Emission and Long-Range Transport of Gaseous Mercury from a Large-Scale Canadian Boreal Forest Fire

2003 ◽  
Vol 37 (19) ◽  
pp. 4343-4347 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Sigler ◽  
X. Lee ◽  
W. Munger
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Gaseous Mercury ◽  
Range Transport ◽  
Canadian Boreal Forest

scholarly journals Temporal trend and sources of speciated atmospheric mercury at Waliguan GAW station, northwestern China

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 30053-30089 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. W. Fu ◽  
X. Feng ◽  
P. Liang ◽  
H. Zhang ◽  
J. Ji ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Temporal Trend ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Western China ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Gaseous Mercury ◽  
Sampling Campaign ◽  
Regional Sources ◽  
Range Transport

Abstract. Measurements of speciated atmospheric mercury were conducted at a remote mountain-top station (WLG) at the edge of northeastern part of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, western China. Mean concentrations of total gaseous mercury (TGM), particulate mercury (PHg), and reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) during the whole sampling campaign were 1.98 ± 0.98 ng m−3, 19.4 ± 18.1 pg m−3, and 7.4 ± 4.8 pg m−3, respectively. Levels of speciated Hg at WLG were slightly higher than those reported from remote areas of North America and Europe. Both regional emissions and long-rang transport played a remarkable role in the distribution of TGM and PHg in ambient air at WLG, whereas RGM showed major links to the regional sources, likely as well as the in-situ productions by photochemical processes. Regional sources for speciated Hg were mostly located to the east of WLG, which is the most developed areas of Qinghai province and accounted for most of the province's anthropogenic Hg emissions. Potential source contribution function (PSCF) results showed a strong impact of long-range transport from eastern Gansu, western Ningxia and Shanxi Province, with good accordance with locations of urban areas and industrial centers. Moreover, we found that northern India was also an important source region of WLG during the sampling campaign, and this is the first time of direct evidence of long-range transport of atmospheric Hg from India to northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Seasonal and diurnal variations of TGM were in contrast with most of the previous studies in China, with relatively higher levels in warm seasons and night, respectively. The temporal trend of TGM also highlighted the impact of long-range transport on the distribution of TGM in ambient air at WLG.

scholarly journals Lagrangian formation pathways of moist anomalies in the trade-wind region during the dry season: two case studies from EUREC<sup>4</sup>A

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonie Villiger ◽  
Heini Wernli ◽  
Maxi Boettcher ◽  
Martin Hagen ◽  
Franziska Aemisegger
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cold Front ◽  
Trade Wind ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
The North ◽  
Range Transport ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract. Shallow clouds in the trade-wind region over the North Atlantic contribute substantially to the global radiative budget. In the vicinity of the Caribbean island Barbados, they appear in different mesoscale organisation patterns with distinct net cloud radiative effects (CRE). Cloud formation processes in this region are typically controlled by the prevailing large-scale subsidence. However, occasionally weather systems from remote origin cause significant disturbances. This study investigates the complex cloud-circulation interactions during the field campaign EUREC4A (Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds, Convection and Circulation) from 16 January to 20 February 2020, using a combination of Eulerian and Lagrangian diagnostics. Based on observations and ERA5 reanalyses, we identify the relevant processes and characterise the formation pathways of two moist anomalies above the Barbados Cloud Observatory (BCO), one in the lower (~1000–650 hPa) and one in the middle troposphere (~650–300 hPa). These moist anomalies are associated with strongly negative CRE values and with contrasting long-range transport processes from the extratropics and the tropics, respectively. The low-level moist anomaly is characterised by an unusually thick cloud layer, high precipitation totals and a strongly negative CRE. Its formation is connected to an “extratropical dry intrusion” (EDI) that interacts with a trailing cold front. A quasi-climatological (2010–2020) analysis reveals that EDIs lead to different conditions at the BCO depending on how they interact with the associated cold front. Based on this climatology, we discuss the relevance of the strong large-scale forcing by EDIs for the low-cloud patterns near the BCO and the related CRE. The second case study about the mid-tropospheric moist anomaly is associated with an extended and persistent mixed-phase shelf cloud and the lowest daily CRE value observed during the campaign. Its formation is linked to “tropical mid-level detrainment” (TMD), which refers to detrainment from tropical deep convection near the melting layer. The quasi-climatological analysis shows that TMDs consistently lead to mid-tropospheric moist anomalies over the BCO and that the detrainment height controls the magnitude of the anomaly. However, no systematic relationship was found between the amplitude of this mid-tropospheric moist anomaly and the CRE at the BCO. Overall, this study reveals the important impact of the long-range transport, driven by dynamical processes either in the extratropics or the tropics, on the variability of the vertical structure of moisture and clouds, and on the resulting CRE in the North Atlantic winter trades.

