Variability of ambient air ammonia in urban Europe (Finland, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK)
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This study addressed the scarcity of NH3 measurements in urban Europe and the diverse monitoring protocols, hindering direct data comparison. Sixty-nine datasets from Finland, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK across various site types, including industrial (IND, 8), traffic (TR, 12), urban (UB, 22), suburban (SUB, 12), and regional background (RB, 15), are analyzed to this study. Among these, 26 sites provided 5, or more, years of data for time series analysis. Despite varied protocols, necessitating future harmonization, the average NH3 concentration across sites reached 8.0 ± 8.9 μg/m3. Excluding farming/agricultural hotspots (FAHs), IND and TR sites had the highest concentrations (4.7 ± 3.2 and 4.5 ± 1.0 μg/m3), followed by UB, SUB, and RB sites (3.3 ± 1.5, 2.7 ± 1.3, and 1.0 ± 0.3 μg/m3, respectively) indicating that industrial, traffic, and other urban sources were primary contributors to NH3 outside FAH regions. When referring exclusively to the FAHs, concentrations ranged from 10.0 ± 2.3 to 15.6 ± 17.2 μg/m3, with the highest concentrations being reached in RB sites close to the farming and agricultural sources, and that, on average for FAHs there is a decreasing NH3 concentration gradient towards the city. Time trends showed that over half of the sites (18/26) observed statistically significant trends. Approximately 50 % of UB and TR sites showed a decreasing trend, while 30 % an increasing one. Meta-analysis revealed a small insignificant decreasing trend for non-FAH RB sites. In FAHs, there was a significant upward trend at a rate of 3.51[0.45,6.57]%/yr. Seasonal patterns of NH3 concentrations varied, with urban areas experiencing fluctuations influenced by surrounding emissions, particularly in FAHs. Diel variation showed differing patterns at urban monitoring sites, all with higher daytime concentrations, but with variations in peak times depending on major emission sources and meteorological patterns. These results offer valuable insights into the spatio-temporal patterns of gas-phase NH3 concentrations in urban Europe, contributing to future efforts in benchmarking NH3 pollution control in urban areas.
Date Issued
2024-03
Date Acceptance
2024-02-19
Citation
Environment International, 2024, 185
ISSN
0160-4120
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Environment International
Volume
185
Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38428189
Subjects
Air Pollutants
Air Pollution
Ammonia
Environmental Monitoring
Europe
Finland
France
Italy
Spain
United Kingdom
Ammonia
Europe
Spatial variability
Temporal variability
Urban
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Netherlands
Article Number
108519
Date Publish Online
2024-02-28