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REGIONAL BACKGROUND SITE – MONTSENY

The Montseny monitoring site is located in a valley in the Montseny pre-coastal range. It is placed in the Vilar de la Castanya (41°46'45.63"N, 02°21'28.92"E, 720 meters a.s.l.) Barcelona, a research state belonging to the Generalitat de Catalunya.

The site consists of two shelters located in the Mas de l’Adrobau where most instruments are placed. Since 2014, the site has been improved including a country house, La Castanya, offering accommodation for external scientist and instrumentation, as well as performing training and summer courses.

During 2022, most of the instruments will be moved from the shelter to the country house, thus considerably improving the site.

PMx levels and PM speciation measurements obtained in the framework of the national research projects are available since 2002. Records of more aerosol parameters and gaseous pollutants are available since 2008, when the two shelters were installed. A state-of-the-art Time of flight Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ToF-ACSM) is operative since 2021 for real-time measurements (30 minute averages) of the chemical composition and mass concentrations of non-refractory species in submicron aerosol particles.

This regional background site is frequently affected by anthropogenic emissions from the Barcelona conurbation and Vallès industrial areas. This site can be considered as representative of regional environments in the Western Mediterranean Basin as demonstrated by a number of research publications (see list of references).

Research carried out at this site is included in the Aerosols and Climate and Air Quality research lines. This research aims to:

• Investigate the origin of aerosols and the major processes influencing the variability of levels, composition and physical properties of atmospheric aerosols at regional level in the Western Mediterranean

• Interpret the spatial and temporal variability of physico-chemical and optical parameters of atmospheric aerosols in a regional background area frequently affected by the anthropogenic emissions from the Barcelona conurbation and Valles industrial area and by long range transport episodes (e.g. Saharan dust outbreaks, forest fires).

• Identify the source origin and atmospheric processes controlling aerosol levels and characteristics during the winter and summer PM pollution episodes in NE Spain, with special interest in organic aerosols.

• Quantify the origin of mineral matter in regional aerosols in NE Spain.

• To determine the main aerosol parameters for the development of radiative models (aerosol optical depth, single scattering albedo, aerosol asymmetry parameter, among others)

Variables measured and instruments available at MONTSENY REGIONAL BACKGROUND SITE