TY - JOUR
T1 - Fluxes of gaseous elemental mercury on a Mediterranean coastal grassland
AU - Polyzou, Christiana
AU - Loupa, Glykeria
AU - Trepekli, Aikaterini
AU - Rapsomanikis, Spyridon
PY - 2019/9/1
Y1 - 2019/9/1
N2 - Coastal rural areas can be a source of elemental mercury, but the potential influence of their topographic and climatic particularities on gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) fluxes have not been investigated extensively. In this study, gaseous elemental mercury was measured over Mediterranean coastal grassland located in Northern Greece from 2014 to 2015 and GEM fluxes were evaluated utilizing Monin-Obukhov similarity theory. The GEM fluxes ranged from -50.30 to 109.69 ng m-2 h-1 with a mean value equal to 10.50 ± 19.14 ng m-2 h-1. Concerning the peak events, with high positive and low negative GEM fluxes, those were recorded from the morning until the evening. Rain events were a strong contributing factor for enhanced GEM fluxes. The enhanced turbulent mixing under daytime unstable conditions led to greater evasion and positive GEM fluxes, while, during nighttime periods, the GEM evasion is lower, indicating the effect of atmospheric stability on GEM fluxes. The coastal grassland with its specific characteristics influences the GEM fluxes and this area could be characterized as a source of elemental mercury. This study is one of the rare efforts in the research community to estimate GEM fluxes in a coastal natural site based on aerodynamic gradient method.
AB - Coastal rural areas can be a source of elemental mercury, but the potential influence of their topographic and climatic particularities on gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) fluxes have not been investigated extensively. In this study, gaseous elemental mercury was measured over Mediterranean coastal grassland located in Northern Greece from 2014 to 2015 and GEM fluxes were evaluated utilizing Monin-Obukhov similarity theory. The GEM fluxes ranged from -50.30 to 109.69 ng m-2 h-1 with a mean value equal to 10.50 ± 19.14 ng m-2 h-1. Concerning the peak events, with high positive and low negative GEM fluxes, those were recorded from the morning until the evening. Rain events were a strong contributing factor for enhanced GEM fluxes. The enhanced turbulent mixing under daytime unstable conditions led to greater evasion and positive GEM fluxes, while, during nighttime periods, the GEM evasion is lower, indicating the effect of atmospheric stability on GEM fluxes. The coastal grassland with its specific characteristics influences the GEM fluxes and this area could be characterized as a source of elemental mercury. This study is one of the rare efforts in the research community to estimate GEM fluxes in a coastal natural site based on aerodynamic gradient method.
KW - Aegean Sea
KW - Aerodynamic gradient method
KW - Coastal area
KW - Gaseous elemental mercury
KW - GEM fluxes
KW - Mediterranean Basin
KW - Monin-Obukhov similarity theory
U2 - 10.3390/atmos10090485
DO - 10.3390/atmos10090485
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85072252318
SN - 2073-4433
VL - 10
JO - ATMOSPHERE
JF - ATMOSPHERE
IS - 9
M1 - 485
ER -