Spatial distribution of carbonaceous aerosol in the southeastern Baltic Sea region (event of grass fires)

Abstract

The aerosol chemical composition in air masses affected by large vegetation fires transported from the Kaliningrad region (Russia) and southeast regions (Belarus and Ukraine) during early spring (March 2014) was characterized at the remote background site of Preila, Lithuania. In this study, the chemical composition of the particulate matter was studied by high temporal resolution instruments, including an Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) and a seven-wavelength aethalometer. Air masses were transported from twenty to several hundred kilometres, arriving at the measurement station after approximately half a day of transport. The concentration-weighted trajectory analysis suggests that organic aerosol particles are mainly transported over the Baltic Sea and the continent (southeast of Belarus). Results show that a significant fraction of the vegetation burning organic aerosol is transformed into oxidised forms in less than a half-day. Biomass burning aerosol (BBOA) was quantified from the ACSM data using a positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis, while its spatial distribution was evaluated using air mass clustering approach.