scholarly journals Long-term monitoring of atmospheric total gaseous mercury (TGM) at a remote site in Mt. Changbai area, northeastern China

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 4417-4446 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. W. Fu ◽  
X. Feng ◽  
L. H. Shang ◽  
S. F. Wang ◽  
H. Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Northeastern China ◽  
Western China ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Remote Site ◽  
Total Gaseous Mercury ◽  
Large Power ◽  
Gaseous Mercury ◽  
Regional Sources ◽  
Range Transport

Abstract. Total gaseous mercury (TGM) was continuously monitored at a remote site (CBS) in the Mt. Changbai area, northeastern China biennially from 24 October 2008 to 31 October 2010. The overall mean TGM concentration was 1.60 ± 0.51 ng m−3, which is lower than those reported from remote sites in eastern, southwestern and western China, indicating a relatively low regional anthropogenic mercury (Hg) emission intensity in northeastern China. Measurements at a site in the vicinity (~1.2 km) of the CBS station during August 2005 and July 2006 showed a significantly higher mean TGM concentration of 3.58 ± 1.78 ng m−3. The divergent result was partially attributed to fluctuations in the regional surface wind system and moreover an effect of local emission sources. The temporal variation of TGM at CBS was obviously influenced by regional sources as well as long-range transported Hg. Regional sources, frequently contributing to episodical high TGM concentrations, were pinpointed as a large iron mining district in northern North Korea and two large power plants and urban areas to the southwest of the sampling site. Source areas in Beijing, Tianjin, southern Liaoning, Hebei, northwestern Shanxi and northwestern Shandong were found to contribute to elevated TGM observations at CBS via long-range transport. The diurnal pattern of TGM at CBS was mainly regulated by regional sources, likely as well as intrusion of air masses from the free troposphere during summer season. There are no discernible seasonal pattern of TGM at CBS, which mainly showed links with the patterns of regional air movements and long-range transport.

scholarly journals Two years of measurements of atmospheric total gaseous mercury (TGM) at a remote site in Mt. Changbai area, Northeastern China

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 4215-4226 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. W. Fu ◽  
X. Feng ◽  
L. H. Shang ◽  
S. F. Wang ◽  
H. Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Northeastern China ◽  
Western China ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Remote Site ◽  
Total Gaseous Mercury ◽  
Large Power ◽  
Gaseous Mercury ◽  
Regional Sources ◽  
Range Transport

Abstract. Total gaseous mercury (TGM) was continuously monitored at a remote site (CBS) in Mt. Changbai area, Northeastern China from 24 October 2008 to 31 October 2010. The overall mean TGM concentration was 1.60±0.51 ng m−3, which is lower than those reported from remote sites in Eastern, Southwestern, and Western China, indicating a relatively lower regional anthropogenic mercury (Hg) emission intensity in Northeastern China. Measurements at a site in the vicinity (~1.2 km) of CBS station from August 2005 to July 2006 showed a significantly higher mean TGM concentration of 3.58±1.78 ng m−3. The divergent result was partially attributed to fluctuations in the relatively frequencies of surface winds during the two study periods and moreover an effect of local emission sources. The temporal variation of TGM at CBS was influenced by regional sources as well as long-range transported Hg. Regional sources frequently contributing to episodical high TGM concentrations were pin-pointed as a large iron mining district in Northern North Korea and two large power plants and urban areas to the southwest of the sampling site. Source areas in Beijing, Tianjin, southern Liaoning, Hebei, northwestern Shanxi, and northwestern Shandong were found to contribute to elevated TGM observations at CBS via long-range transport. Diurnal pattern of TGM at CBS was mainly controlled by regional sources, likely as well as intrusion of air masses from the free troposphere during summer season. There are no consistent seasonal pattern of TGM at CBS, and the monthly TGM variations showed links with the patterns of regional air movements and long-range transport.

scholarly journals Characteristics of total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentrations in an industrial complex in southern Korea: Impacts from local sources

