Project Description
Description
In urban areas, where the largest fraction of the population in Europe is exposed, particulate matter concentrations (PM10 and PM2.5) are monitored at central outdoor locations in numerous air quality monitoring networks. However, it is estimated that adults spend approximately 60–80 % of their time indoors, and in the case of children at least 50 % of this time is spent in school.
Major knowledge gaps remain regarding exposure to fine and ultrafine particles in indoor and outdoor environments.
Objectives
Our aim is to research the pathways of human exposure to air pollutants in both types of environments, and to understand and quantify the contribution of different emission sources on health. Examples of environments studied are urban air, primary schools, commuting (by metro, bus, etc.), and industrial workplaces (occupational exposure). Target pollutants assessed in our research are PM10 and PM2.5 mass concentration and chemical composition, ultrafine particle number concentration, particle surface area, black carbon concentration, particle morphology, and engineered nanoparticle concentration. Within this research line, IDAEA assesses particle characteristics as well as their emission sources, in order to quantify human exposure through an experimental approach and using statistical methods for source allocation and apportionment.