Analysis of Aerosol in Zurich by Infrared Spectroscopy and Statistical Modelling

Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality, reduced visibility, and is one of the least understood components of the climate system. We use the Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) absorbance spectra of atmospheric aerosol (PM2.5) collected on Teflon filters to characterize the aerosol chemical composition using the functional group (FG) representation. Teflon filters have been collected daily at the National Air Pollution Monitoring Network (NABEL) station in Zurich (Switzerland) from the 1st of April 2016 until the 31st of March 2017. We quantify alcohol COH, carboxylic COOH, alkane CH, carbonyl CO, and amine NH functional groups of the ambient samples by fitting individual Gaussian line shapes to spectra. We compare our analysis with collocated black carbon measurements (BC) that have been apportioned to traffic emission and wood burning.