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong-Seok Seo ◽  
Seung-Pyo Jeong ◽  
Thomas M. Holsen ◽  
Young-Ji Han ◽  
Eunhwa Choi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Probability Function ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Total Gaseous Mercury ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Gaseous Mercury ◽  
Range Transport ◽  
Local Sources

Abstract. Total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentrations were measured every 5 min in Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea during summer (17 August–23 August 2012), fall (9 October–17 October 2012), winter (22 January–29 January 2013), and spring (26 March–3 April 2013) to: 1) characterize the hourly and seasonal variations of atmospheric TGM concentrations, 2) identify the relationships between TGM and co-pollutants, and 3) identify likely source directions and locations of TGM using conditional probability function (CPF), conditional bivariate probability function (CBPF) and total potential source contribution function (TPSCF). The TGM concentration was statistically significantly highest in fall (6.7 ± 6.4 ng m−3), followed by spring (4.8 ± 4.0 ng m−3), winter (4.5 ± 3.2 ng m−3) and summer (3.8 ± 3.9 ng m−3). There was a statistically significant negative correlation between the TGM concentration and ambient air temperature (r = −0.08) (p < 0.05). Although the daytime temperature (14.7 ± 10.0 °C) was statistically significantly higher than that in the nighttime (13.0 ± 9.8 °C) (p < 0.05), the daytime TGM concentration (5.3 ± 4.7 ng m−3) was statistically significantly higher than those in the night time (4.7 ± 4.7 ng m−3) (p < 0.01), possibly due to local emissions related to industrial activities and activation of local surface emission sources. The observed ΔTGM/ΔCO was significantly lower than that of Asian long-range transport, but similar to that of local sources in Korea and in US industrial events suggesting that local sources are more important than that of long-range transport. CPF, CBPF and TPSCF indicated that the main sources of TGM were iron and manufacturing facilities, the hazardous waste incinerators and the coastal areas.

scholarly journals Investigating the Long-Range Transport of Aerosol Plumes Following the Amazon Fires (August 2019): A Multi-Instrumental Approach from Ground-Based and Satellite Observations

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 3846
Author(s):  
Hassan Bencherif ◽  
Nelson Bègue ◽  
Damaris Kirsch Pinheiro ◽  
David Jean du Preez ◽  
Jean-Maurice Cadet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Limiting Factor ◽  
Climate Modelling ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Source Regions ◽  
Range Transport

Despite a number of studies on biomass burning (BB) emissions in the atmosphere, observation of the associated aerosols and pollutants requires continuous efforts. Brazil, and more broadly Latin America, is one of the most important seasonal sources of BB, particularly in the Amazon region. Uncertainty about aerosol loading in the source regions is a limiting factor in terms of understanding the role of aerosols in climate modelling. In the present work, we investigated the Amazon BB episode that occurred during August 2019 and made the international headlines, especially when the smoke plumes plunged distant cities such as São Paulo into darkness. Here, we used satellite and ground-based observations at different locations to investigate the long-range transport of aerosol plumes generated by the Amazon fires during the study period. The monitoring of BB activity was carried out using fire related pixel count from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Aqua and Terra platforms, while the distribution of carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations and total columns were obtained from the infrared atmospheric sounding interferometer (IASI) onboard the METOP-A and METOP-B satellites. In addition, AERONET sun-photometers as well as the MODIS instrument made aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements over the study region. Our datasets are consistent with each other and highlight AOD and CO variations and long-range transport of the fire plume from the source regions in the Amazon basin. We used the Lagrangian transport model FLEXPART (FLEXible PARTicle) to simulate backward dispersion, which showed good agreement with satellite and ground measurements observed over the study area. The increase in Rossby wave activity during the 2019 austral winter the Southern Hemisphere may have contributed to increasing the efficiency of large-scale transport of aerosol plumes generated by the Amazon fires during the study period.

scholarly journals Sensitivity of free tropospheric carbon monoxide to atmospheric weather states and their persistency: an observational assessment over the Nordic countries

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (21) ◽  
pp. 11545-11555 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Thomas ◽  
A. Devasthale
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
Sensitivity Study ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Observational Assessment ◽  
The North ◽  
Range Transport

