Magnetic particles in indoor dust as marker of pollution emitted by different outside sources

The potential relation between outdoor pollutants and the quality of indoor air was evaluated. A case study was carried out in the small town of Zyrardow situated south-west of Warsaw, Poland. The indoor dust from 20 apartments from several parts of the town that are anticipated to be exposed to various levels of pollution was investigated: a mildly polluted area (suburban), a heating plant area, a post-industrial area and the city center. For evaluation of indoor dust several magnetic parameters (mass-specific magnetic susceptibility χ, its temperature dependence, anhysteretic remanent magnetization, hysteresis loop parameters) were applied. Analysis of magnetic properties was supplemented by analysis of chemical elements: Cd, Cu, Co, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn. Depending on the location of apartments, large variations in concentration, mineralogy and grain-size of magnetic particles were detected. The thermomagnetic analysis revealed magnetite as a primary magnetic phase. In indoor dust, the Curie temperature of ~760°C and soft hysteresis loops with relatively low coercivity values of ~1.5-5 mT are an attribute of metallic iron. The dust collected from apartments located near the local heating plant area, in contaminated post-industrial and suburban areas contains mainly magnetite and only a small amount of metallic iron. Mass-specific magnetic susceptibility is in the range from 40 to 200 × 10^-8 m³kg^-1 and linearly correlates with concentration of individual heavy metals: Ni, Cr, Co and Zn. Magnetic fraction of dust from the city center mainly consists of magnetite and variable amounts of metallic iron. Magnetic susceptibility shows linear correlations with concentration of Fe and concentration of individual heavy metals (Zn, Ni and Co) considered as traffic-related. The study demonstrates that metallic iron present in indoor dust is a potential marker of trafficrelated sources and it makes it possible to use magnetic methods as a tool for evaluation of traffic-related impact on indoor air levels.     

Magnetic monitoring of marine particulate pollution in the Elefsis Gulf,Greece

Measurements of magnetic susceptibility (χ) and saturation isothermal remanent magnetization (SIRM) on both filtered particulates and sediment samples provide a cheap, rapid and non-destructive method of particulate pollution monitoring in marine environments where ferrimagnetic iron oxides are important components of the discharge from industrial or urban complexes. The value of this approach is illustrated by reference to results obtained from the Elefsis Gulf, Greece, where the major source of particulate metal pollution is an iron and steel works discharging waste into a settling lagoon connected to the waters of the Gulf.     

Magnetic signature of indoor air pollution: Household dust study

The combination of magnetic and geochemical methods was used to determine the mineralogy, grain size and domain structure of magnetic particles in indoor dust collected in 195 sites in Warsaw, Poland. Data show an asymmetric distribution of magnetic susceptibility (χ) in the wide range of 20–1514 × 10^?8 m³ kg^?1. Comparison of magnetic parameters shows that the internal dust contains outside pollution characteristic for air and soil. More than 90% of indoor dust samples were characterized by roughly uniform magnetic mineralogy, typical for fine grained magnetite (diameter of 0.2–5 μm), and grain size between pseudo-single-domain and small multi-domain with small contribution of superpara-magnetic particles (～10%). Samples with χ larger than 220 × 10^?8 m³ kg^?1 contain mainly magnetite and an anthropogenic metallic Fe with T _C > 700°C. The indoor dust contains, characteristic for the urban areas, spherical magnetic particles originated from fossil fuel combustion processes and mixture of irregular angular iron-oxides grains containing other elements, including Na, Ca, Al, Si, K, S, Mn, Cl, and Mg.     

