AUPHEP—Austrian Project on Health Effects of Particulates—general overview

AUPHEP was started in 1999 as a 5 years program to investigate the situation of the atmospheric aerosol with respect to effects on human health. At four different sites in Austria (3 urban and one rural site) an extended monitoring program was conducted for PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 as well as particle number concentration for 12 months each. Beside continuous measurements using TEOM and beta attenuation high-volume sampling of PM2.5 and PM10 provided samples for chemical analyses of various ions, heavy metals and organic compounds. Furthermore, carbonaceous material (TC, EC, OC) year round and PAHs on selected days were analyzed. From collocated public monitoring stations also pollutant gases (SO2, NO, NO2, O3, CO) and meteorological components are available. In winter and summer campaigns aerosol size spectra including chemical components were measured for at least one week each. All data are collected in a project data base (CD-ROM).While extensive data analysis will be presented in following papers, some general results are presented within this paper: annual averages for PM1 are between 10 and 20 μg m−3, for PM2.5 between 15 and 26 mg m−3 and for PM10 between 20 and 38 μg m−3. Number concentrations are between 10,000 and 30,000 cm−3. Urban concentrations are usually higher in winter, rural concentrations in summer. PM2.5 is in average around 70% of PM10, for PM1 this fraction is about 57%.Several studies on health effects are included in this project: a cross-sectional study on preschool and school children regarding lung function measurements and questionnaires about respiratory impairment in the surrounding area of the monitoring sites as well as time series studies on mortality and respiratory morbidity on the general population. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]