Aerosol advection and sea salt events in Genoa, Italy, during the second half of 2005

Atmospheric aerosols in the PM10 fraction have been simultaneously sampled at three sites in the Genoa urban and suburban area during the second half of 2005, and information on the elemental composition has been gathered through energy dispersive Xray fluorescence. Thanks to the simultaneous measurements and wind information, a few aerosol transport and transformation processes originated from the nearby sea and in the neighbouring Po Valley have been described. Sea salt concentrations at the three sites were well correlated and often related to Southern sector winds; moreover, by examining the Cl/Na ratio at two sites the time scale for Cl depletion in particulate matter has been estimated as 1–1.5 h for the Genoa atmosphere. During a Northerly gale, excess elemental Si concentrations (peaking more than 4 μg m−3) were found at two sites, and were ascribed to an unknown local source. Finally, during an 11-day long ‘heat wave’ large concentrations for total PM10, dust and secondary compounds have been found; these large concentrations lead to a number of exceedances of air quality standards, and have been ascribed to advection from the Po Valley.