Heavy metals in particulate and colloidal matter from atmospheric deposition of urban Guangzhou,South China

Suspended particulate matter (SPM) and colloidal matter (COM) in annual dry and wet deposition samples in urban Guangzhou were for the first time collected, and their trace metals were investigated by using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The deposition flux of SPM and of metal elements varied largely among the investigated seasons, and reached the maximum in spring. The correlation analysis indicated that significant correlations existed among some of the metal elements in the deposition samples. The enrichment factors (EF) of metals in COM in the deposition ranging from 79.66 to 130,000 were much higher than those of SPM ranging from 1.65 to 286.48, indicating the important role of COM. The factor analysis showed that emissions from street dust, non-ferrous metal production, and heavy fuel oil were major sources of the trace metals. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) model was used to quantitatively estimate anthropogenic source.     

Magnetic properties of soils from sites with different geological and environmental settings

Measurements of magnetic susceptibility of soils, reflecting magnetic enhancement of topsoils due to atmospherically deposited magnetic particles of industrial origin, are used recently in studies dealing with outlining polluted areas, as well as with approximate determination of soil contamination with heavy metals. One of the natural limitations of this method is magnetic enhancement of soils caused by weathering magnetically rich parent rock material. In this study we compare magnetic properties of soils from regions with different geological and environmental settings. Four areas in the Czech Republic and Austria were investigated, representing both magnetically rich and poor geology, as well as point-like and diffuse pollution sources. Topsoil and subsoil samples were investigated and the effect of geology and pollution was examined. Magnetic data including mass and volume magnetic susceptibility, frequency-dependent susceptibility, and main magnetic characteristics such as coercivity (Hc and Hcr) and magnetization (Ms and Mrs) parameters are compared with heavy metal contents. The aim of the paper is to assess the applicability of soil magnetometry under different geological-environmental conditions in terms of magnetic discrimination of dominant lithogenic/anthropogenic contributions to soil magnetic signature. Our results suggest that lithology represents the primary effect on soil magnetic properties. However, in case of significant atmospheric deposition of anthropogenic particles, this contribution can be clearly recognized, independent of the type of pollution source (point-like or diffuse), and discriminated from the lithogenic one. Different soil types apparently play no role. Possible effects of climate were not investigated in this study.     

北京市朝阳区大气降尘磁学特征及对空气污染物浓度的指示

应用环境磁学方法研究了2008年奥运会前后北京市朝阳区大气降尘及对照点表土样品的磁学特征.结果表明,所有样品中载磁矿物主要为低矫顽力的亚铁磁性矿物(主要为磁铁矿).但大气降尘样品的磁性颗粒粒度较表土偏粗;磁性矿物含量高于表土样品,大气降尘除来自于自然源外,更多为来自于人为因素的结果.大气降尘磁化率与空气污染物浓度随时间的变化曲线特征一致,说明大气降尘样品的磁学监测可以快速、准确地反映城市空气污染程度及其变化,同时揭示出北京市朝阳区大气降尘样品夏季主要来源于工业和交通,冬季主要受控于集中供暖期间煤燃烧排放的废气.快速的磁化率测量可以对空气污染指数有良好的指示作用.环境磁学参数随时间的变化特征显示,奥运期间各项污染物临时减排措施落实到位,对空气质量明显改善发挥了根本性作用.     

Spatial character of the gaseous and particulate state compound correlation of urban atmospheric pollution in winter and summer

