Hotspots of black carbon and PM 2.5 in an urban area and relationships to traffic characteristics

Three instrumented bicycles were used to measure black carbon (BC) and PM concentrations in a midsized city in southern Brazil. The objective of this study was to map the spatial distribution of BC and PM , to identify air pollution hotspots and to assess factors that may affect the concentrations of these pollutants, e.g. traffic volume, number of heavy-duty diesel vehicles (HDDV), position of traffic signals and street incline. The cyclists collected data in the city centre along streets of different traffic density during nine sampling sessions in the weekday morning and afternoon rush hours, between March 13 and April 28, 2015. The sampling by bicycle covered an area of 2.70 km , over variable elevation, and travelled a total distance of 215 km. BC and PM exhibited a large spatial variability on a scale of tens of metres and the concentrations were positively correlated with traffic counts, but exhibited a stronger relationship with the number of HDDV. These results imply that older buses and diesel-powered trucks may be the main driver behind the high pollution levels in the city's inner core. We observed a strong relationship between BC concentrations at junctions managed by traffic signals and the quantity of HDDV. The mean BC concentration was found to be 8.10 μg m near traffic signals located on an inclined street (HDDV > 100 vehicles h ) compared to traffic signals on flat terrain (6.00 μg m ), which can be attributed to the higher acceleration required at the start of motion. This pattern was less evident for PM concentrations.