Seasonal Evolution of Size-Segregated Particulate Mercury in the Atmospheric Aerosol Over Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica

Illuminati, Silvia; Annibaldi, Anna; Bau, Sébastien; Scarchilli, Claudio; Ciardini, Virginia; Grigioni, Paolo; Girolametti, Federico; Vagnoni, Flavio; Scarponi, Giuseppe; Truzzi, Cristina

doi:10.3390/molecules25173971

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…More recently, Antarctica applications have also been reported both for coastal and inland sites, including the plateau areas and Dome C in particular. A non-exhaustive selection includes papers referring to: (i) coastal sites of Queen Maud Land (Neumayer Stn), Victoria Land (Mario Zucchelli Stn), Antarctic Peninsula (King Sejong Stn, Larsen C Ice Shelf, Gabriel De Castilla Stn), and Southern Ocean (Pacific Sector); (ii) inland sites (Gawn Ice Piedmont, David Glacier, ITASE GV5 point); and (iii) plateau sites (Mid Point, Dome C, Law Dome, Talos Dome, Taylor Dome) [ 41 , 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 , 113 , 114 , 115 , 116 , 117 , 118 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of Cd, Pb, and Cu in the Atmospheric Aerosol of Central East Antarctica at Dome C (Concordia Station)

et al. 2021

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Trace heavy metals Cd, Pb, and Cu were determined (by square wave anodic stripping voltammetry) in aerosol samples collected at Dome C (the Italo-French Station Concordia), a remote site of the Central East Antarctic plateau, for which no data are available until now. During the Austral Summer 2005–2006, three PM10 high-volume impactors were installed in two locations nearby of Concordia station: the first one very close and downwind of the station (about 50 m north), the other two (very close to each other) in a ‘distant’ site, upwind of the station and close to the astrophysics tent (not used in that expedition) at ~800 m south of Station Concordia. For each sample, the availability of the mass of the aerosol collected (obtained by differential weighing carried out on site), in addition to the volume of the filtered air, allowed us to express results both in terms of metal mass fractions in the aerosol and in the usual way of metal atmospheric concentrations. Metal contents increased in the order Cd < Pb < Cu with the following ranges of values: Cd 1.0–8.4 µg g−1 (0.09–3.1 pg m−3), Pb 96–470 µg g−1 (12–62 pg m−3), and Cu 0.17–20 mg g−1 (0.027–2.4 ng m−3). From the metal temporal profiles obtained we estimated the following background values for the area of Dome C, expressed both in mass fractions and in atmospheric concentrations: Cd 1.2 ± 0.2 µg g−1 (0.24 ± 0.13 pg m−3), Pb (here fixed as upper limit) 113 ± 13 µg g−1 (21 ± 8 pg m−3), and Cu 0.91 ± 0.48 mg g−1 (0.12 ± 0.07 ng m−3). The highest values were observed in the first part of the season, and particularly for the site close to the station, possibly related to sample contamination linked to intense activity at the Concordia station connected with the beginning of the expedition, including aircraft arrivals/departures. Increments of up to 10 times (and even 20 times for Cu) were recorded with respect to the background values. The metal excesses of the contaminated over background samples were found approximately, except for Cu, in the same proportion of the metal contents of the special Antarctic blend (SAB) diesel fuel, which is used almost exclusively at Concordia Station. The effect of the wind direction was also observed. Thus in the intermediate period of the campaign, when the wind direction reversed for several days with respect to the prevailing one, Cd and Pb metal contents decreased at the sampling point installed close to the station, now upwind of Concordia station, and increased at the ‘clean’ site astrophysics tent, turned downwind at the main station. No simple and easily interpretable effect of the wind direction was observed for Cu, which suggests that some other extemporaneous and not clearly identified factor may have intervened in this case. These results suggest that the human impact at Dome C influences mainly the zone very close to the station, but also the area in the neighborhood, including the supposed clean site of the astrophysics tent (about 800 m far from the station), when the wind direction reverses with respect to the prevailing one, leaving the site downwind of the station Concordia. Since no other data are reported for the Dome C area, our results are compared with literature data referred to the South Pole Station (the only other plateau site for which data are available) and several other coastal Antarctic sites, observing that our results (excluding Cu) are the lowest ever observed for Antarctic aerosol.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of Cd, Pb, and Cu in the Atmospheric Aerosol of Central East Antarctica at Dome C (Concordia Station)

