. Flentje, Jean‐Eudes Petit, Evelyn Freney, Iasonas Stavroulas, Hilkka Timonen, Marco Paglione, Ying Chen, Jianhui Jiang, Marek Maasikmets, Yunjiang Zhang, Kaspar Rudolf Dällenbach, Nicolas Marchand, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Anna Tobler, Manousos-Ioannis Manousakas, Olga Zografou, M. Bressi, Francesco Canonaco, Imad El Haddad, Jurgita Ovadnevaitė, Chunshui Lin, Jarosław Nęcki, Jeni Vasilescu, M. Schneider, Jean Sciare
article en

Abstract

It is important to study aerosols and their origins, as they pose various negative health and environmental impacts. In this study, we combined year-long datasets from 15 different countries with Trajectory Statistical Methods (TSMs) for the first time at this comprehensive scale. We found possible source regions and seasonal variations of various particulate matter (PM) components in Europe, including total organic aerosol (OA), biomass burning OA (BBOA), oxygenated OA (OOA), ammonium (NH<sub>4</sub>), nitrate (NO<sub>3</sub>), and sulphate (SO<sub>4</sub>). We found that for all of the studied components, Eastern Europe was among the highest contributors. For NO<sub>3</sub>, other important source regions were Northern France and the Benelux, while for SO<sub>4</sub> there were significant contributions from the Mediterranean region. We also compared our measurement-based model with simulated concentrations of an atmospheric chemistry transport model (CAMx). We observed a satisfactory agreement in regions where we had sufficient coverage with air pollution monitoring stations. The main deviations for OA were found around the Po Valley, where CAMx consistently estimated higher concentrations, while the TSM analysis did not highlight it as a hotspot because long-term monitoring datasets in this region are lacking. CAMx also underestimated the concentrations around Poland, mainly from residential burning. Our results provide opportunities to refine European emission inventories and deliver valuable information on long-range transported air pollutants. This work suggests that policies mitigating air pollution in Eastern Europe and the Benelux could help improve overall air quality in entire Europe more efficiently.

Environmental PollutionVol. 385
Finnish Meteorological Institute (FI), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Helsinki (FI), Cyprus Institute (CY), Deutscher Wetterdienst (DE), Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway (IE), Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (CN), National Centre of Scientific Research "Demokritos" (GR), Institut Mines-Télécom (FR), Aix-Marseille Université (FR), Helsinki Institute of Physics (FI), European Commission (BE), Paul Scherrer Institute (CH), Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (FI), Center for Physical Sciences and Technology (LT), Kjeller Innovasjon (Norway) (NO), Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (IT), Estonian Environmental Research Center (Estonia) (EE), Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (DE), Agenzia Regionale Prevenzione e Ambiente della Regione Emilia-Romagna (IT), National Observatory of Athens (GR), Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals (CZ), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (FR), Institut national de l'environnement industriel et des risques (FR), National Research Council (RO), National Institute of Research and Development for Optoelectronics (RO), Laboratoire de Météorologie Physique (FR), Ecological Consulting (Czechia) (CZ), Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics (GR), Joint Research Centre (DE), Centrale Méditerranée (FR), Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (ES), National Research Council (IT), Bolin Centre for Climate Research (SE), Imperial College London (GB), East China Normal University (CN), AGH University of Krakow (PL), University of Birmingham (GB), Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (US)
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Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
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