Sources of particulate-matter air pollution and its oxidative potential in Europe

Authors: Kaspar R. Daellenbach, Gaëlle Uzu, Jianhui Jiang, Laure‐Estelle Cassagnes, Zaira Leni, Athanasia Vlachou, Giulia Stefenelli, Francesco Canonaco, Samuël Weber, Arjo Segers, Jeroen Kuenen, Martijn Schaap, Olivier Favez, Alexandre Albinet, Şebnem Aksoyoğlu, Josef Dommen, Urs Baltensperger, Marianne Geiser, Imad El Haddad, Jean‐Luc Jaffrezo, Andrê S. H. Prévôt - Nature 2020 cited by 880

. Here we use field observations and air-quality modelling to quantify the major primary and secondary sources of particulate matter and of oxidative potential in Europe. We find that secondary inorganic components, crustal material and secondary biogenic organic aerosols control the mass concentration of particulate matter. By contrast, oxidative potential concentration is associated mostly with anthropogenic sources, in particular with fine-mode secondary organic aerosols largely from residential biomass burning and coarse-mode metals from vehicular non-exhaust emissions. Our results suggest that mitigation strategies aimed at reducing the mass concentrations of particulate matter alone may not reduce the oxidative potential concentration. If the oxidative potential can be linked to major health impacts, it may be more effective to control specific sources of particulate matter rather than overall particulate mass.