Abstract. Among various factors that influence the long-range transport of pollutants in the free troposphere (FT), the prevailing atmospheric weather states probably play the most important role in governing characteristics and efficacy of such transport. The weather states, such as a particular wind pattern, cyclonic or anticyclonic conditions, and their degree of persistency determine the spatio-temporal distribution and the final fate of the pollutants. This is especially true in the case of Nordic countries, where baroclinic disturbances and associated weather fronts primarily regulate local meteorology, in contrast to the lower latitudes where a convective paradigm plays a similarly important role. Furthermore, the long-range transport of pollutants in the FT has significant contribution to the total column burden over the Nordic countries. However, there is insufficient knowledge on the large-scale co-variability of pollutants in the FT and atmospheric weather states based solely on observational data over this region. The present study attempts to quantify and understand this statistical co-variability while providing relevant meteorological background. To that end, we select eight weather states that predominantly occur over the Nordic countries and three periods of their persistency (3 days, 5 days, and 7 days), thus providing in total 24 cases to investigate sensitivity of free tropospheric carbon monoxide, an ideal tracer for studying pollutant transport, to these selected weather states. The eight states include four dominant wind directions (namely, NW, NE, SE and SW), cyclonic and anticyclonic conditions, and the enhanced positive and negative phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). For our sensitivity analysis, we use recently released Version 6 retrievals of CO at 500 hPa from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) onboard Aqua satellite covering the 11-year period from September 2002 through August 2013 and winds from the ECMWF's ERA-Interim project to classify weather states for the same 11-year period. We show that, among the various weather states studied here, southeasterly winds lead to highest observed CO anomalies (up to +8%) over the Nordic countries while transporting pollution from the central and eastern parts of Europe. The second (up to +4%) and third highest (up to +2.5%) CO anomalies are observed when winds are northwesterly (facilitating inter-continental transport from polluted North American regions) and during the enhanced positive phase of the NAO respectively. Higher than normal CO anomalies are observed during anticyclonic conditions (up to +1%) compared to cyclonic conditions. The cleanest conditions are observed when winds are northeasterly and during the enhanced negative phases of the NAO, when relatively clean Arctic air masses are transported over the Nordic regions in the both cases. In the case of nearly all weather states, the CO anomalies consistently continue to increase or decrease as the degree of persistency of a weather state is increased. The results of this sensitivity study further provide an observational basis for the process-oriented evaluation of chemistry transport models, especially with regard to the representation of large-scale coupling of chemistry and local weather states and its role in the long-range transport of pollutants in such models.

scholarly journals Characteristics of total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentrations in an industrial complex in South Korea: impacts from local sources

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (15) ◽  
pp. 10215-10228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong-Seok Seo ◽  
Seung-Pyo Jeong ◽  
Thomas M. Holsen ◽  
Young-Ji Han ◽  
Eunhwa Choi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Probability Function ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Total Gaseous Mercury ◽  
Gaseous Mercury ◽  
Range Transport ◽  
Local Sources ◽  
Waste Incinerators

Abstract. Total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentrations were measured every 5 min in Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea, during summer (17–23 August 2012), fall (9–17 October 2012), winter (22–29 January 2013), and spring (26 March–3 April 2013) to (1) characterize the hourly and seasonal variations of atmospheric TGM concentrations; (2) identify the relationships between TGM and co-pollutants; and (3) identify likely source directions and locations of TGM using the conditional probability function (CPF), conditional bivariate probability function (CBPF) and total potential source contribution function (TPSCF). The TGM concentration was statistically significantly highest in fall (6.7 ± 6.4 ng m−3), followed by spring (4.8 ± 4.0 ng m−3), winter (4.5 ± 3.2 ng m−3) and summer (3.8 ± 3.9 ng m−3). There was a weak but statistically significant negative correlation between the TGM concentration and ambient air temperature (r = −0.08, p<0.05). Although the daytime temperature (14.7 ± 10.0 °C) was statistically significantly higher than that in the nighttime (13.0 ± 9.8 °C) (p<0.05), the daytime TGM concentration (5.3 ± 4.7 ng m−3) was statistically significantly higher than that in the nighttime (4.7 ± 4.7 ng m−3) (p<0.01), possibly due to local emissions related to industrial activities and activation of local surface emission sources. The observed ΔTGM ∕ ΔCO was significantly lower than that of Asian long-range transport, but similar to that of local sources in Korea and in US industrial events, suggesting that local sources are more important than those of long-range transport. CPF, CBPF and TPSCF indicated that the main sources of TGM were iron and manufacturing facilities, the hazardous waste incinerators and the coastal areas.

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