Grantee Research Project Results
2003 Progress Report: Inflow, Chemistry and Deposition of Mercury to the West Coast of the United States
EPA Grant Number: R829797Title: Inflow, Chemistry and Deposition of Mercury to the West Coast of the United States
Investigators: Jaffe, Daniel , Prestbo, Eric
Institution: University of Washington
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: June 1, 2002 through June 1, 2005
Project Period Covered by this Report: June 1, 2002 through June 1, 2003
Project Amount: $756,774
RFA: Mercury: Transport, Transportation, and Fate in the Atmosphere (2001) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Heavy Metal Contamination of Soil/Water , Air Quality and Air Toxics , Safer Chemicals , Air
Objective:
The objectives of this research project are to: (1) quantify the flux of mercury to the United States from global sources; (2) characterize the seasonal patterns and chemical speciation of this flux; and (3) examine the background deposition of mercury along the west coast of the United States. The specific objective is to evaluate the significance of large mercury sources in Asia on the transport and deposition of mercury in the United States. From our previous work (e.g., Jaffe, et al., 2003), we know that long-range transport of pollutants from Asia to the United States occurs on a fairly regular basis.
Progress Summary:
During Year 1 of the project, instruments were purchased and configured for remote field measurements of mercury (elemental, particulate, and reactive). These instruments have been deployed at three sites: (1) Cheeka Peak, a marine boundary layer site along the western tip of Washington state; (2) Mt. Bachelor, a high elevation (9,000 ft), free tropospheric site in central Oregon; and (3) Cape Hedo in Okinawa, Japan, a remote site that receives substantial influence from Chinese pollution sources.
Measurements at Cheeka Peak give important information on global background mercury concentrations and processing within the marine boundary layer; however, they do not reveal strong signals of long-range transport from Asia. For this reason, our mercury instrument has been moved to the Mt. Bachelor site, which receives much stronger signals of long-range transport. Already, we have detected several episodes of long-range transport of carbon monoxide, aerosols, and mercury at Mt. Bachelor.
In the fall of 2003, a decision was made to modify our work plan to incorporate measurements of mercury at the Japanese station in Okinawa. This would give us direct information on the sources, transport, and speciation of mercury coming out of China. This modification to our work plan was approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A full set of mercury instruments (elemental, particulate, and reactive) were installed at Okinawa in March 2004, and will remain there for approximately 2 months. To date, in the first 2 weeks of this campaign, we have detected several episodes of transport of pollutants from China that brought high levels of mercury to the station.
At both Mt. Bachelor and Okinawa, the colocation of mercury instrumentation with carbon monoxide, ozone, and aerosol instruments will add significantly to the value of our mercury data. These additional data will allow us to characterize the general state of the atmosphere, as well as to carry out quantitative budget and flux calculations. The successful completion of this work will give us a much clearer picture of mercury concentrations and speciation in the air that arrives to North America, and of the importance of distant mercury sources on mercury concentrations in the United States. This information is critical for understanding the sources of mercury in the North American food chain.
Future Activities:
Future activities are to: (1) continue observations of mercury on both sides of the Pacific (Okinawa and Mt. Bachelor); and (2) analyze the data, alongside the carbon monoxide ozone and aerosol data, to begin the development of a Pacific-wide mercury budget, and to quantify the flux of mercury coming into the United States from global sources.
Journal Articles on this Report : 2 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 34 publications | 7 publications in selected types | All 7 journal articles |
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Jaffe D, Landis MS, Weiss-Penzias P, Prestbo E. Comment on “Mercury concentrations in coastal California precipitation: Evidence of local and trans-Pacific fluxes of mercury to North America” by D. J. Steding and A. R. Flegal. Journal of Geophysical Research 2003;108(D17):4553, doi:10.1029/2003JD003504. |
R829797 (2003) R829797 (Final) |
not available |
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Weiss-Penzias P, Jaffe DA, McClintick A, Prestbo EM, Landis MS. Gaseous elemental mercury in the marine boundary layer: Evidence for rapid removal in anthropogenic pollution. Environmental Science & Technology 2003;37(17):3755-3763. |
R829797 (2003) R829797 (Final) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
air, ambient air, tropospheric pollution, chemical transport, toxics, air toxics, metals, heavy metals, mercury, environmental chemistry, atmospheric chemistry, Pacific Northwest, EPA Region 10, long-range transport, water, ecology and ecosystems, west coast, atmospheric deposition, chemical speciation, fate and transport, formation, marine boundary layer, mercury detection, mercury formation., Scientific Discipline, Water, Environmental Chemistry, Ecology and Ecosystems, Mercury, fate and transport, mercury measurement, mercury formation, chemical speciation, marine boundary layer, formation, mercury detection, West CoastRelevant Websites:
http://faculty.washington.edu/djaffe Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.