Measurements of particles in the 5-1000 nm range close to road level in an urban street canyon

A newly developed instrument, the 'fast response differential mobility spectrometer (DMS500)', was deployed to measure the particles in the 5-1000 nm range in a Cambridge (UK) street canyon. Measurements were taken for 7 weekdays (from 09:00 to 19:00 h) between 8 and 21 June 2006 at three heights close to the road level (i.e. 0.20 m, 1.0 m and 2.60 m). The main aims of the measurements were to investigate the dependence of particle number distributions (PNDs) and concentrations (PNCs) and their vertical variations on wind speed, wind direction, traffic volume, and to estimate the particle number flux (PNF) and the particle number emission factors (PNEF) for typical urban streets and driving conditions. Traffic was the main source of particles at the measurement site. Measured PNCs were inversely proportional to the reference wind speed and directly proportional to the traffic volume. During the periods of cross-canyon flow the PNCs were larger on the leeward side than the windward side of the street canyon showing a possible effect of the vortex circulation. The largest PNCs were unsurprisingly near to road level and the pollution sources. The PNCs measured at 0.20 m and 1.0 m were the same to within 0.5-12.5% indicating a well-mixed region and this was presumably due to the enhanced mixing from traffic produced turbulence. The PNCs at 2.60 m were lower by 10-40% than those at 0.20 m and 1.0 m, suggesting a possible concentration gradient in the upper part of the canyon. The PNFs were estimated using an idealised and an operational approach; they were directly proportional to the traffic volume confirming the traffic to be the main source of particles. The PNEF were estimated using an inverse modelling technique; the reported values were within a factor of 3 of those published in similar studies.