Description
Tiny particles, invisible to the eye, floating in the air are responsible for negative effects on human health including increased cases of heart and lung disease, some of which result in admission to hospital and may lead to premature death. Breathing such particles over a period of years has also been shown to lead to a reduction in life expectancy. Whilst measures to cut the emissions of particles, and of gases which lead to particle formation in the atmosphere have been effective, concentrations of particles in the air of the U.K. have not reduced for the past several years. This fact indicates that our knowledge of particle sources is incomplete, and this project aims to improve knowledge of particle source contributions by sophisticated measurements of the chemical composition of particles in the air, which may then be used to calculate the concentrations of particles arising from specific sources such as road traffic, wood smoke, domestic heating by gas, and others. The work will focus especially upon wood smoke and non-exhaust particles from traffic (such as brake and tyre wear, although other sources will also be estimated. |