et al. 2021

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“…In Table 4, all such scientific studies have been compiled that were published between 2019 and 2021. As can be seen in the table, intensive fieldwork at different Antarctic locations has been conducted which covers a wide scope of topics within the area of atmospheric aerosols, including the production of marine aerosols and bioaerosols [155][156][157], the interaction between aerosols and clouds [35,158,159], and the monitoring of tracing and heavy metals in the Antarctic atmosphere [92,130,160].…”

Section: Modeling Of Air Mass Back Trajectoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Atmospheric Aerosols in Antarctica: From Characterization to Data Processing

et al. 2022

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One of the major problems of the present era is air pollution, not only for its impact on climate change but also for the diseases provoked by this scourge. Among the most concerning air pollutants is particulate matter, since it can travel long distances and affect the entire globe. Antarctica is extremely sensitive to climate change and essential for regulating temperature and permitting life on Earth. Therefore, air quality studies in this region are extremely important. The aim of this review is to present the work conducted on the identification and detection of aerosols and particulate matter in the Antarctic region in the last 20 years. These studies revealed a large number of organic and inorganic species. Organochlorine pesticides or polychlorinated biphenyls represent almost 50% of the organic fraction detected in Antarctica. Furthermore, heavy metals such as Hg and Pb were also found in the region related to anthropogenic activities. To summarize, this work detailed different analytical techniques and data processing to help characterize Antarctic aerosols and their potential sources.

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“…Sample treatments, analyses and decontamination procedures were carried out in clean room laboratories with areas in Class 5 (ISO 14644-1) under laminar flow, both in the Antarctica and in Italy [15]. The used filtration system was the Sulfoflo from Nalgene (Rochester, NY, USA), equipped with 0.45 µm-pore size membrane filters (cellulose mixed esters ∅ 47 mm, Schleicher & Schuell, Dassel, Germany).…”

Section: Apparatuses and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical Speciation of Antarctic Atmospheric Depositions

et al. 2022

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Both inorganic and organic complexation of metal cations in clouds or rainwater is essential to describe the global biogeochemical cycles of metals, because complexation can increase metal solubility and stabilize some of their oxidation states. Within a Project of the National Research Program in the Antarctica, atmospheric depositions were collected during the Antarctic summer 2017–2018 in eight sampling sites. The main ionic components occurring in water extracts of these atmospheric depositions were quantified, and a chemical model was applied, in order to identify the main species occurring in the samples. The speciation study showed that most cations were present as aquoions, except for Fe, which occurred predominantly in hydrolytic forms. The model allowed us to foresee the effect of an increase in the concentration levels of all the solution components, by simulating what could happen when the original particles act as cloud condensation nuclei. The role of inorganic anions as complexing agents becomes important when increasing total concentrations of all the solutes by a factor >100 compared to the water extracts, while the presence of organic acids acquires significance for samples having organic acid concentration higher than 10−5 mol L−1. Moreover, it was possible to pinpoint the formation constants that mostly affect the chemical system, and to gain insight into the behavior of metals in wet depositions, which is fundamental knowledge in atmospheric photochemistry studies and in the modeling of the biogeochemical cycles of metal cations.

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Seasonal Evolution of Size-Segregated Particulate Mercury in the Atmospheric Aerosol Over Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica

Cited by 9 publications

References 84 publications

Determination of Cd, Pb, and Cu in the Atmospheric Aerosol of Central East Antarctica at Dome C (Concordia Station)

Determination of Cd, Pb, and Cu in the Atmospheric Aerosol of Central East Antarctica at Dome C (Concordia Station)

A Review of Atmospheric Aerosols in Antarctica: From Characterization to Data Processing

Chemical Speciation of Antarctic Atmospheric Depositions

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