Impact of Urban Pollution on the Composition of Atmospheric Particles in Natural Environments

To gain a better understanding of the influence anthropogenic atmospheric particles have on natural environments of Puerto Rico, samples of urban, marine, and forest aerosols were collected during June-August 2007. Analyses were performed to study the carbonaceous and nitrogenous fraction of the aerosol as well as to characterize the biogenic particles of the collected samples. During this time, air masses of different origins reached the island. Preliminary results showed an average of total carbon (TC) concentrations of 0.50 micrograms of carbon per m3 for the urban site, 0.075ug/m3 for the marine site and 0.15 ug/m3 for the forest site. EC was found only in the urban site. The results obtained are highly influenced by the origin of the air masses sampled. Additional analyses on the composition of the sampled particles are being performed and will be presented along with analyses of the meteorological conditions for the three locations under study.