Low-Cost Air Quality Stations' Capability to Integrate Reference Stations in Particulate Matter Dynamics Assessment

Low-cost air quality stations can provide useful data that can offer a complete picture ofurban air quality dynamics, especially when integrated with daily measurements from reference airquality stations. However, the success of such deployment depends on the measurement accuracyand the capability of resolving spatial and temporal gradients within a spatial domain. In this work,an ensemble of three low-cost stations named "AirQino" was deployed to monitor particulate matter(PM) concentrations over three different sites in an area affected by poor air quality conditions. Dataof PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations were collected for about two years following a protocol based onfield calibration and validation with a reference station. Results indicated that: (i) AirQino stationmeasurements were accurate and stable during co-location periods over time (R2 = 0.5-0.83 andRMSE = 6.4-11.2 µg m-3; valid data: 87.7-95.7%), resolving current spatial and temporal gradients;(ii) spatial variability of anthropogenic emissions was mainly due to extensive use of wood forhousehold heating; (iii) the high temporal resolution made it possible to detect time occurrenceand strength of PM10 concentration peaks; (iv) the number of episodes above the 1-h thresholdof 90 µg m-3 and their persistence were higher under urban and industrial sites compared tothe rural area.