Marseille-Longchamp Instrumented Site (MRS-LCP)

Born from a close collaboration between LCE and the air quality monitoring network AtmoSud, later joined by other local and national laboratories, the Marseille-Longchamp Instrumented Site (MRS-LCP) is an urban background site representative of the average air pollution exposure for the Marseille population. Located in Parc Longchamp, right in the heart of Marseille, MRS-LCP is the only instrumented site situated in a Mediterranean coastal city. Influenced by strong local and regional anthropogenic activities and a Mediterranean climate that favors pollutant reactivity and aging, it offers a privileged location for studying aerosols and their atmospheric evolution.

Latest News

April 25, 2025
Mathilde Brezins, a PhD student at LCE, presented part of her thesis work, at the congress of the doctoral school, focused on characterizing PM1 sources around the Marseille-Fos basin and the oxidative potential of these PM1 particles. Congratulations and thanks to her for this valuable contribution to promoting the MRS-LCP site!

February 6, 2025
We had the pleasure of hosting scientists from NWU (South Africa), KIT (Germany), and the University of Cambridge, partners of the AEROFOG project, who came to exchange on the measurements performed at the MRS-LCP site, further strenghthening international scientific collaboration around this supersite.

Instrumentation

In addition to the necessary instrumentation for measuring all regulated air quality parameters (PM10, PM2.5, NOx, O3, SO2) and main greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4), MRS-LCP is continuously equipped with:

  • ToF-ACSM: (Time-of-Flight Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor): Online analysis of the non-refractory submicron aerosol fraction (i.e., Organic Aerosol -OA-, Sulfate, Nitrate, Ammonium, etc.) with a 15-minute time resolution (since 2017).
  • Aethalometer (AE33): Measurement of Black Carbon (BC) with a 15-minute  time resolution (since 2016).
  • Xact 625i: Analysis of metallic elements with a 60- or 120-minute time resolution (since 2018).
  • SMPS (Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer): Measurement of the total number of submicron particles (15-700 nm) and their size distribution with a 5-minute time resolution (since 2018).
  • Meteorological station: Measurement of temperature, relative humidity, and 3D sonic anemometry with a 5-minute time resolution (since 2017).
  • Lower-Atmospheric Aerosol Lidar: 10-minute time resolution (since 2020).
  • Sun Photometer : 10-minute time resolution (since 2020).

The data collected by the MRS-LCP site's instruments are available in graphical form on the HERMES platform : 
https://www.hermes-aq.com/ , a real-time data retrieval and validation tool developed by the LCE.

 References

  • Camman, J., Chazeau, B., Marchand, N., Durand, A., Gille, G., Lanzi, L., Jaffrezo, J.-L., Wortham, H., and Uzu, G., 2024. Oxidative potential apportionment of atmospheric PM1: a new approach combining high-sensitive online analysers for chemical composition and offline OP measurement technique, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3257–3278. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3257-2024 
     
  • Riandet, A.; Xueref-Remy, I.; Popovici, I.; Lelandais, L.; Armengaud, A.; Goloub, P., 2023. Diurnal and Seasonal Variability of the Atmospheric Boundary-Layer Height in Marseille (France) for Mistral and Sea/Land Breeze Conditions. Remote Sensing, 15 (5), 1185. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15051185
     
  • Xueref-Remy, I., Milne, M., Zoghbi, N., Lelandais, L., Riandet, A., Armengaud, A., Gille, G., Lanzi, L., Oppo, S., BrĂ©gonzio-Rozier, L., Blanc, P.-E., Yohia, C., Piazzola, J., Delmotte, M., 2023. Analysis of atmospheric CO2 variability in the Marseille city area and the north-west Mediterranean basin at different time scales. Atmospheric Environment: X, 17, 100208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2023.100208
     
