『Abstract
Several studies have shown the association between ambient particulate
matter (PM) and adverse health effects, thus highlighting the
need to limit the anthropogenic sources of PM, especially motor
vehicle emissions. PM exposure is commonly monitored as mass concentration
of PM10 or PM2.5, although increasing toxicity with decreasing
aerodynamic diameter has been reported. In the present study an
analysis was performed of the concentration and size distribution
of airborne PM fractions collected at street level in the city
center of Turin, Italy, to verify the usefulness of “ecological”
days with traffic limitations. PM levels were determined daily
at five different outdoor sites, from Thursday to Tuesday for
7 weeks (five with “ecological” Sunday, two with normal traffic
density). Air sampling was performed using a six-channel laser
particle counter to determine the number of particles (n゜/l) in
six size ranges between 0.3 and 10μm. Climatic conditions and
indoor PM levels were also monitored. The PM size distribution
was constant for all the samples tested, with the 90% of the particles
smaller than 0.5μm, suggesting that measurements for count are
needed in addition to the traditional ones based on the mass.
The total number of particles was highly variable comparing days
or weeks of monitoring, but much less among the sites of air sampling.
The restriction of motor vehicle circulation has not determined
any significant effect on PM levels and, in the winter period,
PM0.5 peak concentrations were measured also on the ecological
days.
Keywords: Air pollution; Human exposure; PM concentrations monitoring;
PM size distribution; PM toxicity; Submicron particulate matter』
1. Introduction
2. Aims
3. Materials and methods
3.1. Instruments
3.2. Sampling
4. Results
5. Discussion and conclusions
Acknowledgements
References