Levoglucosan levels at background sites in Europe for assessing the impact of biomass combustion on the European aerosol background

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres Vol. 112; no. D23; pp. D23S05 - n/a
• Main Authors: Puxbaum, Hans, Caseiro, Alexandre, Sánchez-Ochoa, Asunción, Kasper-Giebl, Anne, Claeys, Magda, Gelencsér, András, Legrand, Michel, Preunkert, Susanne, Pio, Casimiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union 16-12-2007; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Aerosols and particles; Atmospheric Composition and Structure; biomass combustion; composition and chemistry; Constituent sources and sinks; Earth Sciences; Glaciology; levoglucosan; Sciences of the Universe; Troposphere; wood smoke aerosol; ANE, Atlantic, Azores; ANE, Portugal, Aveiro; Hungary; ANE, Europe; levoglucosan; wood smoke aerosol; biomass combustion
• ISSN: 0148-0227; 2169-897X; 2156-2202; 2169-8996
• DOI: 10.1029/2006JD008114

Atmospheric levoglucosan has been determined as a proxy for “biomass smoke” in samples from six background stations on a west–east transect extending from the Atlantic (Azores) to the mid‐European background site KPZ (K‐Puszta, Hungary). Concentration levels of levoglucosan (biannual averages) in the west–east transect range from 0.005 μg/m3 at the oceanic background site AZO (Azores) to 0.52 μg/m3 at AVE (Aveiro, Portugal). The atmospheric concentration of “biomass smoke” (biannual averages) was derived from the levoglucosan data with wood‐type‐specific conversion factors. Annual averages of wood smoke levels ranged from 0.05 μg/m3 at AZO to 4.3 μg/m3 at AVE. Winter (DJF) averages at the low‐level sites AVE and KPZ were 10.8 and 6.7 μg/m3, respectively. Relative contributions of biomass smoke to organic matter (OM) range from around 9–11% at the elevated sites SIL, PDD and SBO, as well as for AZO, to 36% at the low‐level site AVE and 28% at KPZ. Surprisingly high relative concentrations of biomass smoke in OM (68 and 47%) were observed for wintry conditions at the continental low‐level CARBOSOL sites AVE and KPZ. Thus biomass smoke is a very important constituent of the organic material in the mid and west European background with summer contributions to organic matter of around 1–6% and winter levels of around 20% at the elevated mountain sites and 47–68% at rural flat terrain sites, not including secondary organic aerosol from biomass combustion sources.