Mercury Plumes in the Global Upper Troposphere Observed during Flights with the CARIBIC Observatory from May 2005 until June 2013

Atmosphere

Franz Slemr³  Andreas Weigelt¹  Ralf Ebinghaus¹  Carl Brenninkmeijer³  Angela Baker³  Tanja Schuck³  Armin Rauthe-Schཬh³  Hella Riede³  Emma Leedham³  Markus Hermann⁵  Peter van Velthoven⁶  David Oram⁴  Debbie O’Sullivan⁴  Christoph Dyroff²  Andreas Zahn² 

[1] Institute of Coastal Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG), Max-Planck-Straße 1, D-21502 Geesthacht, Germany; E-Mails:;Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, D-76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany; E-Mails:;Atmospheric Chemistry Division, Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie (MPI), Hahn-Meitner-Weg 1, D-55128 Mainz, Germany; E-Mails:;National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of East Anglia (UEA), Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK; E-Mails:;Leibniz-Institut für Troposphärenforschung (TROPOS), Permoserstrasse 15, D-04318 Leipzig, Germany; E-Mail:;Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), P.O. Box 201, NL-3730 AE De Bilt, The Netherlands; E-Mail:

关键词: mercury;    emission;    air;    pollution;   

DOI  :  10.3390/atmos5020342

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Tropospheric sections of flights with the CARIBIC (Civil Aircraft for Regular Investigation of the Atmosphere Based on an Instrumented Container) observatory from May 2005 until June 2013, are investigated for the occurrence of plumes with elevated Hg concentrations. Additional information on CO, CO₂, CH₄, NOy, O₃, hydrocarbons, halocarbons, acetone and acetonitrile enable us to attribute the plumes to biomass burning, urban/industrial sources or a mixture of both. Altogether, 98 pollution plumes with elevated Hg concentrations and CO mixing ratios were encountered, and the Hg/CO emission ratios for 49 of them could be calculated. Most of the plumes were found over East Asia, in the African equatorial region, over South America and over Pakistan and India. The plumes encountered over equatorial Africa and over South America originate predominantly from biomass burning, as evidenced by the low Hg/CO emission ratios and elevated mixing ratios of acetonitrile, CH₃Cl and particle concentrations. The backward trajectories point to the regions around the Rift Valley and the Amazon Basin, with its outskirts, as the source areas. The plumes encountered over East Asia and over Pakistan and India are predominantly of urban/industrial origin, sometimes mixed with products of biomass/biofuel burning. Backward trajectories point mostly to source areas in China and northern India. The Hg/CO₂ and Hg/CH₄ emission ratios for several plumes are also presented and discussed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.