The vacation spot was the district of Brook, in the municipality of Kalkhorst in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. There, the air-Q was set up in the apartment. Due to the pleasant temperatures of around 23 degrees on average, the door and windows were often open and the rooms were therefore well ventilated. With a consistently very high humidity level of almost 80 percent, this was also necessary.
particulates at the Baltic Sea
In the period from August 10 - 15, an air-Q Pro recorded 14 different measured values, including particulates in the different sizes PM₁, PM₂,₅ and PM₁₀. With particulates , the finer the particles, the deeper they can penetrate into the bloodstream and thus into the lungs, heart and, according to the latest studies, the brain, causing lasting damage.
The particulate matter values PM₂,₅ were selected and evaluated as examples. Since particulates PM₂,₅ can penetrate even deeper into the body and respiratory tract, the Federal Environment Agency has set an annual limit value of 25 μg/m³. For comparison - for the larger PM₁₀, an annual average value of 40 μg/m³ and a daily limit value of 50 μg/m³ applies.
The results of the measurement course show that the particulate matter values were initially very high, especially on the first day, with up to 47 μg/m³. In the course of the second day, the values slowly decreased to more harmless levels until they finally reached an absolute low on 12 August, the third day there. With only slight fluctuations, particulate matter levels averaged below 10 μg/m³ on 12 and 13 August, until they rose steadily again from 14 August, reaching their maximum value of 43 μg/m³ one day later, before dropping slightly again. However, they still did not reach the low values of the previous days, but settled at around 35 μg/m³.
Conclusion: strongly increased particulate matter values
The measured values show that the air quality in relation to the particulatesin Brook on the Baltic Sea was not ideal. For the causes of these high values, only hypotheses can be made without more in-depth analyses. For example, the port of Lübeck is close to the measurement site and the ships arriving via Travemünde and their combustion exhaust gases can be seen from far away. At the beginning of the measurement, the wind blew mostly from the northwest, but later shifted to the northeast. It seems reasonable to assume that the wind blowing from the direction of the ships' entry lane carried the unfortunately largely unfiltered emissions from the ships towards the holiday resort at the beginning of the measurement. The improvement of the particulate matter values over the period correlated with the change in the wind in a north-easterly direction, which the air-Q immediately recorded. Further analyses on the coasts and near ports are definitely in order. In this respect, we would be pleased to receive air-Q measurement protocols for a joint evaluation.
Would you also like to measure the particulates values or your indoor air? You can order the air analyser in our online shop.
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