Transport of Gas-Phase Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons to the Venice Lagoon

Abstract

Concentrations of gas-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were studied over one year at two sites of the Venice lagoon (designated Marine and Industrial) and at a mainland station (designated Rural) in Italy. Average sigmaPAH concentrations, calculated as sum of 16 PAHs, at Marine are about three and five times lower than those at Industrial and Rural, respectively. The seasonal trends, the temperature-PAH relationship, and principal component analysis indicate that at Industrial and Marine sites several local sources (vehicle and industrial emissions, etc.) could be the PAH sources in the warmer months, whereas in the colder months the main PAH sources could alternate between vehicle emissions and residential heating. At Rural the main PAH sources are: vehicle emissions in the spring and autumn; vehicle emissions, field burning, and wood combustion in the summer; and vehicle emissions and fuel consumption for residential heating in the winter. To evaluate the contribution from different sources to the Venice Lagoon air, horizontal fluxes of PAHs have been obtained. The estimated annual flux of PAHs is about 9 times greater at Industrial (193.5 mg m(-2) y(-1)) than at Marine (20.6 mg m(-2) y(-1)). These results show that study of the chemical contamination of the Venice atmosphere must take into account the PAH flux derived from marine sources as well as the continental input.

Distribution and seasonal variability of trace elements in atmospheric particulate in the Venice Lagoon

“…Samples were collected when the wind blew from selected quadrants: southeast at site 2, northeast at sites 1 and 3. A more comprehensive description of the sampling sites and the strategy was previously reported (Gambaro et al, 2004;Manodori et al, 2006).…”

Long-range transport of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from China to Japan

“…It transforms the original variables, which may possess a significant correlation, into a set of uncorrelated orthogonal variables, called principal components (PCs) (Gambaro et al, 2004). The number of PCs used to interpret the results is determined by a scree test (Cattell, 1966).…”

Characterisation of PM2.5 concentrations and turbulent fluxes on a island of the Venice lagoon using high temporal resolution measurements

“…Over the last two decades, the decline of the chemical industry and the adoption of new emission control and abatement technologies significantly reduced the aqueous and gaseous industrial emissions in this area (DALLA VALLE et al, 2003). Several studies investigated the levels of atmospheric chemical pollutants in the Venice lagoon, in terms of long-time average (GAMBARO et al, 2004;BETTIOL et al, 2005;ROSSINI et al, 2005) and aerosol concentration and composition (GAMBARO et al, 2007;RAMPAZZO et al, 2008;PRODI et al, 2009;STORTINI et al, 2009) and aerosol deposition , SCAZZOLA et al, 2004GUERZONI et al, 2005;ROSSINI et al, 2005;GAMBARO et al, 2009). This work was focused primarily on the short-term dynamical characteristics of the fine aerosol fraction (PM2.5).…”