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Particulate matter and meteorological conditions in Castelporziano forest: a brief commentary

  • Coastal Forest Ecosystem near Rome
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Abstract

In industrialized areas, the highest contribution to the fine and ultrafine particles comes from anthropogenic activities, namely from emissions of industrial combustion processes and traffic-related emissions. Peri-urban forests can act as a sink of these compounds through different mechanisms, helping to ameliorate air quality. Here, we present the preliminary results of a study to investigate the patterns of the aerosol particle distribution and their correlations with meteorological parameters. Concentration of particles with size down 2.5 nm in diameter was continuously measured above an evergreen Mediterranean forest from January to June 2014 inside the presidential estate of Castelporziano. Results indicate a strong effect of the boundary layer height on particle dispersion that determines higher particle concentration level at night and then diffusion in cleaner air during the day when turbulence enhances the vertical mixing. We found a pronounced reduction of particle concentration during the rain events, supporting the conclusion that rain events represent the major mechanism of particle deposition. By correlating wind direction and particle concentration, we hypothesize large marine aerosol contribution overlapping the anthropogenic sources, although we cannot discriminate yet between biogenic and anthropogenic origins of particulate.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the European projects EXPLO3RVOC (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, proposal no. 321711). The research was also made possible thanks to the Scientific Commission of Castelporziano, in particular the President, Prof. Ervedo Giordano; the Multidisciplinary Center for the Study of Coastal Mediterranean Ecosystems, in particular Ing. Aleandro Tinelli and Dr. Luca Maffei, for technical and logistic support allowing execution of these studies and publication of the data; the General Secretariat of the Presidency of Italian Republic which financed the CASTEL2, CASTEL3, CASPOR4 projects, and the Directorate of Castelporziano Estate; the SAUS project financed by Latium Region; the CONECOFOR 2013 project financed by Italian National Forestry Authority; the PRIN 2010/2011 TREECITY project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria (CRA), Via della Navicella 2-4, 00184, Rome, Italy

    Rita Aromolo, Flavia Savi, Luca Salvati, Filippo Ilardi & Silvano Fares

  2. Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL, Rome, Italy

    Valerio Moretti

Authors
  1. Rita Aromolo
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  2. Flavia Savi
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  3. Luca Salvati
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  4. Filippo Ilardi
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  5. Valerio Moretti
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  6. Silvano Fares
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Filippo Ilardi.

Additional information

This peer-reviewed article is a result of the multidisciplinary project coordinated by the “Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL”, Rome, Italy, in the area of the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano near Rome.

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Aromolo, R., Savi, F., Salvati, L. et al. Particulate matter and meteorological conditions in Castelporziano forest: a brief commentary. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 26 (Suppl 3), 269–273 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-015-0414-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-015-0414-5

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