Aerosol removal coefficients based on 7Be, 210Pb,and 210Po radionuclides in the urban atmosphere

Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry - In this study, the aerosol removal coefficients based on 7Be, 210Pb and 210Po radionuclides in the urban air, in Lodz, Poland, were investigated over 3 years,...     

Factors Influencing the Atmospheric Depositional Fluxes of Stable Pb, 210Pb, and 7Be into Chesapeake Bay

Atmospheric depositional fluxes of ⁷Be and²¹⁰Pb (bulk) and stable Pb (wet) were measuredsimultaneously for one year (from September 1995–August 1996) atStillpond, Maryland on the uppereastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The annual total(bulk) depositional fluxes of ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Bewere 0.78 and 13 dpm cm^-2, respectively, andagree well with other previously reported results atnearby locations such as Norfolk, VA and Lewes, DE. The wet depositional flux of stable Pb (58 ng cm^-2 yr^-1)was also similar to thatmeasured at other Chesapeake sites during 1990–1991(55 ng cm^-2 yr^-1, for both Wye and Elms,Maryland). This suggests that a constant Pb flux hasbeen reached since the mandatory use of unleadedgasoline was instituted. The concentrations of⁷Be, ²¹⁰Pb, and to a lesser extent stable Pbwere diluted exponentially by precipitation, based onconcentrations versus precipitation plots. Due tohigher enrichment of ²¹⁰Pb in the lowertroposphere, the dilution effect was largest on²¹⁰Pb (i.e., controlled mainly by below-cloudscavenging processes), and thus its depositional fluxincrease is negligible as precipitation amountincreases. A good correlation between the amount ofprecipitation and total depositional flux of ⁷Beand stable Pb, which are more enriched in the uppertroposphere, suggests that precipitation amount isimportant in controlling their fluxes (i.e.,controlled by both below-cloud scavenging and in-cloudcondensation processes). Based on ⁷Be versus²¹⁰Pb plots, it appears that ⁷Be, relativeto ²¹⁰Pb, is less efficiently scavenged bysnowfall. Our results suggest that in addition toprecipitation amounts, marine air-mass transport orsnowfall may be important factors in controlling theseasonal variability of the fallout fluxes of tracemetals in coastal areas.     

210Po in savanna burning plumes

During the FOS-DECAFE experiment at Lamto (Ivory Coast) in January 1991 aerosols samples were collected at ground level above fires in order to investigate the possibility of using²¹⁰Po as a tracer of biomass burning. The concentration of this radionuclide in plants is studied as a function of its content in soils and in the atmospheric background. It is shown that it depends strongly on the atmospheric content in²¹⁰Po, due to dry deposition of the aerosols. The mean concentration of plants at Lamto is found to be about 4.4 pCi of²¹⁰Po/gC during the fire season and falls down to less than 1pCi/gC outside this period. The budget of²¹⁰Po is evaluated taking into account its complete volatilization during the flaming phase, the (²¹⁰Po)_ash/(²¹⁰Po)_plants ratio, which is measured to be about 14% and the percentage of submicron particles in the plume, about 91%. The inferred flux of²¹⁰Po is 3850 Ci/yr for the African savanna, and 5800 Ci/yr for the global savanna. From this flux, fluxes of Ct and Cs are estimated to be 8.4 and 1.1 Tg of C/yr for the worldwide savanna.     

An Examination of the Atmospheric Chemistry of Mercury Using 210Pb and 7Be

Measurements of Hg (total gas-phase, precipitation-phase andparticulate-phase), aerosol mass, particulate ²¹⁰Pb and⁷Be and precipitation ²¹⁰Pb were made at an atmosphericcollection station located in a near remote area of northcentral Wisconsin,U.S.A. (46°10N, 89°50W) during the summers of 1993, 1994and 1995. Total Hg and ²¹⁰Pb were observed to correlate strongly(slope = 0.06 ± 0.03 ng mBq^-1; r ² =0.72) in rainwater. Mercury to ²¹⁰Pb ratios in particulate matter(0.03 ± 0.02 ng mBq^-1; r ² = 0.06) wereconsistent with the ratio in rain. Enrichment of the Hg/mass ratio (approx.5–50×) relative to soil and primary pollutant aerosols indicatedthat gas-to-particle conversion had taken place during transport. Comparisonof these results with models for the incorporation of Hg into precipitationindicates that atmospheric particles deliver more Hg to precipitation than canbe explained by the presence of soot. A lack of correlation between totalgas-phase Hg (TGM) and a ⁷Be/²¹⁰Pb function suggests novertical concentration gradient within the troposphere, and allows an estimateof TGM residence time of 1.5 ± 0.6 yr be made based on surface airsamples.     

