Atmospheric Environment 38 (2004) 3905–3915 AUPHEP—Austrian Project on Health Effects of Particulates—general overview H. Hauck a,c, *, A. Berner b , T. Frischer d , B. Gomiscek a , M. Kundi c , M. Neuberger c , H. Puxbaum e , O. Preining a , AUPHEP-Team 1 a Austrian Academy of Sciences—Clean Air Commission, Postgasse 7-9, Vienna, Austria b Institute for Experimental Physics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria c Institute of Environmental Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria d University Children’s Hospital, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria e Institute for Chemical Technologies and Analytics, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria Received 28 July 2003; received in revised form 26 August 2003; accepted 15 September 2003 Abstract AUPHEP was started in 1999 as a 5 years program to investigate the situation of the atmospheric aerosol with respect to effects on human health. At four different sites in Austria (3 urban and one rural site) an extended monitoring program was conducted for PM 1 , PM 2.5 and PM 10 as well as particle number concentration for 12 months each. Beside continuous measurements using TEOM and beta attenuation high-volume sampling of PM 2.5 and PM 10 provided samples for chemical analyses of various ions, heavy metals and organic compounds. Furthermore, carbonaceous material (TC, EC, OC) year round and PAHs on selected days were analyzed. From collocated public monitoring stations also pollutant gases (SO 2 , NO, NO 2 ,O 3 , CO) and meteorological components are available. In winter and summer campaigns aerosol size spectra including chemical components were measured for at least one week each. All data are collected in a project data base (CD-ROM). While extensive data analysis will be presented in following papers, some general results are presented within this paper: annual averages for PM 1 are between 10 and 20 mgm 3 , for PM 2.5 between 15 and 26 mg m 3 and for PM 10 between 20 and 38 mgm 3 . Number concentrations are between 10,000 and 30,000 cm 3 . Urban concentrations are usually higher in winter, rural concentrations in summer. PM 2.5 is in average around 70% of PM 10 , for PM 1 this fraction is about 57%. Several studies on health effects are included in this project: a cross-sectional study on preschool and school children regarding lung function measurements and questionnaires about respiratory impairment in the surrounding area of the ARTICLE IN PRESS *Corresponding author. Clean Air Commission, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Post gasse 7-9, 1010 Wien, Austria. Tel.: +43-1- 51581-3519; fax: +43-1-51581-3518. E-mail address: helger.hauck@assoc.oeaw.acat (H. Hauck). 1 AUPHEP Team: T. Amoako-Mensah, H. Bauer, A. Berner, S. Broer, P. Ctyroky, E. Danninger, T. Eiwegger, T. Frischer, P. Fru¨hauf, Z. Galambos, C. Gartner, B. Gomiscek, H. Hauck (Codirector), W. Hann, F. Horak jr., H. Horvath, A. Iro, M. Kalina, J. Klocker, P. Kreiner, W. Krejci, H. Kromp-Kolb, B. Kru¨ger, M. Kundi, T. Lavric, A. Limbeck, W. Matzke, H. Moshammer, M. Neuberger, B. Piegler, P. Pouresmaeil, O. Preining (Codirector), W. Pu¨hringer, B. Putscho¨gl, H. Puxbaum, W. Raber, P. Riess, A. Salam, M. G. Schimek, H. Schmid, B. Schuster, G. Semmelrock, B. Syeda, S. Stopper, M. Studnicka, V. Tarmann, E. Wartlik, A. Zarkada. International Advisory Board: Heinz Fissan, Duisburg, Germany; Nino Ku¨ nzli, Basel, Switzerland; Anton van der Meulen, Bilthoven, The Netherlands. 1352-2310/$ - see front matter r 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2003.09.080