Harbours are important hubs for economic growth in both tourism and commercial activities. They are also an environmental burden being a source of atmospheric pollution often localized near cities and industrial complexes. The aim of this study is to quantify the relative contribution of maritime traffic and harbour activities to atmospheric pollutant concentration in the Venice lagoon. The impact of ship traffic was quantified on various pollutants that are not directly included in the current European legislation for shipping emission reduction: (i) gaseous and particulate PAHs; (ii) metals in PM 10 ; and (iii) PM 10 and PM 2.5 . All contributions were correlated with the tonnage of ships during the sampling periods and results were used to evaluate the impact of the European Directive 2005/33/EC on air quality in Venice comparing measurements taken before and after the application of the Directive (year 2010). The outcomes suggest that legislation on ship traffic, which focused on the issue of the emissions of sulphur oxides, could be an efficient method also to reduce the impact of shipping on primary particulate matter concentration; on the other hand, we did not observe a significant reduction in the contribution of ship traffic and harbour activities to particulate PAHs and metals.

Despite geographical isolation and almost complete absence of human settlements, Antarctica is affected by Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): the traces of these impacts are recorded in the snow. Although POPs were detected in Antarctica decades ago, there are still large knowledge gaps and a comprehensive understanding of their fundamental patterns is lacking. In this study, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs, including the non-Aroclor PCB-11), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured in surface snow samples from five selected locations of Northern Victoria Land. To our knowledge this is the first study providing ground-based measurements of PCDD/Fs, PCB-11 and PBDEs in Antarctic surface snows, including the plateau. Long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT) followed by regional redistribution were hypothesized as governing sources of POPs to the Antarctic Plateau, but also local pollution from human activities was found. Sub-pg L− 1 levels of PCDD/Fs were detected in the coastal samples, while PCBs (ΣPCBs 110-580 pg L− 1) generally showed a decrease with respect to the past decades. Similar concentrations of PBDEs (ΣBDEs 130–340 pg L− 1) were found, mainly attributable to the congeners BDE-47 and BDE-99. PAHs (ΣPAHs 0.65–140 ng L− 1) were the most abundant compounds in all sites with an unexpected high value near a refueling point. Possible source areas of contamination were investigated by means of the HYSPLIT model

were determined by inductively coupled sector field mass spectroscopy (ICP-SFMS) after sample digestion by a combination of HF, HNO 3 , and H 2 O 2 in ultraclean conditions. Quality control of the analytical procedure was carried out by blank control, by evaluating the limits of detection, recoveries and repeatability. Concentrations found are extremely low for most metals, confirming the high purity of Antarctic aerosol. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) highlights high correlations among Pb, Cr, Bi, Cu and Zn concentration values and among Li, U, Ba, Cs, Rb, Al, V, Fe, Mn, Co concentration values permitting the identification of two principal source groups, namely crustal dust and human emission activities. Elements of anthropogenic origins (Pb, Cr, Cu, Zn) were highly enriched with respect to their crustal composition.

a b s t r a c tSize distribution and selected element concentrations of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) were investigated in the Venice Lagoon, at three sites characterised by different anthropogenic influence. The PM 10 samples were collected in six size fractions (10-7.2, 7.2-3.0, 3.0-1.5, 1.5-0.95; 0.95-0.49 and <0.49 lm) with high volume cascade impactors, and the concentration of 17 elements (Al, As, Ca, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, Sr, V, Zn) was determined by inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass spectroscopy. More than 1 year of sampling activities allowed the examination of seasonal variability in size distribution of atmospheric particulates and element contents for each site.At all the stations, particles with an aerodynamic diameter <3 lm were predominant, thus accounting for more than 78% of the total aerosol mass concentration. The highest PM 10 concentrations for almost all elements were found at the site which is more influenced by industrial and urban emissions. Similarity in size distribution of elements at all sites allowed the identification of three main behavioural types: (a) elements found mainly within coarse particles (Ca, Mg, Na, Sr); (b) elements found mainly within fine particles (As, Cd, Ni, Pb, V) and (c) elements with several modes spread throughout the entire size range (Co, Cu, Fe, K, Zn, Mn).Factor Analysis was performed on aerosol data separately identified as fine and coarse types in order to examine the relationships between the inorganic elements and to identify their origin. Multivariate statistical analysis and assessment of similarity in the size distribution led to similar conclusions on the sources.

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