Updated Emission Inventories for Speciated Atmospheric Mercury from Anthropogenic Sources in China

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 3185-3194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Shuxiao Wang ◽  
Long Wang ◽  
Ye Wu ◽  
Lei Duan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Emission Inventories

scholarly journals Characteristics of atmospheric mercury deposition and size-fractionated particulate mercury in urban Nanjing, China

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 2233-2244 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Zhu ◽  
T. Wang ◽  
R. Talbot ◽  
H. Mao ◽  
X. Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dry Deposition ◽  
Wet Deposition ◽  
Fine Particles ◽  
Unit Area ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Deposition Flux ◽  
Coarse Particles ◽  
Mercury Deposition ◽  
Particulate Mercury

Abstract. A comprehensive measurement study of mercury wet deposition and size-fractionated particulate mercury (HgP) concurrent with meteorological variables was conducted from June 2011 to February 2012 to evaluate the characteristics of mercury deposition and particulate mercury in urban Nanjing, China. The volume-weighted mean (VWM) concentration of mercury in rainwater was 52.9 ng L−1 with a range of 46.3–63.6 ng L−1. The wet deposition per unit area was averaged 56.5 μg m−2 over 9 months, which was lower than that in most Chinese cities, but much higher than annual deposition in urban North America and Japan. The wet deposition flux exhibited obvious seasonal variation strongly linked with the amount of precipitation. Wet deposition in summer contributed more than 80% to the total amount. A part of contribution to wet deposition of mercury from anthropogenic sources was evidenced by the association between wet deposition and sulfates, as well as nitrates in rainwater. The ions correlated most significantly with mercury were formate, calcium, and potassium, which suggested that natural sources including vegetation and resuspended soil should be considered as an important factor to affect the wet deposition of mercury in Nanjing. The average HgP concentration was 1.10 ± 0.57 ng m−3. A distinct seasonal distribution of HgP concentrations was found to be higher in winter as a result of an increase in the PM10 concentration. Overall, more than half of the HgP existed in the particle size range less than 2.1 μm. The highest concentration of HgP in coarse particles was observed in summer, while HgP in fine particles dominated in fall and winter. The size distribution of averaged mercury content in particulates was bimodal, with two peaks in the bins of < 0.7 μm and 4.7–5.8 μm. Dry deposition per unit area of HgP was estimated to be 47.2 μg m−2 using meteorological conditions and a size-resolved particle dry deposition model. This was 16.5% less than mercury wet deposition. Compared to HgP in fine particles, HgP in coarse particles contributed more to the total dry deposition due to higher deposition velocities. Negative correlation between precipitation and the HgP concentration reflected the effect of scavenging of HgP by precipitation.

scholarly journals Model analyses of atmospheric mercury: present air quality and effects of transpacific transport on the United States

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 9849-9893 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Lei ◽  
X.-Z. Liang ◽  
D. J. Wuebbles ◽  
Z. Tao
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Wet Deposition ◽  
Total Mercury ◽  
The United States ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Mercury Deposition ◽  
Transpacific Transport ◽  
Mercury Cycle

