Arctic atmospheric contaminants in NE Greenland: levels, variations, origins, transport, transformations and trends 1990–2001

Heidam, Niels Z.; Christensen, J. H.; Wåhlin, Peter; Skov, Henrik

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.03.033

Cited by 97 publications

(151 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

136

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…(6)), the amount of radiation available within the snowpack to drive net photoreduction increases only gradually at high latitudes during spring. This gradual increase is crucial for the realistic, non-overenergetic revolatilization of mercury pooled in the snow during polar night (Steen et al, 2009) or deposited during springtime AMDEs (Lu et al, 2001;Berg et al, 2003;Ariya et al, 2004;Christensen et al, 2004;Heidam et al, 2004;Skov et al, 2004;Ferrari et al, 2005;Travnikov, 2005;Brooks et al, 2006;Kirk et al, 2006;Constant et al, 2007;Sommar et al, 2007;Johnson et al, 2008;Steffen et al, 2008).…”

Section: Snowpack/meltwater Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

How relevant is the deposition of mercury onto snowpacks? – Part 2: A modeling study

Durnford¹,

Dastoor

Ryzhkov

et al. 2012

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. An unknown fraction of mercury that is deposited onto snowpacks is revolatilized to the atmosphere. Determining the revolatilized fraction is important since mercury that enters the snowpack meltwater may be converted to highly toxic bioaccumulating methylmercury. In this study, we present a new dynamic physically-based snowpack/meltwater model for mercury that is suitable for large-scale atmospheric models for mercury. It represents the primary physical and chemical processes that determine the fate of mercury deposited onto snowpacks. The snowpack/meltwater model was implemented in Environment Canada's atmospheric mercury model GRAHM. For the first time, observed snowpack-related mercury concentrations are used to evaluate and constrain an atmospheric mercury model. We find that simulated concentrations of mercury in both snowpacks and the atmosphere's surface layer agree closely with observations. The simulated concentration of mercury in both in the top 30 cm and the top 150 cm of the snowpack, averaged over 2005-2009, is predominantly below 6 ng L −1 over land south of 66.5°N but exceeds 18 ng L −1 over sea ice in extensive areas of the Arctic Ocean and Hudson Bay. The average simulated concentration of mercury in snowpack meltwater runoff tends to be higher on the Russian/European side (>20 ng L −1 ) of the Arctic Ocean than on the Canadian side (<10 ng L −1 ). The correlation coefficient between observed and simulated monthly mean atmospheric surface-level gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) concentrations increased significantly with the inclusion of the new snowpack/meltwater model at two of the three stations (midlatitude, subarctic) studied and remained constant at the third (arctic). Oceanic emissions are postulated to produce the observed summertime maximum in concentrations of surface-level atmospheric GEM at Alert in the Canadian Arctic and to generate the summertime volatility observed in these concentrations at both Alert and Kuujjuarapik on subarctic Hudson Bay, Canada. We find that the fraction of deposited mercury that is revolatilized from snowpacks increases with latitude from 39 % between 30 and 45°N, to 57 % from 45 to 60°N, 67 % from 60 to 66.5°N, and 75 % polewards of 66.5°N on an annual basis. Combining this latitudinal gradient with the latitudinally increasing coverage of snowpacks causes yearly net deposition as a fraction of gross deposition to decrease from 98 % between 30 and 45°N to 89 % between 45 and 60°N, 73 % between 60 and 66.5°N, and 44 % within the Arctic Circle. The yearly net deposition and net accumulation of mercury at the surface within the Arctic Circle north of 66.5°N are estimated at 153 and 117 Mg, respectively. We calculate that 58 and 50 Mg of mercury are deposited annually to the Arctic Ocean directly and indirectly via melting snowpacks, respectively. For terrestrial surfaces within the Arctic Circle, we find that 29 and 16 Mg of mercury are deposited annually directly and indirectly via melting snowpacks, respectively. Within the Arctic Circle, multi-s...

show abstract

Section: Snowpack/meltwater Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

How relevant is the deposition of mercury onto snowpacks? – Part 2: A modeling study