Measurement and meteorological analysis of 7Be and 210Pb in aerosol at Waliguan Observatory

Beryllium-7(~7Be)and lead-210(~(210)pb)activities were measured from October 2002 to January 2004 at Waliguan Observatory(WO:36.287°N,100.898°E,3816 m a.s.l(above sea level)in northwest China.~7Be and ~(210)Pb activities are high with overall averages of 14.7±3.5 mBq m~(3)and 1.8±0.8 mBq m~(-3)respectively. For both ~7Be and ~(210)Pb,there are significant short-term and seasonal variations with a commonly low value in summer(May September)and a monthly maximum in april(for ~7Be)and in December(for~(210)Pb). The ratio of ~7Be/~(210)pb showed a broad maximum extending from April to July,coinciding with a seasonal peak in surface ozone(O_3).The seasonal cycles of ~7Be and ~(210)Pb activities were greatly influenced by precipitation and thermal dynamical conditions over the boundary layer,especially for ~(210)Pb.The vertical mixing process between the boundary layer and the aloft air modulates the variations of ~7Be and ~(210)pb at WO in summer.It is indicated that air mass had longer residence time and originated from higher altitudes at WO in the spring-summer time and the winter in 2003.During an event with extremely high weekly- averaged ~7Be concentration(24.8 mBq m~(-3))together with high O_3 levels and low water mixing ratio,we found that air masses had been convectively transported a long distance to WO from high latitude source regions in central Asia,where significant subsiding motions were observed.In another case with the extreme ~(210)pb activity of 5.7 mBq m~(-3)high CO_2 level and specific humidity(in winter),air masses had come from south China and north Indian regions where ~(222)Rn activities were high.This study,using ~7Be and ~(210)Pb as atmospheric tracers,has revealed that complex interactions of convective mixing from the upper troposphere and long-range transports exist at WO.     

Seasonal variation of atmospheric 210Pb and Al in the western North Pacific region

The atmospheric concentration of ²¹⁰Pb was determined for two years at six stations in the western North Pacific region. The following results were obtained and discussed by comparing them with those of Al. The atmospheric concentration of ²¹⁰Pb varied widely from week to week, but the degree of variation was about a half that of Al. Contrary to Al, the year-to-year variation of ²¹⁰Pb was not pronounced and its seasonal variation was well expressed by a sine curve. The ²¹⁰Pb concentration did not show a marked latitudinal variation and its base-line concentration was high in the surface air over the North Pacific. These suggest that atmospheric ²¹⁰Pb has a longer residence time, due to its transportation through higher altitudes and deposits much more evenly onto the Earth's surface and the ocean, as compared with Al in mineral dust which is larger in size in the source region.     

Excess 210Po in the coastal atmosphere

Many researchers have reported the widespread occurrence of excess ²¹⁰ Po in the global atmosphere and suggested probable sources such as resuspension of top soils, stratospheric aerosols, sea spray of the surface micro‐layer, volcanic emission, and bio‐volatile ²¹⁰Po species from the productive ocean. We have observed excess ²¹⁰Po on aerosols in the coastal atmosphere of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. On‐board measurements in the Chesapeake Bay atmosphere show that the increase of this excess ²¹⁰Po is dependent upon wind speed. Simultaneously measured activity ratios of ⁷Be/²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Pb/²²²Rn argue against either higher altitude air or continental soils as the source of this excess. We hypothesize that the excess ²¹⁰Po originates mainly from surface waters either by the sea‐spray of the surface microlayer, or more likely, by gas exchange. We conclude gas exchange as the mechanism since the polonium excess increases linearly with wind speed over a threshold of 3 m s⁻¹(mean) similar to other gases (i.e., CO₂, SF₆ , and DMS). In addition, higher ²¹⁰Po excess with lower ²²²Rn is observed in on‐shore marine air at Lewes, DE. This suggests sea‐air exchange of volatile Po along with other bio‐volatile species (i.e., DMS, DMSe, and MMHg) in the coastal productive ocean during high wind speeds.     

Sensitivity of stratospheric composition to oxygen absorption of solar radiation (175–210 nm)

We have used a two dimensional radiative-chemical-transport model of the stratosphere to investigate the sensitivity of trace gas distributions to absorption of oxygen in the wavelength region 175–210 nm. Two different formulations for the Herzberg continuum absorption cross sections are used. The calculated transmission of ultra-violet light in the stratosphere is lower and higher than observed, depending on the choice of absorption cross section. For the higher transmission O₃, ClO, and HO₂ are found to be significantly increased in the lower stratosphere. Calculated O₃ in the upper stratosphere, chlorofluorocarbons, N₂O and odd-nitrogen are lower. The photolysis of oxygen is considerably faster at high latitudes implying that the photochemical recovery of depleted polar ozone is faster than currently assumed.     

