Abstract
Measurements of trace element (As, Cu, Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, Zn) deposition fluxes were conducted simultaneously in two contrasted environments, i.e., urban and forest, between April 2013 and October 2014. This was the first such project in central Poland, aimed at long-term observations of trace elements in the atmosphere and their distribution, transport, and deposition pattern. The receptor sites were different in terms of local meteorological conditions, emission potential, and distance to major anthropogenic sources. The deposition fluxes of all trace elements showed clear seasonal variations, with relatively higher values in winter than in summer. The main factors affecting interannual differences in concentrations and deposition of trace elements in central Poland were local emission from industrial and commercial sources, and changes in atmospheric conditions (wind speed and direction, boundary layer, precipitation amount, air mass origin). In this study, the impact of regional and long-range transport on trace element deposition was determined using the air back-trajectory cluster analysis. During the summertime of 2013 and 2014, the predominant SW and E advections from regional and remote anthropogenic sources in Europe were responsible for high deposition of Cd, Cr, Pb, Cu, and Zn, whereas during the wintertime of 2013/2014, we observed a significant influence of polluted air masses from southeastern regions. Based on the Pb/Zn ratio, it was found that regional sources significantly influenced the aerosol composition and rainwater chemistry within the study domain. However, the role of a long-range transport of anthropogenic pollutants was also important. In addition, a relatively small difference in the Pb/Zn ratio between both sites (urban 0.26 ± 0.18, forest 0.23 ± 0.17) may suggest (1) very similar contribution of anthropogenic sources and (2) minor importance of atmospheric transformation processes of these metals in the aqueous phase.
Highlights
The atmospheric budget of trace elements (TEs) is controlled by two major processes: emissions from various anthropogenic/ natural sources and deposition via wet and/or dry scavenging, including the in-cloud and below-cloud mechanisms
The concentrations of Zn and other trace elements measured in this study revealed relatively higher levels than those registered in rainwater samples collected in western Qilian Mountain (Dong et al 2017) and those in surface snow samples from remote alpine glaciers in the northern Tibetan Plateau (Dong et al 2015)
The long-term measurement campaign focused on atmospheric transport and deposition of trace elements was performed in central Poland between April 2013 and October 2014
Summary
The atmospheric budget of trace elements (TEs) is controlled by two major processes: emissions from various anthropogenic/ natural sources and deposition via wet and/or dry scavenging, including the in-cloud and below-cloud mechanisms. The removal of trace elements from the atmosphere seems to be of crucial importance for the aquatic and terrestrial environments due to toxicity, bioaccumulation, and carcinogenic properties of these metals. Many studies have highlighted that the atmospheric deposition of metallic compounds depends on numerous meteorological factors and atmospheric processes; special emphasis is given on different anthropogenic sources of these pollutants (e.g., fossil fuel combustion, residential heating, non-ferrous metal production, traffic emissions, road dust re-suspension, biomass burning, non-exhaust traffic emissions; Conko et al 2004; Connan et al 2013; Lynam et al 2013; Environ Sci Pollut Res (2017) 24:23026–23038. There is a broad range of dependencies between trace metal emissions and formation processes, as well as between atmospheric conditions and the removal rates via dry deposition/precipitation. A number of studies have shown the spatiotemporal variability of TEs in wet (Sakata and Asakura 2009; Montoya-Mayor et al 2013; Kara et al 2014; Tripathee et al 2014; Guo et al 2015; Lynam et al 2015; Pan and Wang 2015) and dry (Gunawardena et al 2012; Connan et al 2013; Lynam et al 2013) deposition
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