The preliminary study of the PM1 main components and of their seasonal variation using a linear parametric model

This study presents the mass concentration PM1(aerosol particles with an aerodynamic diameter below 1μm) together with sixteen related trace elements (i.e. Al, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, S, Ti, Zn) measured during Summer and Winter periods in a characteristic anthropized area. Soil, Sulfate, total-metal-oxide (TMO) and the carbonaceous material (CM) masses were evaluated and considered as the main components of PM1. All variables were log transformed to smooth extreme recording influence. A linear parametric model was estimated to asses components influence on the log PM1 and to evaluate the possible differential effect of observation periods on the components contribution. Results showed that CM, Sulfate, Soil and TMO explained about 44.32%, 33.56%, 11.4% and 0.2% of the total variance of PM1, respectively. The contributions of CM, Sulfate and Soil to PM1 were significative with an error of 5%. The contribution of TMO to PM1 was significative with an error of 10%. CM, Soil and TMO contributed to PM1 with a significant difference between Summer and Winter, whereas Sulfate contributed to PM1 with non significant difference between Summer and Winter. Therefore, the CM, Sulfate and TMO components which were mainly related to anthropogenic origin explained about 78% of the PM1 total variance, whereas the Soil component which was mainly related to natural origin explained about 11.4% of the PM1 total variance. CM, Soil and TMO components contributed differently to PM1 in Summer and Winter. This result suggested possible seasonal sources activities for these components.