• DOI:10.5194/acp-21-17865-2021
• Corpus ID: 245103794

Annual exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban environments linked to wintertime wood-burning episodes

@article{Tsiodra2021AnnualET,
  title={Annual exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban environments linked to wintertime wood-burning episodes},
  author={Irini Tsiodra and Georgios Grivas and Kalliopi Tavernaraki and A Bougiatioti and Maria Apostolaki and Despina Paraskevopoulou and Alexandra Gogou and Constantine Parinos and K. Oikonomou and Maria I. Tsagkaraki and Pavlos Zarmpas and Athanasios Nenes and Nikolaos Mihalopoulos},
  journal={Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics},
  year={2021}
}

• Irini Tsiodra, G. Grivas, +10 authors N. Mihalopoulos
• Published 7 December 2021
• Environmental Science
• Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

Abstract. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are organic pollutants in fine
particulate matter (PM) long known to have mutagenic and carcinogenic effects,
but much is unknown about the importance of local and remote sources for PAH
levels observed in population-dense urban environments. A year-long sampling
campaign in Athens, Greece, where more than 150 samples were analyzed for 31 PAHs and a wide range of chemical markers, was combined with positive matrix
factorization (PMF) to constrain the temporal variability, sources, and
carcinogenic risk associated with PAHs. It was found that biomass burning
(BB), a source mostly present during wintertime intense pollution events
(observed for 18 % of measurement days in 2017), led to wintertime
PAH levels that were 7 times higher than in other seasons and was as important for
annual mean PAH concentrations (31 %) as diesel and oil
(33 %) and gasoline (29 %) sources. The contribution of
non-local sources, although limited on an annual basis (7 %),
increased during summer, becoming comparable to that of local sources
combined. The fraction of PAHs (12 members that were included in the PMF
analysis) that was associated with BB was also linked to increased health risk
compared to the other sources, accounting for almost half the annual PAH
carcinogenic potential (43 %). This can result in a large number
of excess cancer cases due to BB-related high PM levels and urges immediate
action to reduce residential BB emissions in urban areas facing similar
issues.