  • Chen, G., Canonaco, F., Tobler, A., Aas, W., Alastuey, A., Allan, J., Atabakhsh, S., Aurela, M., Baltensperger, U., Bougiatioti, A., De Brito, J. F., Ceburnis, D., Chazeau, B., Chebaicheb, H., Daellenbach, K. R., Ehn, M., El Haddad, I., Eleftheriadis, K., Favez, O., Flentje, H., Font, A., Fossum, K., Freney, E., Gini, M., Green, D. C., Heikkinen, L., Herrmann, H., Kalogridis, A.-C., Keernik, H., Lhotka, R., Lin, C., Lunder, C., Maasikmets, M., Manousakas, M. I., Marchand, N., Marin, C., Marmureanu, L., Mihalopoulos, N., MoÄŤnik, G., NÄ™cki, J., O’Dowd, C., Ovadnevaite, J., Peter, T., Petit, J.-E., Pikridas, M., Matthew Platt, S., Pokorná, P., Poulain, L., Priestman, M., Riffault, V., Rinaldi, M., RóżaĹ„ski, K., Schwarz, J., Sciare, J., Simon, L., Skiba, A., Slowik, J. G., Sosedova, Y., Stavroulas, I., Styszko, K., Teinemaa, E., Timonen, H., Tremper, A., Vasilescu, J., Via, M., VodiÄŤka, P., Wiedensohler, A., Zografou, O., Cruz MinguillĂłn, M. and PrĂ©vĂ´t, A. S. H., 2022. European Aerosol Phenomenology - 8: Harmonised Source Apportionment of Organic Aerosol using 22 Year-long ACSM/AMS Datasets, Environ. Int., 107325. doi.org10.1016/J.ENVINT.2022.107325 
     
  • Trechera, P., Garcia-Marlès, M., Liu, X., Reche, C., PĂ©rez, N., Savadkoohi, M., Beddows, D., Salma, I., Vörösmarty, M., Casans, A., Casquero-Vera, J A., Hueglin, C., Marchand, N., Chazeau, B., Gille, G., Kalkavouras, P., Mihalopoulos, N., Ondracek, J., ZĂ­ková, N., Niemi, J V.., Manninen, H E., Green, D C., Tremper, A H., Norman, M., Vratolis, S., Eleftheriadis, K., GĂłmez-Moreno, F J., Alonso-Blanco, E., Gerwig, H., Wiedensohler, A., Weinhold, K., Merkel, M., Bastian, S., Petit, J-E., Favez, O.,Crumeyrolle, S., Ferlay, N, Dos Santos, S M., Putaud, J-P., Timonen, H., Lampilahti, J., Asbach, C., Wolf, C.,  Kaminski, H., Altug, H. Hoffmann, B., Rich, D Q., Pandolfi, M., Harrison, R M., Hopke, P K., Petäjä, T., Alastuey, A., and Querol, X., 2023. Phenomenology of Ultrafine Particle Concentrations and Size Distribution Across Urban Europe, Environment International, 172,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2023.107744
     
  • Chazeau, B., El Haddad, I., Canonaco, F., Temime-Roussel, B., D’Anna, B., Gille, G., Mesbah, B., PrĂ©vĂ´t, A. S. H., Wortham, H. and Marchand, N., 2022. Organic aerosol source apportionment by using rolling positive matrix factorization: Application to a Mediterranean coastal city, Atmos. Environ. X, 14, 100176, https://doi.org/10.1016/J.AEAOA.2022.100176 
     
  • Chazeau, B., Temime-Roussel, B., Gille, G., Mesbah, B., D'Anna, B., Wortham, H., and Marchand, N., 2021. Measurement report: Fourteen months of real-time characterisation of the submicronic aerosol and its atmospheric dynamics at the Marseille–Longchamp supersite, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 7293 7319, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7293-2021

Access

The MRS-LCP instrumented site is located at the IMERA (Institute for Advanced Studies of Aix-Marseille University).

GPS coordinates : 43.305274, 5.394702
Address: Observatoire de Marseille et planétarium, 2 place Le Verrier, 13004 Marseille

https://maps.app.goo.gl/b7CNPnyBrsDh9ZYN6

Contacts

Scientific Manager (SI) : Barbara D’Anna (Research Director) : (+33) 4 13 55 06 58      barbara.danna@univ-amu.fr 

In-situ Aerosol Manager: Benjamin Chazeau (Associate Professor) : (+33) 4 13 55 10 54     benjamin.chazeau@univ-amu.fr

Remote sensing aerosol and In-situ greenhouse gases Manager: Irene Xueref-Remy   irene.xueref-remy@univ-amu.fr 

Technical Manager: Amandine Durand (Engineer) : (+33) 4 13 55 10 52    amandine.durand@univ-amu.fr 

Team members