1. Gaseous Elemental Mercury:
How do Anthropogenic and Meteorological conditions impact
mercury concentrations in an urban environment?
Wilfredo ‘Alex’ Sanchez 1,2, Charles T. Driscoll Jr 2, Mario Montesdeoca 2, Myron J. Mitchell 3
1 Onondaga Community College, Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program,
2 Syracuse University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
3 SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Introduction
Annual amounts of mercury released into the air by human activities are between 50 to 75 percent of the total yearly input to
the atmosphere from all sources. Mercury (Hg) is emitted from incinerators and fossil fueled electric utilities predominantly
as Gaseous Elemental Mercury (GEM) vapor (Hg0), reactive gaseous mercury (Hg2+), and particulate bound mercury (Hg(p)).
Gaseous Elemental Mercury Vapor (Hg0) has an estimated residence time in the atmosphere of greater than a year.
Objective
Method & Site Location
Results
Conclusion
Future Work
References
Tekran, Mercury in the Atmosphere, Standard Operating Procedure:
Atmospheric Mercury Measurements, 6 January 2000.
Holsen, Thomas M., (2011, June 21), Variation in Concentrations of
Three Mercury (Hg) Species at a Rural and Suburban Site in New
York State, Table 2.
Ground-level GEM in urbanized environments is more
impacted by local Meteorological & Anthropogenic events.
(Chart # 1 - 4)
Tower GEM corresponds with the Hg concentrations of
other Hg studies conducted within the greater region.
(Table # 1)
Table 1 - Average Concentrations with
respect to region
Hg Concentration
Rochester 1.6 ± 0.4 ng/m ³
Syracuse (Tower) 1.5 ± 0.3 ng/m ³
Syracuse (Ground) 2.4 ± 0.5 ng/m ³
Huntington Forest 1.4 ± 0.3 ng/m ³
Rochester
Syracuse
Tower
Ground
Measurements taken at the Syracuse
Center of Excellence (CoE) Tower.
The Syracuse CoE Tower is located within
240 meters (790 ft) of the position at which
two major interstates (I-81 & I-690) intersect.
Tekran 1135 – Particulate Bound
Mercury (Hg(p))
Tekran 1130 - Reactive Gaseous
Mercury (Hg2+)
Collect data at this site location for the other two
species of Atmospheric Mercury, CO2 and Ozone.
Acknowledgements
A special thanks to Syracuse University, Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Syracuse
Center of Excellence, Louis Stokes Alliance for
Minority Participation, Shannon Buckley, Aimee
Clinkhammer, Geoffrey Millard, and Patrick McHale.
To observe the patterns in GEM
Concentration with respect to
weather conditions and local
area events.
Chart # 3 Comparison - Humidity vs. Mercury
Concentration (Ground)
Chart #4 – Anthropogenic Event
A spike was noted,
with a recorded value
4 times greater than
average concentrations.
Local security footage
found that an 18-Wheel
Tractor Trailer was parked
(idling) across the street
from the Site Location.
Average Mercury concentration
measurements taken at 6 feet and
150 feet.
Use of the Tekran 2537A, provides
continuous automated monitoring
samples every 10 minutes.
Tower
Ground
Graph 1 – Fall 2010 Mercury Concentration (ng/m^3) vs. Time (days) Graph 2 – Summer 2011 Mercury Concentration (ng/m^3) vs. Time (days)
Chart # 3 – Mostly Sunny DaysChart # 2 – ThunderstormsChart # 1 – Cloudy Days
08:56
AM
09:17
AM
09:18
AM
09:18
AM
Huntington
Forest