Black Sea Aerosol A Long Range Atmospheric Transport

Authors: Gülen GÜLLÜ, Ferda ULUTAŞ, Deniz BELLİ, Soner ERDURAN, Sinan KESKİN, Gürdal TUNCEL

Abstract: The chemical composition of atmospheric particulate samples collected over the atmosphere near sea level of Black sea were analyzed for 40 elements by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) and for major ions by Ion Chromatograhy (IC). As the result of the analysis, it was revealed that most of the particulate mass was associated with crustal elements, such as Al, Ca, Fe and Sc and only a small fraction of mass was comprised of elements emitted from antropogenic sources like Cd, Br, Zn ve As. Besides, the marine enrichment factors show that, Cl and Mg elements found in the Black sea atmosphere were all derived from sea salt. "BAT Backward Trajectory" model was used in order to be able to determine the source regions of the pollutants in the Black sea atmosphere. Both the trajectories and the general meteorological conditions showed that West Europe was a significant source for the trace elements found in the Black sea atmosphere. Same result was obtained when the sectoral distribution of the trajectories were examined. Fluxes of elements from atmosphere to the Black sea were estimated and for elements, Cl, Cr, Zn, As, Se, Br, Mo, Sb, Cd, Cs and Au, they were found to be higher than riverain input fluxes, in most cases. This implies that atmospheric fluxes of these elements plays an important role in the pollution of the Black sea.

Keywords: Black Sea, Trace Elements, Trajectories, Enrichment Factors, Long Range Transport

Full Text: PDF