Abstract. Atmospheric mercury is a toxic air and water pollutant that is of significant concern because of its effects on human health and ecosystems. A mechanistic representation of the atmospheric mercury cycle is developed for the state-of-the-art global climate-chemistry model, CAM-Chem (Community Atmospheric Model with Chemistry). The model simulates the emission, transport, transformation and deposition of atmospheric mercury (Hg) in three forms: elemental mercury (Hg(0)), reactive mercury (Hg(II)), and particulate mercury (PHg). Emissions of mercury include those from human, land, ocean, biomass burning and volcano related sources. Land emissions are calculated based on surface solar radiation flux and skin temperature. A simplified air–sea mercury exchange scheme is used to calculate emissions from the oceans. The chemistry mechanism includes the oxidation of Hg(0) in gaseous phase by ozone with temperature dependence, OH, H2O2 and chlorine. Aqueous chemistry includes both oxidation and reduction of Hg(0). Transport and deposition of mercury species are calculated through adapting the original formulations in CAM-Chem. The CAM-Chem model with mercury is driven by present meteorology to simulate the present mercury air quality during the 1999–2001 periods. The resulting surface concentrations of total gaseous mercury (TGM) are then compared with the observations from worldwide sites. Simulated wet depositions of mercury over the continental United States are compared to the observations from 26 Mercury Deposition Network stations to test the wet deposition simulations. The evaluations of gaseous concentrations and wet deposition confirm a strong capability for the CAM-Chem mercury mechanism to simulate the atmospheric mercury cycle. The results also indicate that mercury pollution in East Asia and Southern Africa is very significant with TGM concentrations above 3.0 ng m−3. The comparison to wet deposition indicates that wet deposition patterns of mercury are more affected by the spatial variability of precipitation. The sensitivity experiments show that 22% of total mercury deposition and 25% of TGM concentrations in the United States are resulted from domestic anthropogenic sources, but only 9% of total mercury deposition and 7% of TGM concentrations are contributed by transpacific transport. However, the contributions of domestic and transpacific sources on the western United States levels of mercury are of comparable magnitude.

Global air emission inventories for anthropogenic sources of NOx, NH3 and N2O in 1990

1998 ◽  
pp. 135-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.G.J. Olivier ◽  
A.F. Bouwman ◽  
K.W. Van der Hoek ◽  
J.J.M. Berdowski
Keyword(s):  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Emission Inventories ◽  
Air Emission

scholarly journals The EMEP Intensive Measurement Period campaign, 2008–2009: Characterizing the carbonaceous aerosol at nine rural sites in Europe

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Espen Yttri ◽  
David Simpson ◽  
Robert Bergström ◽  
Gyula Kiss ◽  
Sönke Szidat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Carbonaceous Aerosol ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Anthropogenic Source ◽  
Emission Inventories ◽  
Model Calculations ◽  
Natural Sources ◽  
Wood Burning

Abstract. Source apportionment (SA) of carbonaceous aerosol was performed as part of the EMEP Intensive Measurement Periods (EIMPs), conducted in fall 2008 and winter/spring 2009. Levels of elemental carbon (EC), particulate organic carbon (OCp), particulate total carbon (TCp), levoglucosan and 14C in PM10, observed at nine European rural background sites, were used as input for the SA, whereas Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) was used to statistically treat the multitude of possible combinations resulting when ambient concentrations were combined with appropriate emission ratios. Five predefined sources/subcategories of carbonaceous aerosol were apportioned: Elemental and organic carbon from combustion of biomass (ECbb and OCbb) and from fossil fuel (ECff and OCff) sources, as well as remaining non-fossil organic carbon (OCrnf), typically dominated by natural sources. The carbonaceous aerosol concentration decreased from South to North, as did the concentration of the apportioned carbonaceous aerosol. OCrnf was more abundant in fall compared to winter/spring, reflecting the vegetative season, and made a larger contribution to TCp than anthropogenic sources (here: ECbb, OCbb, ECff and OCff) at four of the sites, whereas anthropogenic sources dominated at all but one sites in winter/spring. Levels of OCbb and ECbb were typically higher in winter/spring than in fall, due to larger residential wood burning emissions in the heating season, whereas there was no consistent seasonal pattern for fossil fuel emissions. Biomass burning (OCbb + ECbb) was the major anthropogenic source at the Central European sites in fall, whereas fossil fuel sources dominated at the southernmost and the two northernmost sites. In winter/spring, biomass burning was the major anthropogenic source at all but two sites. Addressing EC in particular, fossil fuel sources dominated at all sites in fall, whereas there was as shift towards biomass burning in winter/spring for the southernmost sites. Influence of residential wood burning emissions was substantial already in the first week of sampling in fall, constituting 30–50 % of TCp at most sites, showing that this source can be dominating even at a time of the year when the ambient temperature in Europe is still rather high. Model calculations were made, attempting to reproduce LHS-derived OCbb and ECbb, using two different residential wood burning emission inventories. Both simulations strongly under-predicted the LHS-derived values at most sites outside Scandinavia. Emissions based on a consistent bottom-up inventory for residential combustion (and including intermediate volatility compounds, IVOC) improved model results at most sites compared to the base-case emissions (based mainly on officially reported national emissions), but at the three southernmost sites the modelled OCbb and ECbb concentrations were still much lower than the LHS source apportioned results. The current study shows that natural sources is a major contributor to the carbonaceous aerosol in Europe even in fall and in winter/spring, and that residential wood burning emissions can be equally large or larger than that of fossil fuel sources, depending on season and region. Our results suggest that residential wood burning emissions are still poorly constrained for large parts of Europe. The need to improve emission inventories is obvious, with harmonization of emission factors between countries likely being the most important step to improve model calculations, not only for biomass burning emissions, but for European PM2.5 concentrations in general.

