Datenpaket: Dataset to Sources, concentrations, and seasonal variations of VOC and aerosol particles in downtown Munich in 2023/24

Dataset related to the following publication: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5191
Only little is known about molecular composition and sources of air pollution in Germanys third largest city, Munich. Therefore, we investigated sources, concentrations, and seasonal variations of volatile organic compounds (VOC), semi-volatile organic aerosol (SVOA), and organic aerosol (OA) in an urban street canyon in Munich utilizing online mass spectrometry and positive matrix factorization (PMF). Organic aerosol concentrations were higher in summer (4.3 ± 2.9 µg m-3) than late winter (3.3 ± 1.7 µg m-3) due to enhanced photochemical reactions, while nitrate exhibited the opposite trend with elevated concentrations in winter (4.5 ± 3.2 µg m-3) compared to summer (0.3 ± 0.2 µg m-3). During summer heat, photochemistry generates low-volatile oxygenated OA (33 ± 20%), while aged biomass burning organic aerosol (BBOA) (25 ± 21%) from barbecue activities and biogenic OA (22 ± 14%) from nocturnal monoterpene chemistry further shape aerosol composition. The colder seasons are characterized by combustion-derived aerosols (Winter: fresh BBOA 13 ± 9%, aged 36 ± 12%; Spring: fresh 27 ± 17%, aged 37 ± 19%), whose dynamics are driven mainly by anthropogenic activity patterns. Traffic contributed at this urban kerbside surprisingly little to aerosol mass (5-9 %) but more to VOC (22-35%). Our findings point to efficient ways to improve air quality e.g. by reducing monoterpene emissions by urban vegetation management as well as reducing biomass burning including barbecue emissions, a major source of aerosol particles and precursor gases of secondary organic aerosol throughout the seasons.

Dataset related to the following publication: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5191
Only little is known about molecular composition and sources of air pollution in Germanys third largest city, Munich. Therefore, we investigated sources, concentrations, and seasonal variations of volatile organic compounds (VOC), semi-volatile organic aerosol (SVOA), and organic aerosol (OA) in an urban street canyon in Munich utilizing online mass spectrometry and positive matrix factorization (PMF). Organic aerosol concentrations were higher in summer (4.3 ± 2.9 µg m-3) than late winter (3.3 ± 1.7 µg m-3) due to enhanced photochemical reactions, while nitrate exhibited the opposite trend with elevated concentrations in winter (4.5 ± 3.2 µg m-3) compared to summer (0.3 ± 0.2 µg m-3). During summer heat, photochemistry generates low-volatile oxygenated OA (33 ± 20%), while aged biomass burning organic aerosol (BBOA) (25 ± 21%) from barbecue activities and biogenic OA (22 ± 14%) from nocturnal monoterpene chemistry further shape aerosol composition. The colder seasons are characterized by combustion-derived aerosols (Winter: fresh BBOA 13 ± 9%, aged 36 ± 12%; Spring: fresh 27 ± 17%, aged 37 ± 19%), whose dynamics are driven mainly by anthropogenic activity patterns. Traffic contributed at this urban kerbside surprisingly little to aerosol mass (5-9 %) but more to VOC (22-35%). Our findings point to efficient ways to improve air quality e.g. by reducing monoterpene emissions by urban vegetation management as well as reducing biomass burning including barbecue emissions, a major source of aerosol particles and precursor gases of secondary organic aerosol throughout the seasons.

Dataset related to the publication:
"Sources, concentrations, and seasonal variations of VOC and aerosol particles in downtown Munich in 2023/24"
Authors: Yanxia Li, Hengheng Zhang, Xuefeng Shi, Yaowei Li, Sophie Abou-Rizk, Jessica B. Smith, Zhaojin An, Adrian Wenzel, Junwei Song, Thomas Leisner, Frank Keutsch, Jia Chen, and Harald Saathoff
Corresponding authors:
Yanxia Li: yanxia.li@kit.edu
Harald Saathoff: harald.saathoff@kit.edu
Li, Y., Zhang, H., Shi, X., Li, Y., Abou-Rizk, S., Smith, J., An, Z., Wenzel, A., Song, J., Leisner, T., Keutsch, F., Chen, J., and Saathoff, H.: Sources, concentrations, and seasonal variations of VOC and aerosol particles in downtown Munich in 2023/24, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5191, 2025, (accepted 04/2026).

Description

Measurements were conducted in an urban street canyon at Theresienstrasse 39 (LMU Munich) during two main campaign periods:
• Summer campaign: 3–29 August 2023
• Late winter / spring campaign: 1–27 March 2024
The dataset includes measurements from multiple instruments used to characterize aerosol chemical composition, volatile organic compounds, particle number and size distributions, trace gases, and meteorological parameters.

File Contents:

Aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS)
Contains data derived from the High Resolution Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS).
These files include mass concentrations of organic aerosol and inorganic components as well as high-resolution AMS analysis results.
Files include data for 2023August_ and 2024March_:

• AMS composition data
• AMS high-resolution analysis outputs
• Processed concentration data for different campaign periods.
  Charon_PTR_MS
  Contains VOC and semi-volatile organic aerosol measurements obtained with the CHARON-PTR-ToF-MS system.
  Files include:
• Gas-phase VOC measurements and uncertainty (Gas_CHARON-PTR-MS)
• Particle-phase semi-volatile organic aerosol measurements and uncertainty for both August 2023 and March 2024 campaigns.
  Meteorological (meteo)
  Contains meteorological parameters and trace gas measurements used for the analysis of atmospheric conditions.
  Files include:
• Temperature
• Relative humidity
• Wind speed and direction
• NOx_O3 NO₂ & O₃ concentrations
• NH3 NH₃ concentrations
  Particle number and size distribution
  Contains particle number concentrations, particle size distributions, and related aerosol measurements.
  Files include:
• SMPS particle size distributions
• CPC particle number concentrations
• PM mass concentrations
• Black carbon concentrations

Data format

All files are provided in Microsoft Excel format (.xlsx) or text format (.itx).
Time resolution varies depending on the instrument but generally ranges from seconds to minutes.

Units

Typical units used in the dataset include:
• Particle mass concentration: µg m⁻³
• Particle number concentration: cm⁻³
• VOC mixing ratios: ppb
• Wind speed: m s⁻¹
• Temperature: °C

Additional notes

The data correspond to the measurements used for generating figures and analyses presented in the manuscript.
For detailed descriptions of instruments, measurement methods, and data processing procedures, please refer to the associated manuscript.

Contact

For questions regarding the dataset, please contact:
Yanxia Li or Harald Saathoff
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Atmospheric Aerosol Research
https://www.imkaaf.kit.edu/