Total Gaseous Mercury Concentration Measurements at Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada

Parsons, Matthew T.; McLennan, Daniel; Lapalme, Monique; Mooney, Curtis; Watt, Corinna; Mintz, Rachel

doi:10.3390/atmos4040472

Cited by 20 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…All papers reported differences between the subsets and between the full data set and the subsets to some extent (Gao, 2007;Parsons et al, 2013, Xu et al, 2014. In the 2007-2011 Windsor, Ontario, TGM study (Xu et al, 2014), seasonal PCA revealed that the transport component seems to be very influential to TGM concentrations due to high winds.…”

Section: Pca Results From Data Subsetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, TGM data collected in Fort McMurray, Alberta, were stratified into three concentration ranges and then each data subset were analyzed separately using PCA (Parsons et al, 2013). For the full data set, TGM variability was primarily attributed to diurnal variability followed by forest fire smoke, temperature and snow depth, industrial sulfur, and combustion processes.…”

Section: Pca Results From Data Subsetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Canadian sites are located in Point Petre and Egbert, Ontario (Blanchard et al, 2002); CAMNet stations (Temme et al, 2007), Toronto (Cheng et al, 2009), northwestern Ontario (Cheng et al, 2012); Kejimkujik National Park (Cheng et al, 2013a); Flin Flon, Manitoba (Eckley et al, 2013); Fort McMurray, Alberta (Parsons et al, 2013); and Windsor, Ontario (Xu et al, 2014). The US sites included south Florida (Graney et al, 2004); Detroit, Michigan (Lynam and Keeler, 2006;Liu et al, 2007); Mount Bachelor, Oregon (Swartzendruber et al, 2006); Athens, Ohio (Gao, 2007); Rochester, New York (Huang et al, 2010); and Grand Bay, Mississippi (Ren et al, 2014).…”

Section: Source Apportionmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This result was inferred from an increase in TGM loading on the meteorology component that consists of temperature, solar radiation and relative humidity, and a decrease in TGM loading on the component representing the smelter after it was shutdown. TGM measurements at a site in the Alberta oil sands region was mainly attributed to diurnal variability based on strong component loadings on O 3 and meteorological parameters including, temperature, relative humidity, and solar radiation (Parsons et al, 2013).…”

Section: Source Apportionmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Forest fire smoke was inferred from PCA results which had positive loadings on TGM and the components of forest fire smoke, namely PM 2.5 , CO, and NH 3 (Parsons et al, 2013). This study was conducted in Alberta, Canada, where the forest density and occurrence of forest fires are both high.…”

Section: Cheng Et Al: Overview Of Receptor-based Mercury Source Amentioning

confidence: 99%

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Overview of receptor-based source apportionment studies for speciated atmospheric mercury

Cheng

Zhang

2015

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. Receptor-based source apportionment studies of speciated atmospheric mercury are not only concerned with source contributions but also with the influence of transport, transformation, and deposition processes on speciated atmospheric mercury concentrations at receptor locations. Previous studies applied multivariate receptor models including principal components analysis and positive matrix factorization, and back trajectory receptor models including potential source contribution function, gridded frequency distributions, and concentration-back trajectory models. Combustion sources (e.g., coal combustion, biomass burning, and vehicular, industrial and waste incineration emissions), crustal/soil dust, and chemical and physical processes, such as gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) oxidation reactions, boundary layer mixing, and GEM flux from surfaces were inferred from the multivariate studies, which were predominantly conducted at receptor sites in Canada and the US. Back trajectory receptor models revealed potential impacts of large industrial areas such as the Ohio River valley in the US and throughout China, metal smelters, mercury evasion from the ocean and the Great Lakes, and free troposphere transport on receptor measurements. Input data and model parameters specific to atmospheric mercury receptor models are summarized and model strengths and weaknesses are also discussed. Multivariate models are suitable for receptor locations with intensive air monitoring because they require long-term collocated and simultaneous measurements of speciated atmospheric Hg and ancillary pollutants. The multivariate models provide more insight about the types of Hg emission sources and Hg processes that could affect speciated atmospheric Hg at a receptor location, whereas back trajectory receptor models are mainly ideal for identifying potential regional Hg source locations impacting elevated Hg concentrations. Interpretation of the multivariate model output to sources can be subjective and challenging when speciated atmospheric Hg is not correlated with ancillary pollutants and when source emissions profiles and knowledge of Hg chemistry are incomplete. The majority of back trajectory receptor models have not accounted for Hg transformation and deposition processes and could not distinguish between upwind and downwind sources effectively. Ensemble trajectories should be generated to take into account the trajectory uncertainties where possible. One area of improvement that applies to all the receptor models reviewed in this study is the greater focus on evaluating the accuracy of the models at identifying potential speciated atmospheric mercury sources, source locations, and chemical and physical processes in the atmosphere. In addition to receptor model improvements, the data quality of speciated atmospheric Hg plays an equally important part in producing accurate receptor model results.

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Section: Pca Results From Data Subsetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pca Results From Data Subsetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Source Apportionmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Source Apportionmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cheng Et Al: Overview Of Receptor-based Mercury Source Amentioning

confidence: 99%

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Overview of receptor-based source apportionment studies for speciated atmospheric mercury

Cheng

Zhang

2015

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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A decadal synthesis of atmospheric emissions, ambient air quality, and deposition in the oil sands region

Horb

Wentworth

Makar

et al. 2021

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

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This review is part of a series synthesizing peer‐reviewed literature from the past decade on environmental monitoring in the oil sands region (OSR) of northeastern Alberta. It focuses on atmospheric emissions, air quality, and deposition in and downwind of the OSR. Most published monitoring and research activities were concentrated in the surface‐mineable region in the Athabasca OSR. Substantial progress has been made in understanding oil sands (OS)‐related emission sources using multiple approaches: airborne measurements, satellite measurements, source emission testing, deterministic modeling, and source apportionment modeling. These approaches generally yield consistent results, indicating OS‐related sources are regional contributors to nearly all air pollutants. Most pollutants exhibit enhanced air concentrations within ~20 km of surface‐mining activities, with some enhanced >100 km downwind. Some pollutants (e.g., sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides) undergo transformations as they are transported through the atmosphere. Deposition rates of OS‐related substances primarily emitted as fugitive dust are enhanced within ~30 km of surface‐mining activities, whereas gaseous and fine particulate emissions have a more diffuse deposition enhancement pattern extending hundreds of kilometers downwind. In general, air quality guidelines are not exceeded, although these single‐pollutant thresholds are not comprehensive indicators of air quality. Odor events have occurred in communities near OS industrial activities, although it can be difficult to attribute events to specific pollutants or sources. Nitrogen, sulfur, polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs), and base cations from OS sources occur in the environment, but explicit and deleterious responses of organisms to these pollutants are not as apparent across all study environments; details of biological monitoring are discussed further in other papers in this special series. However, modeling of critical load exceedances suggests that, at continued emission levels, ecological change may occur in future. Knowledge gaps and recommendations for future work to address these gaps are also presented. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:333–360. © 2021 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

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Atmospheric wet deposition of mercury to the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Alberta, Canada

Lynam

Dvonch

Barres

et al. 2017

Air Qual Atmos Health

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Total Gaseous Mercury Concentration Measurements at Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada

Cited by 20 publications

References 29 publications

Overview of receptor-based source apportionment studies for speciated atmospheric mercury

Overview of receptor-based source apportionment studies for speciated atmospheric mercury

A decadal synthesis of atmospheric emissions, ambient air quality, and deposition in the oil sands region

Atmospheric wet deposition of mercury to the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Alberta, Canada

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