Atmospheric new particle formation (NPF) is a naturally occurring phenomenon, during which high concentrations of sub-10 nm particles are created through gas to particle conversion. The NPF is observed in multiple environments around the world. Although it has observable influence onto annual total and ultrafine particle number concentrations (PNC and UFP, respectively), only limited epidemiological studies have investigated whether these particles are associated with adverse health effects. One plausible reason for this limitation may be related to the absence of NPF identifiers available in UFP and PNC data sets. Until recently, the regional NPF events were usually identified manually from particle number size distribution contour plots. Identification of NPF across multi-annual and multiple station data sets remained a tedious task. In this work, we introduce a regional NPF identifier, created using an automated, machine learning based algorithm. The regional NPF event tag was created for 65 measurement sites globally, covering the period from 1996 to 2023. The discussed data set can be used in future studies related to regional NPF.

• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Risk assessment of pesticide impacts on remote ecosystems makes use of model-estimated degradation in air. Recent studies suggest these degradation rates to be overestimated, questioning current pesticide regulation. Here, we investigated the concentrations of 76 pesticides in Europe at 29 rural, coastal, mountain, and polar sites during the agricultural application season. Overall, 58 pesticides were observed in the European atmosphere. Low spatial variation of 7 pesticides suggests continental-scale atmospheric dispersal. Based on concentrations in free tropospheric air and at Arctic sites, 22 pesticides were identified to be prone to long-range atmospheric transport, which included 15 substances approved for agricultural use in Europe and 7 banned ones. Comparison between concentrations at remote sites and those found at pesticide source areas suggests long atmospheric lifetimes of atrazine, cyprodinil, spiroxamine, tebuconazole, terbuthylazine, and thiacloprid. In general, our findings suggest that atmospheric transport and persistence of pesticides have been underestimated and that their risk assessment needs to be improved.

• Klíčová slova
• atmosphere, degradation, pesticides, risk assessment, transport,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH