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Contribution of harbour activities and ship traffic to PM2.5, particle number concentrations and PAHs in a port city of the Mediterranean Sea (Italy)

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Abstract

In this work, an assessment of the impact of ship traffic and related harbour activities (loading/unloading of ships and hotelling in harbour) on PM 2.5 and particle number concentrations (PNC) separating the contribution associated to ship traffic from that of harbour-related activities is reported. Further, an assessment of the impact and environmental risks associated to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations was performed. Results refer to the city of Brindisi (88,500 inhabitants) in the south-eastern part of Italy and its harbour (with yearly 9.5 Mt of goods, over 520,000 passengers and over 175,000 vehicles). PM2.5 and PNC concentrations show a clear daily pattern correlated with daily ship traffic pattern in the harbour. High temporal resolution measurements and correlations with wind direction were used to estimate the average direct contribution to measured concentrations of this source. The average relative contribution of ship traffic was 7.4 % (±0.5 %) for PM2.5 and 26 % (±1 %) for PNC. When the contribution associated to harbour-related activities is added, the percentages become 9.3 % (±0.5 %) for PM2.5 and 39 % (±1 %) for PNC. In the site analysed, air coming from the harbour/industrial sector was richer in PAHs (5.34 ng/m3) than air sampled from all directions (3.89 ng/m3). The major compounds were phenanthrene, fluoranthene and pyrene, but the congener profiles were different in the two direction sectors: air from the harbour/industrial sector was richer in phenanthrene and fluorene, which are the most abundant PAHs in ship emissions. Results showed that lighter PAHs are associated to the gas phase, while high molecular weight congeners are mostly present in the particulate phase. The impact on the site studied of the harbour/industrial source to PAHs was 56 % (range, 29–87 %).

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Acknowledgments

This work has been done in the framework of CESAPO (www.cesapo.upatras.gr) project with the financial support of the European Territorial Cooperation Programme Greece-Italy 2007–2013. The authors wish to thank Dr. A. Tanzarella and his staff at the Autorità Portuale di Brindisi for providing for logistic support including the hosting of our mobile laboratory in the harbour area. We wish to acknowledge MarineTraffic.com for providing some of the ship traffic data for the measurement period. Authors also wish to thank Ing. G. Savoia of the Consorzio per l’Area di Sviluppo Industriale (ASI–Brindisi) for hosting the instrument on the roof of the ASI building and for providing logistical support during the measurement campaign. Finally, they thank Dr. F.M. Grasso (ISAC-CNR) for his help in the setup of the instruments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto di Scienze dell’Atmosfera e del Clima, ISAC-CNR, 73100, Lecce, Italy

    Antonio Donateo, Eva Merico & Daniele Contini

  2. Istituto per la Dinamica dei Processi Ambientali, IDPA-CNR, 30123, Venezia, Italy

    Elena Gregoris & Andrea Gambaro

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Informatica e Statistica, Università Ca’ Foscari, 30123, Venezia, Italy

    Elena Gregoris, Andrea Gambaro & Eva Merico

  4. Agenzia Regionale per la Prevenzione e la Protezione dell’Ambiente, ARPA Puglia, 70126, Bari, Italy

    Roberto Giua & Alessandra Nocioni

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  1. Antonio Donateo
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  2. Elena Gregoris
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  3. Andrea Gambaro
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  4. Eva Merico
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  7. Daniele Contini
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Correspondence to Antonio Donateo.

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Donateo, A., Gregoris, E., Gambaro, A. et al. Contribution of harbour activities and ship traffic to PM2.5, particle number concentrations and PAHs in a port city of the Mediterranean Sea (Italy). Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 9415–9429 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2849-0

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