Experimental studies of ultrafine particles in streets and the relationship to traffic

Fine and ultrafine particles are of great concern due to their adverse health effects. Furthermore, the emission of ultrafine particles has been reported to be increasing even if the total mass of particles emitted from vehicles decreases. Determination of emission factors of ultrafine particles from the actual car fleet for different types of vehicles is essential for reliable model calculations of the directly emitted particles from the traffic. The present study includes test of measurement methods and analysis of field data from Copenhagen. Measurements of fine and ultrafine particles were carried out during winter/spring 1999, at street level in central Copenhagen, at roof level in Copenhagen, and at street level in the city Odense. The measurements were carried out by differential mobility analyser (DMA) with a high-time resolution corresponding to the variation in traffic and meteorology. The particles were separated into 29 size fractions from 0.01 to 0.7 μm. Significant correlation at street level was observed between the CO, NOx, and ultrafine particles, indicating that the traffic is the major source of ultrafine particles in the air. Time series for several months of the size distributions have been analysed using statistical methods. Factor analysis has been used for the identification of the important sources, and a constrained linear receptor model has been used for source apportionment and for the determination of single-source size distributions of ultrafine particles from diesel- and petrol-fuelled vehicles.