A passive air sampler for precise, spatially distributed atmospheric mercury monitoring and source characterization

汞作为一种污染物分布在全球大气中，对于鱼类和海鲜摄入量较高的人来说，汞是一个健康问题。最近签署的水稻田公约寻求减少全球汞排放。我们建议进一步开发和应用一种新的基于活性碳的空气采样方法来测量空气中的汞，该方法简单、廉价，不需要电力。这种采样器的一个新方面是，它可以用来计算从几天到几个月，甚至不是一年的时间段的时间平均浓度。具体地说，我们建议进行多项实验室实验和现场测试，以确定采样器可以吸收多少汞以及发生这种情况的速度有多快，因此我们认为浓度、温度、风速和相对湿度可能会有所不同。我们还计划测试这种新采样器的性能，将其结果与加拿大和世界其他地区许多地点更成熟的技术所获得的结果进行比较。通过与加拿大环境部的合作，我们将测试该采样器，用于监测加拿大北部的汞空气浓度。此外，我们建议使用采样器绘制两个持续汞排放地区的长期平均汞空气浓度变异性图，即多伦多东部市区和意大利的一个前汞矿。这将有助于确定这些地区汞排放高的热点地区，并量化排放速度。新的方法将在以下方面特别有用：(1)在无法获得电力或难以获得电力的地方监测大气汞；(2)通过高度集中的方法识别和表征汞排放。

Mercury as a pollutant is globally distributed in the atmosphere and a health concern for those with a high intake of fish and seafood. The recently signed Minamata Convention seeks to reduce mercury emissions globally. We are proposing the further development and application of a novel activated carbon-based air sampling methodology for measuring mercury in air, that is simple, inexpensive and operates without the need for electrical power. A novel aspect of this sampler is that it can be used to derive time-averaged concentrations over time periods ranging from a few days to several months, if not even a year. Specifically, we propose to conduct a number of laboratory experiments and field tests aimed at determining exactly how much mercury the sampler can take up and how fast this occurs, whereby we consider that concentrations, temperature, wind speed and relative humidity can vary. We also plan to test the performance of this new sampler by comparing the results it yields with those obtained with more established techniques at a number of sites across Canada and the rest of the world. By collaborating with Environment Canada, we will test the sampler for use in monitoring mercury air concentrations in Canada's North. Furthermore, we propose to use the sampler to map the long term average mercury air concentration variability in two areas of ongoing mercury emissions, namely the urban area of eastern Toronto and a former mercury mine in Italy. This should allow for identification of hotspots with high mercury emissions in these areas and the quantification of emission rates. The new methodology will be particularly useful for (1) monitoring atmospheric mercury in places that have no access to power or are difficult to access and (2) for identifying and characterizing mercury emissions through highly