Particle number size distribution measurements were conducted during the summer of 2012 at City-Centre Urban Background (Patras-C), Urban Background (ICE-HT in Patras, DEM in Athens, EPT in Thessaloniki), and Regional Background stations (FIN in Crete). At the City-Centre Urban Background station, the average number distribution had a geometric mean diameter peak approximately at 60 nm and the highest number concentration, whereas at the Regional Background station and the Urban Background stations it displayed a major peak approximately at 100 nm, with the Regional Background station exhibiting the lowest number concentration. The particle number size distribution at each site was divided into size fractions and, based on their diurnal variation and previous studies, we concluded that the main sources for the City-Centre Urban Background station are traffic and the regional background concentration, for the Urban Background stations fresh traffic, aged traffic, cooking and the regional background concentration, and for the Regional Background station local activities (tourism, cooking) and regional background concentration. The median number concentration that is attributed to regional background concentration for the City-Centre Urban Background, the Urban Background and the Regional Background stations are respectively 13, 29 and 45% of the total number concentration. Nucleation events were identified at DEM station, where the newly formed particles accounted for 4% of the total particle concentration for the measurement period in the size range 10–20 nm, EPT, where they accounted for 12%, and FIN, where they accounted for 1%, respectively. New Particle Formation events contribution during summer to Condensation Cloud Nuclei were therefore insignificant in the Eastern Mediterranean. Modal analysis was performed on the number distributions and the results were classified in clusters. At the City-Centre Urban Background station, the cluster-source that dominated number concentration and frequency is related to fresh and aged traffic emissions, at the Urban Background stations aged traffic emissions, while at the Regional Background station number and frequency were dominated by the regional background concentration. Based on cluster analysis, 18% of the median number distribution was due to long range transport at the City-Centre Urban Background site, 37% at the Urban Background sites, and 59% at the Regional Background site. The Flexible Particle Dispersion Model (FLEXPART) was used in order to acquire geographic origin clusters and we concluded that the Etesian flow increases the median regional background number concentration in the Mediterranean basin by a factor of 2.5–4.

Number size distributions of atmospheric aerosol particles were simultaneously measured at a kerbside and an urban background site in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece, from June to October 2009. New particle formation events were observed ca. 27% of the days at the urban kerbside site and 29% of the days at the urban background site. In almost all the cases the events started between 10:00 and 12:00, and continued for several hours. The total number concentration (TNC) of the particles having diameters from 10 to ca. 500 nm during the events increased from 1.4 × 10⁴ to 6.5 × 10⁴ #/cm³ at the urban kerbside site, and from 0.2 × 10⁴ to 2.4 × 10⁴ #/cm³ at the urban background site. At the urban kerbside site, 9% of the days exhibited class I events (i.e., events followed by a clear growth of the newly formed particles), 10% class II (i.e., events during which the concentration of nucleation mode particles were high but their growth was not continuous), 67% were characterised as non-event days, and 14% of the days exhibited no clear particle formation pattern (undefined). At the urban background site, 15% of the days were classified as class I, 5% as class II, 75% of the days showed no nucleation, whereas only 5% of the days were undefined. While the fraction of event days (both class I and class II) at both sites was similar (ca. 20%), the higher fraction of class I events observed at Eptapyrgio can be attributed to the cleaner environment of the urban background site that allows better identification of the particle concentration increase. The nucleation bursts show a similar pattern at both sites, with the newly formed particles reaching a final size of ca. 80-100 nm. A distinct difference between the two stations was that the smallest particles observed during the new-particle formation events had a diameter of ca. 10 nm (i.e., the smallest particles we could observe) at the kerbside site and ca. 20 nm at the urban background site. This is an indication that the new particles observed at the urban background station are formed elsewhere and are transported to the site. Estimated concentrations of H₂SO₄ using a proxy model, suggest that these are high enough to explain the nucleation events despite that the available aerosol surface was high, especially at the urban kerbside site.