Atmospheric Mercury Deposition during the Last 270 Years:  A Glacial Ice Core Record of Natural and Anthropogenic Sources

2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 2303-2310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul F. Schuster ◽  
David P. Krabbenhoft ◽  
David L. Naftz ◽  
L. Dewayne Cecil ◽  
Mark L. Olson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Mercury Deposition ◽  
Glacial Ice ◽  
Ice Core Record

scholarly journals Correlation slopes of GEM / CO, GEM / CO<sub>2</sub>, and GEM / CH<sub>4</sub> and estimated mercury emissions in China, South Asia, the Indochinese Peninsula, and Central Asia derived from observations in northwestern and southwestern China

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 1013-1028 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. W. Fu ◽  
H. Zhang ◽  
C.-J. Lin ◽  
X. B. Feng ◽  
L. X. Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Geometric Mean ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Southwestern China ◽  
Emission Inventories ◽  
Mercury Emissions ◽  
Source Regions

Abstract. Correlation analyses between atmospheric mercury (Hg) and other trace gases are useful for identification of sources and constraining regional Hg emissions. Emissions of Hg in Asia contribute significantly to the global budget of atmospheric Hg. However, due to the lack of reliable data on the source strength, large uncertainties remain in the emission inventories of Hg in Asia. In the present study, we calculated the correlation slopes of GEM / CO, GEM / CO2, and GEM / CH4 for mainland China, South Asia, the Indochinese Peninsula, and Central Asia using the ground-based observations at three remote sites in northwestern and southwestern China, and applied these values to estimate GEM emissions in the four source regions. The geometric mean GEM / CO correlation slopes for mainland China, South Asia, the Indochinese Peninsula, and Central Asia were 7.3 ± 4.3, 7.8 ± 6.4, 7.8 ± 5.0, and 13.4 ± 9.5 pg m−3 ppb−1, respectively, and values in the same source regions were 33.3 ± 30.4, 27.4 ± 31.0, 23.5 ± 15.3, and 20.5 ± 10.0 pg m−3 ppb−1 for the GEM / CH4 correlation slopes, respectively. The geometric means of GEM / CO2 correlation slopes for mainland China, South Asia, and Central Asia were 240 ± 119, 278 ± 164, 315 ± 289 pg m−3 ppm−1, respectively. These values were the first reported correlation slopes of GEM / CO, GEM / CO2, and GEM / CH4 in four important source regions of Asia, not including the GEM / CO ratios in mainland China. The correlation slopes of GEM / CO, GEM / CO2, and GEM / CH4 in Asia were relatively higher than those observed in Europe, North America, and South Africa, which may highlight GEM emissions from non-ferrous smelting, large-scale and artisanal mercury and gold production, natural sources, and historically deposited mercury (re-emission) in Asia. Using the observed GEM / CO and GEM / CO2 slopes, and the recently reported emission inventories of CO and CO2, the annual GEM emissions in mainland China, South Asia, the Indochinese Peninsula, and Central Asia were estimated to be in the ranges of 1071–1187, 340–470, 125, and 54–90 t, respectively. The estimated quantity of GEM emissions from the GEM / CH4 correlation slopes is significantly larger, which may be due to the larger uncertainties in CH4 emissions in Asia as well as insufficient observations of GEM / CH4 correlation slopes, therefore leading to an overestimate of GEM emissions. Our estimates of GEM emissions in the four Asian regions were significantly higher (3–4 times) than the anthropogenic GEM emissions reported in recent studies. This discrepancy could come from a combination of reasons including underestimates of anthropogenic and natural GEM emissions; large uncertainties related to CO, CO2, and CH4 emission inventories; and inherent limitations of the correlation slope method.

