Aerosol Trace Metal Concentrations over the Mediterranean Basin: observations through six cruise campaigns on board the CNR Research Vessel URANIA

Abstract

The Mediterranean basin, due to its semi-enclosed configuration, is one of the areas heavily affected by aerosols. Despite implications on both human health and radiative budget involve an increasing interest, aerosol data are yet relatively scarce. In this work we show a dataset resulting from five ship-borne measurements performed, from 2003 to 2007, across the Mediterranean basin. Results involve daily fine (PM2.5) and coarse (PM2.5-10) particle size fraction concentrations as well as trace metal chemical analysis. According to aerosol optical properties and to chemical composition, continental aerosols, Saharan dust and maritime aerosols have been identified during the cruise campaigns. Shipping emissions, representing both local harbours and maritime traffic across the basin, were also tested using the marker ratio of V and Ni, showing a quite large contribution to the total aerosol load. Spatial variability of the aerosol concentrations resulted in a larger fine concentration over the eastern Mediterranean sector compared with that resulted in the western one mainly due to the background contribution of anthropogenic compounds.

Keywords

• trace metals
• particle size fraction
• Mediterranean basin
• Saharan dust
• shipping emissions