Durnford¹,

Dastoor

Ryzhkov

et al. 2012

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, the long range transport of air pollution in general has a much lower impact on the west coast than on the east coast of Greenland. [8][9][10][11] Sources in Eurasia dominate the observed concentrations of anthropogenic pollutants at Station Nord, a monitoring station placed in North-East Greenland. 10,11 Atmospheric measurements carried out at Station Nord in the periods 1990-2001 10 and 2006-2010 12 have shown that this region is burdened with considerable atmospheric pollutants, consisting of a wide variety of acidic and toxic compounds, which originate from mid-latitude industrial areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[8][9][10][11] Sources in Eurasia dominate the observed concentrations of anthropogenic pollutants at Station Nord, a monitoring station placed in North-East Greenland. 10,11 Atmospheric measurements carried out at Station Nord in the periods 1990-2001 10 and 2006-2010 12 have shown that this region is burdened with considerable atmospheric pollutants, consisting of a wide variety of acidic and toxic compounds, which originate from mid-latitude industrial areas. 10,12,13 In the present study, atmospheric measurements of OCPs have been carried out at Station Nord, constituting the Danish atmospheric part of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three years (2008–2010) of measurements of atmospheric concentrations of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) at Station Nord, North-East Greenland

Bossi

Skjøth

Skov

2013

Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hexachlorobenzene (HCB), endosulfan I and hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) were the predominant compounds detected in the atmosphere, followed by p,p 0 -DDE and dieldrin. Chlordane isomers and related compounds (trans-and cis-chlordanes, heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide, trans-and cis-nonachlor) were also detected. Atmospheric concentrations of the investigated compounds were correlated with temperature using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation in order to obtain information about their transport properties. The correlation between atmospheric concentrations and temperature was not significant for endosulfan I, g-HCH and p,p 0 -DDT, which indicates that direct transport from direct sources is the dominating transport mechanism for these compounds. A significant correlation with temperature was found for all the other studied pesticides and pesticide degradation products, which indicates that re-emission of these compounds from previously contaminated surfaces is an important factor for the observed variation in concentrations. Pesticide concentrations were also correlated with sea ice cover. Concentrations of the compounds that have not been in use for decades correlated with temperature and ice cover, while concentrations of compounds still in use did not correlate with either of these parameters. These observations indicate that processes such as revolatilization from the open sea surface are important mediating factors in the dynamics of anthropogenic persistent pollutants in the Arctic environment under the expected influence of climate change processes. Environmental impactThis paper reports for the rst time atmospheric concentrations of organochlorine pesticides in a high Arctic region of Greenland. These data contribute to the general knowledge about transport and dynamics of persistent pollutants in Arctic regions.

show abstract

“…Concentrations as high as 0.04 ppm have been measured north of the Arctic Circle in Greenland during the winter months. 17 Previous research in Oklahoma found that higher O 3 concentrations were prevalent immediately above the low-level temperature inversion within the nocturnal boundary layer, where background concentrations as high as 0.070 ppm were commonly measured. 9 High O 3 concentrations within the nocturnal boundary layer are an indicator of regional transport processes, and are thus not of local origin.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…15 A significant component of ground-level O 3 in New England is thought to be of remote origin as well, with baseline concentrations 36 Mid-Atlantic (United States) 600-1200 July 12, 1995 to July 15, 1995 Aircraft 0.06-0.10 0.10 Zhang et al 7 New York (United States) 500-1000 July 12, 1995 to July 16, 1995 Aircraft 0.08-0.10 0.10 Baumann et al 27 Tennessee c Averaging times for mobile measurements (aircraft, ozonesonde) were on the order of seconds; fixed measurement averaging times ranged from 30 min (Dayan and Levy 29 ) to 1 hr (Kastner-Klein et al, 9 Williams et al 42 ). No averaging time was listed for Heidam et al 17 representative of transport. 22 In Europe, O 3 has been described as a propagating mobile plume responsible for the transport of O 3 -rich air masses in Germany from remote regions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Background Ozone on Compliance with Revised National Ambient Air Quality Standards

Williams

Potter

Clarkson

et al. 2009

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Arctic atmospheric contaminants in NE Greenland: levels, variations, origins, transport, transformations and trends 1990–2001

Cited by 97 publications

References 22 publications

How relevant is the deposition of mercury onto snowpacks? – Part 2: A modeling study

How relevant is the deposition of mercury onto snowpacks? – Part 2: A modeling study

Three years (2008–2010) of measurements of atmospheric concentrations of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) at Station Nord, North-East Greenland

The Impact of Background Ozone on Compliance with Revised National Ambient Air Quality Standards

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About