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AIR PARTICULATE MATTER AND BLACK CARBON CONCENTRATIONS DURING WINTERTIME AT TWO BULGARIAN URBAN SITES
Abstract
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is recognized as the most harmful air pollutant in Europe. The PM2.5 toxic effect is not only due to its size but also to its chemical composition. Black Carbon (BC) is one of the components of the PM2.5 that affects both human health and contributes to climate change [1-3]. It is emitted by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass. There are no regular measurements of the BC concentrations in Bulgaria. This work presents new results from parallel field campaigns for PM2.5 sampling in two Bulgarian cities obtained in the frame of project “CARBOAEROSOL”. The main objective of this study is to estimate BC concentrations in urban fine particulate matter in two large cities: Sofia, located in a valley and Burgas, located on the Black Sea coast. The PM2.5 samples are collected during wintertime (January 2021) by low volume air samplers according to EN 12341:2014 standard. The Multi-wavelength Absorption Black instrument, measuring light absorption at seven different wavelengths is used for estimation of black carbon concentrations in PM2.5 samples. The comparisons between PM2.5 and BC concentrations for both cities are presented and discussed. The mean PM2.5 values are 18.6 ?g.m-3 and 16.2 ?g.m-3 for Sofia and Burgas, respectively. The mean BC concentrations are found to be 3.4 ± 1.43 ?g.m-3 for Sofia and 1.5 ± 0.94 ?g.m-3 for Burgas. Since the main source of BC in urban environments is traffic the obtained results are compared with concentrations of NO2 and CO in the atmospheric air. Variations in PM2.5, BC, NO2 and CO concentration within different meteorological conditions are also presented and discussed.
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