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Gaseous Oxidized Mercury Dry Deposition Measurements in the FourCorners Area and Eastern Oklahoma, U.S.A.
Citation:
SATHER, M., S. MUKERJEE, L. SMITH, M. JOHNSON, C. JACKSON, R. Callison, L. Scrapper, A. Hathcoat, J. Adam, D. Keese, P. Ketcher, R. Brunette, J. Karlstrom, AND G. Van der Jagt. Gaseous Oxidized Mercury Dry Deposition Measurements in the FourCorners Area and Eastern Oklahoma, U.S.A. Atmospheric Pollution Research. Turkish National Committee for Air Pollution Research and Control, Izmir, Turkey, 4(2):168-180, (2013).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL′s) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD′s research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA′s strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools is improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
Gaseous oxidized mercury (GOM) dry deposition measurements using surrogate surface passive samplers were collected in the Four Corners area and eastern Oklahoma from August, 2009–August, 2011. Using data from a six site area network, a characterization of the magnitude and spatial extent of ambient mercury pollution in the arid Four Corners area was accomplished, which included the observation of a strong regional signature in the GOM dry deposition data set. GOM dry deposition rate estimates ranged from 0.4–1.0 ng/m2 h at the six Four Corners area monitoring sites, while the GOM dry deposition rate estimate at the eastern Oklahoma monitoring site was lower at 0.2 ng/m2h. The highest GOM dry deposition estimates were recorded during the spring and summer while the lowest GOM dry deposition estimates were recorded during the fall and winter. During the second year of this study the highest annual GOM dry deposition estimate so far measured in the United States(U.S.) with smooth–edge surrogate surface passive samplers, 10 889 ng/m2, was recorded at the Mesa Verde National Park site, a site at which the two–year cumulative GOM dry deposition estimate exceeded the mercury wet eposition estimate. GOM dry deposition estimates during the second year of the study were statistically significantly higher than the first year of the study at six of the seven sites. The data from this study provide a two–year baseline of GOM dry deposition data in the Four Corners area and eastern Oklahoma immediately before the current implementation of new U.S. power plant and boiler mercury control regulations which will significantly reduce mercury emissions from those two sectors of local and regional anthropogenic mercury emission sources.
URLs/Downloads:
Gaseous Oxidized Mercury Dry Deposition Measurements in the FourCorners Area and Eastern Oklahoma, U.S.A. (PDF, NA pp, 349 KB, about PDF)Atmospheric Pollution Research
SUPPORTING INFORMATION .PDF (PDF, NA pp, 857 KB, about PDF)