You are here:
An Artificial Turf-Based Surrogate Surface Collector for the Direct Measurement of Atmospheric Mercury Dry Deposition
Citation:
Hall, N., T. Dvonch, F. Marsik, J. Barres, AND M. Landis. An Artificial Turf-Based Surrogate Surface Collector for the Direct Measurement of Atmospheric Mercury Dry Deposition. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland, 14(2):173, (2017). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14020173
Impact/Purpose:
In recent years, a growing number of intensive field campaigns and routine measurement networks have provided valuable information on the rates of total mercury (Hg) wet deposition in North America (Guentzel et al., 1995; Rea et al., 1996; Dvonch et al., 1999; Landis and Keeler, 2002; Dvonch et al., 2005; Hall et al., 2005; Keeler et al., 2005; Keeler et al., 2006; Butler et al., 2008; Prestbo and Gay, 2009; Siudek et al., 2009; White et al., 2009; Risch et al., 2012). The ability to place bounds on the rates of total Hg dry deposition has been hampered by the relative lack of direct measurement approaches to quantify this critical process for the three most relevant forms of Hg: gaseous elemental Hg (Hg0), divalent reactive gaseous Hg (RGM), and particulate bound Hg (Hg(p)). Initial mercury dry deposition measurement estimates focused on the use of micrometeorological (Lindberg et al., 1992; Kim et al., 1995 Meyers et al., 1996; Skov et al., 2006; Fritsche et al., 2008), dynamic flux chamber (Carpi and Lindberg, 1998; Fu et al., 2008; Graydon et al., 2006), vegetative throughfall (Iverfeldt 1991; Lindberg et al., 1994; Rea et al., 1996; Rea et al., 2000; St. Louis et al., 2001; Graydon et al., 2008), and inferential modeling approaches (Landis and Keeler, 2002; Zhang et al., 2003; Poissant et al., 2004; Lin et al., 2006; Marsik et al., 2007; Zhang et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 2016). The application of micrometeorological approaches, such as modified Bowen ratio and relaxed eddy accumulation, are typically focused on just the gaseous Hg species, can be challenging to use in remote areas as they require a stable source of electrical power, and stringent site selection criteria must be adhered to insure adequate uniform upwind fetch (Businger 1986). Dynamic flux chambers also require a stable source of electrical power, and can disrupt the natural temperature, humidity, and turbulent field responsible for the fluxes they are attempting quantify (Cobos et al., 2002; Fritsche et al., 2008). Vegetative throughfall approaches require an amenable canopy, sampling intervals are limited by the frequency of rain events, and spatial investigation is complicated by unique canopy structure and dry deposition collection 3 characteristics of the canopy above each sampling location. Inferential modeling approaches rely on parameterizations of land surfaces, estimates of meteorological conditions and turbulence, ambient Hg measurements, and estimates of representative Hg(p) mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD).
Description:
This paper describes the development of a new artificial turf surrogate surface (ATSS) sampler for use in the measurement of mercury (Hg) dry deposition. In contrast to many existing surrogate surface designs, the ATSS utilizes a three-dimensional deposition surface that may more closely mimic the physical structure of many natural surfaces than traditional flat surrogate surface designs (water, filter, greased Mylar film). The ATSS has been designed to overcome several complicating factors that can impact the integrity of samples with other direct measurement approaches by providing a passive system which can be deployed for both short and extended periods of time (days to weeks), and is not contaminated by precipitation and/or invalidated by strong winds. Performance characteristics including collocated precision, in-field procedural and laboratory blanks were evaluated. The results of these performance evaluations included a mean collocated precision of 9%, low blanks (0.8 ng), high extraction efficiency (97%–103%), and a quantitative matrix spike recovery (100%).
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: An Artificial Turf-Based Surrogate Surface Collector for the Direct Measurement of Atmospheric Mercury Dry Deposition
Free access through PubMed Central