scholarly journals The Role of Climate: 71 ka of Atmospheric Mercury Deposition in the Southern Hemisphere Recorded by Rano Aroi Mire, Easter Island (Chile)

Geosciences ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Pérez-Rodríguez ◽  
Olga Margalef ◽  
Juan Corella ◽  
Alfonso Saiz-Lopez ◽  
Sergi Pla-Rabes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Easter Island ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Atmospheric Oxidation ◽  
Main Process ◽  
Mercury Deposition ◽  
Mercury Cycling ◽  
Surface Deposition ◽  
Depositional Processes

The study of mercury accumulation in peat cores provides an excellent opportunity to improve the knowledge on mercury cycling and depositional processes at remote locations far from pollution sources. We analyzed mercury concentrations in 150 peat samples from two cores from Rano Aroi (Easter Island, 27° S) and in selected vegetation samples of present-day flora of the island, in order to characterize the mercury cycling for the last ~71 ka BP. The mercury concentrations showed values ranging between 35 and 200 ng g−1, except for a large maxima (~1000 ng g−1) which occurred at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ~20 ka cal BP) in both peat cores. Low temperatures during the LGM would accelerate the atmospheric oxidation of Hg(0) to divalent mercury that, coupled with higher rainfall during this period, most likely resulted in a very efficient surface deposition of atmospheric mercury. Two exceptional short-lived Hg peaks occurred during the Holocene at 8.5 (350 ng g−1) and 4.7 (1000 ng g−1) ka cal BP. These values are higher than those recorded in most peat records belonging to the industrial period, highlighting that natural factors played a significant role in Hg accumulation—sometimes even more so than anthropogenic sources. Our results suggest that wet deposition, linked to atmospheric oxidation, was the main process controlling the short-lived Hg events, both in the mire and in the catchment soils.

scholarly journals Satellite observations of atmospheric methane and their value for quantifying methane emissions

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (22) ◽  
pp. 14371-14396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Jacob ◽  
Alexander J. Turner ◽  
Joannes D. Maasakkers ◽  
Jianxiong Sheng ◽  
Kang Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Regional Scale ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Emission Inventories ◽  
Atmospheric Methane ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Spatial Coverage ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract. Methane is a greenhouse gas emitted by a range of natural and anthropogenic sources. Atmospheric methane has been measured continuously from space since 2003, and new instruments are planned for launch in the near future that will greatly expand the capabilities of space-based observations. We review the value of current, future, and proposed satellite observations to better quantify and understand methane emissions through inverse analyses, from the global scale down to the scale of point sources and in combination with suborbital (surface and aircraft) data. Current global observations from Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) are of high quality but have sparse spatial coverage. They can quantify methane emissions on a regional scale (100–1000 km) through multiyear averaging. The Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI), to be launched in 2017, is expected to quantify daily emissions on the regional scale and will also effectively detect large point sources. A different observing strategy by GHGSat (launched in June 2016) is to target limited viewing domains with very fine pixel resolution in order to detect a wide range of methane point sources. Geostationary observation of methane, still in the proposal stage, will have the unique capability of mapping source regions with high resolution, detecting transient "super-emitter" point sources and resolving diurnal variation of emissions from sources such as wetlands and manure. Exploiting these rapidly expanding satellite measurement capabilities to quantify methane emissions requires a parallel effort to construct high-quality spatially and sectorally resolved emission inventories. Partnership between top-down inverse analyses of atmospheric data and bottom-up construction of emission inventories is crucial to better understanding methane emission processes and subsequently informing climate policy.

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