Influence of number of visitors and weather conditions on airborne particulate matter mass concentrations at the Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia during summer and autumn

  • Zvjezdana B. Klaić University of Zagreb Faculty of Science, Department of Geophysics, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Manuel A. Leiva Guzmán
  • Andrijana Brozinčević Dr Ivo Pevalek Scientific Research Centre, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
Keywords: anthropogenic PM sources, bivariate polar plot, light-scattering laser photometry, weighted overlapped segment averaging

Abstract

We investigated the influence of local meteorological conditions and number of visitors on ambient particulate matter (PM) mass concentrations and particle fraction ratios at the Plitvice Lakes National Park between July and October 2018. Outdoor mass concentrations of particles with aerodynamic diameters of less than 1, 2.5, and 10 µm (PM1, PM2.5, and PM10, respectively) and indoor PM1 were measured with two light-scattering laser photometers set up near the largest and most visited Kozjak Lake. Our findings suggest that the particles mainly originated from background sources, although some came from local anthropogenic activities. More specifically, increases in both indoor and outdoor mass concentrations coincided with the increase in the number of visitors. Indoor PM1 concentrations also increased with increase in outdoor air temperature, while outdoor PMs exhibited U-shaped dependence (i.e., concentrations increased only at higher outdoor air temperatures). This behaviour and the decrease in the PM1/PM2.5 ratio with higher temperatures suggests that the production and growth of particles is influenced by photochemical reactions. The obtained spectra also pointed to a daily but not to weekly periodicity of PM levels.

Published
2022-03-23
How to Cite
1.
Klaić ZB, Leiva Guzmán MA, Brozinčević A. Influence of number of visitors and weather conditions on airborne particulate matter mass concentrations at the Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia during summer and autumn. Arh Hig Rada Toksikol [Internet]. 2022Mar.23 [cited 2024Mar.29];73(1). Available from: https://arhiv.imi.hr/index.php/arhiv/article/view/1460
Section
Original article