Temporal variations of PM2.5 in the ambient air of a suburban site in Athens, Greece

Twenty-three hour measurements of PM2.5 particulate matter have been carried out during the period between the 1st April and the 13th November 2003 in a suburban area of Athens. The monitoring site was located in the National Research Center bDEMOKRITOSQ, on the foot of Hemittos Mountain and about 12 km away from the center of Athens. The site covers an area of 600 acres in a forest of pine trees close enough to the newly constructed Hemittos Mountain peripheral highway. PM2.5 samples were collected on 47 mm filters, with the use of low volume gravimetric samplers while a meteorological station recorded meteorological data 6 m above the ground, nearby the sampling instrumentation. The daily average PM2.5 concentration reached 21.1 Ag m-3 and all measurements were below U.S. Environmental Pollution Agency daily limit (65 Ag m-3). A regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship among PM2.5 concentrations and meteorological parameters. Additionally, PM2.5 mass concentrations were correlated with other inorganic gaseous pollutants (O3, NO, NO2, SO2) while weekly and seasonal PM2.5 variations were also investigated.