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

汞作为一种污染物在全球范围内分布于大气中，对那些大量摄入鱼类和海鲜的人来说是一个健康问题。最近签署的《水俣公约》旨在减少全球汞排放。我们建议进一步开发和应用一种新的活性炭空气采样方法，用于测量空气中的汞，这种方法简单、廉价，而且不需要电力。该采样器的一个新颖之处在于，它可以用来获得从几天到几个月甚至一年的时间段内的时间平均浓度。具体而言，我们建议进行一些实验室实验和实地测试，旨在确定采样器可以吸收多少汞以及吸收的速度，我们认为浓度、温度、风速和相对湿度可能会有所不同。我们还计划通过将其产生的结果与在加拿大和世界其他地区的一些地点使用更成熟的技术获得的结果进行比较，来测试这种新采样器的性能。通过与加拿大环境部合作，我们将测试采样器，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来映射长期的平均汞空气浓度的变化，在两个领域的持续汞排放，即东部多伦多的城市地区和前汞矿在意大利。这将有助于确定这些地区汞排放量高的热点，并量化排放率。新的方法将特别有助于：（1）在没有电力或难以进入的地方监测大气汞;（2）通过高强度的汞排放来识别和表征汞排放。 空间分辨浓度图。

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 spatially resolved concentration mapping.