天然放射性核素铍-7和铅-210在大气示踪研究中的应用

文章介绍了大气中天然放射性核素铍-7(^7Be)、铅-210(^210Pb)源、汇特征以及示踪大气动力输送过程的一般原理。对国内、外有关^7Be、^210Pb观测研究历史、现状以及它们在大气科学中应用成果也作了综述性的描述。^7Be和^210Pb是示踪研究平流层与对流层交换、气溶胶干、湿沉降等过程的一个重要的示踪物。随着大气中传统的核试验所产生的^137Cs、^90Si等示踪同位素背景浓度的降低，^7Be和^210Pb的示踪作用在大气科学应用中将越来越得到重视。     

Performance of CMORPH,TMPA, and PERSIANN rainfall datasets over plain,mountainous, and glacial regions of Pakistan

The present study aims at the assessment of six satellite rainfall estimates (SREs) in Pakistan. For each assessed products, both real-time (RT) and post adjusted (Adj) versions are considered to highlight their potential benefits in the rainfall estimation at annual, monthly, and daily temporal scales. Three geomorphological climatic zones, i.e., plain, mountainous, and glacial are taken under considerations for the determination of relative potentials of these SREs over Pakistan at global and regional scales. All SREs, in general, have well captured the annual north-south rainfall decreasing patterns and rainfall amounts over the typical arid regions of the country. Regarding the zonal approach, the performance of all SREs has remained good over mountainous region comparative to arid regions. This poor performance in accurate rainfall estimation of all the six SREs over arid regions has made their use questionable in these regions. Over glacier region, all SREs have highly overestimated the rainfall. One possible cause of this overestimation may be due to the low surface temperature and radiation absorption over snow and ice cover, resulting in their misidentification with rainy clouds as daily false alarm ratio has increased from mountainous to glacial regions. Among RT products, CMORPH-RT is the most biased product. The Bias was almost removed on CMORPH-Adj thanks to the gauge adjustment. On a general way, all Adj versions outperformed their respective RT versions at all considered temporal scales and have confirmed the positive effects of gauge adjustment. CMORPH-Adj and TMPA-Adj have shown the best agreement with in situ data in terms of Bias, RMSE, and CC over the entire study area.     

Distribution,speciation, and budget of atmospheric mercury

Total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentrations over the Atlantic Ocean and over Central Europe were measured repeatedly in the years 1978–1981. The latitudinal TGM distribution showed a pronounced and reproducible interhemispherical difference with higher TGM concentrations in the Northern Hemisphere. TGM was found to be vertically well mixed within the troposphere. The TGM concentration seems to increase with time at a rate of 10±8%/yr in the Northern and 8±3%/yr in the Southern Hemisphere. Measurements of mercury speciation showed that elemental mercury is the main TGM component contributing more than 92% and 83% of TGM in marine and continental air, respectively. The tropospheric mercury burden was calculated to be 6×10⁹g. The interhemispheric distribution and temporal and spatial variability of TGM imply a tropospheric residence time of TGM of about 1 yr. Sink strengths calculated independently from the measured mercury concentration on particles and in rainwater are consistent with the above figures.     

Roughness length of sea,sand, and snow

Profiles of wind speed in driving sand and snow show roughness length increasing as the square of the friction velocity, in accordance with Charnock's relation for the roughness length of the sea.     

BDA方案对台风背景高温天气预报的改进

广州地Ⅸ的高温天气主要是受副热带高压和台风外围下沉气流的影响所致.文中采用BDA(Bogus Data Assimila-tion)方法,探讨BDA方案对广州地区台风背景条件下高温预报的改进能力.选取2005年7月中旬广州地区出现的高温天气进行研究.这是比较典型的受副热带高压和台风(海棠)共同影响造成高温的天气过程.分析有无采用BDA方案的模式初始场.结果表明:采用BDA方案同化Bogus模型可以调整台风中心位置和强度,使所得到的初始场中心位置与观测更为接近,台风强度(气压梯度力、风速)比末用Bogus的情况强,与观测值更为接近.数值模拟的结果表明,采用了BDA方案的敏感试验可以更好地预撤台风路径和台风中心强度变化,从而更好地预报高温天气,对高温区分布、日平均温度大小等的预报都有改进.文中对引起这种预报差异的原因进行了讨论,并探讨高温预报改进的可能机制.大气下沉运动的增强是高温预报改进的主要原因.敏感试验由于广州中低层大气的水汽减少,大气的下沉增强,致使天空的云量减少,对太阳短波辐射的阻挡减小,从而地面吸收热量增多,温度升高,输送给大气的感热增加,大气气温升高.采用BDA方案可以改进模式在台风"海棠"过程对广州高温的预报.