The spatial/temporal variation information of atmospheric dynamic-chemical processes at observation site points of the "canopy" boundary of Beijing urban building ensemble and over urban area "surface", as well as the seasonal correlation structure of the gaseous and particulate states of urban atmospheric pollution (UAP) and its seasonal conversion feature at observation points are investigated, using the comprehensive observation data of the Beijing City Air Pollution Observation Experiment (BECAPEX) in winter and summer 2003 with a "point-surface" combined research approach. By using "one dimension spatial empirical orthogonal function (EOF)" principal component analysis (PCA) mode, the seasonal change of gaseous and particulate states of atmospheric aerosols and the association feature of pollutant species under the background of the complicated structure of urban boundary layer (UBL) are analyzed. The comprehensive analyses of the principal components of particle concentrations,gaseous pollutant species, and meteorological conditions reveal the seasonal changes of the complex constituent and structure features of the gaseous and particulate states of UAP to further trace the impact feature of urban aerosol pollution surface sources and the seasonal difference of the component structure of UAP. Research results suggest that in the temporal evolution of the gaseous and particulate states of winter/summer UAP, NOx, CO, and SO2 showed an "in-phase" evolution feature, however, O3 showed an "inverse-phase" relation with other species,all possessing distinctive dependent feature. On the whole, summer concentrations of gaseous pollutants CO, SO2, and NOx were obviously lower than winter ones, especially, the reduction in CO concentration was most distinctive, and ones in SO2 and NOx were next. However, the summer O3 concentration was more than twice winter one. Winter/summer differences in PM10and PM2.5 particle concentrations were relatively not obvious, which indicates that responses of PM10 and PM2.5 particle concentrations to the difference of winter/summer heating period emission sources are far less distinctive than those of NOx, SO2, and CO. The correlation feature of winter/summer gaseous and particulate states depicts that both PM10 and PM2.5 particles were significantly correlated with NOx, and their correlations with NOx are more significant than those with other pollutants. Through PCA, it is found that there was a distinctive difference in the principal component combination structure of winter/summer PM10 and PM2.5 particles: SO2 and NOx dominated in the principal component of winter PM10 and PM2.5 particles; while CO and NOx played the major role in the principal component of summer PM10 and PM2.5 particles. For winter/summer PM10 and PM2.5 particles, there might exist the gaseous and particulate states correlation structures of different "combinations" of such dependent pollutant species. Research results also uncover that the interaction processes of gaseous and particulate states were also related with the vertical structure of UBL, that is to say, the low value layer of UBL O3 concentration was associated with the collocation of atmospheric vertical structures of the low level inversion,inverse humidity, and small wind, which depicts summer boundary layer atmospheric character, i.e.the compound impact of the dependent factor "combination" of wind, temperature, and humidity elements and their collocation structure on the variations of different gaseous pollutant concentrations. Such a depth structure of the extremely low value of O3 concentration in the UBL accords with its "inverse-phase" relation with other gaseous pollutant species. The PCA of meteorological factors associated with PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations also reveals the sensitivity of PM10 and PM2.5 concentration to the combinatory feature of local meteorological conditions.     

Radon and thoron content in atmospheric air at Giza,Egypt

Summary The radon and thoron content in atmospheric air at Giza was determined through the period from January (1958 to July 1959) by using the emanometrical technique. The concentration of radon and its decay products was equal to (88±4) 10^–18 Curie/c.c. and that of thoron and its decay products was equal to (51±11) 10^–18 Curie/c.c.     

Mobility spectrometry of the atmospheric ions in relation to atmospheric pollution

Summary The dynamic spectra of the atmospheric ions with mobilities between 3.2×10^–4 m²/V sec and 1.3×10^–8 m²/V sec were obtained in the clean and the polluted atmosphere. Based on the results, the size spectra of the submicron aerosols were deduced which show that the distribution function in Junge's expression increases in proportion to the radius of particle. Very rapid progress of the atmospheric pollution by the submicron aerosols was inferred at a rural country. The concentration of submicron aerosol particles at the site was found to have been increasing at the rate of being doubled every three years since 1964.

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Zusammenfassung Die dynamischen Spektren atmosphärischer Ionen, deren Beweglichkeiten zwischen 3.2·10^–4 m²/(V sec) und 1.3·10^–8 m²/(V sec) lagen, wurden in reiner und verschmutzter Luft gemessen. Auf der Grundlage dieser Messergebnisse wurden die Grössenspektren der Aerosolteilchen mit Radien unterhalb 10^–6 m abgeleitet. Sie zeigen dass die verteilungsfunktion in der Formel von Junge im Verhältnis zum Teilchenradius anwächst. Sehr starkes Anwachsen der Verschmutzung durch so kleine Teilchen wurde in einer ländlichen Umgebung festgestellt. Es wurde gefunden, dass seit 1964 die Zahl der Verschmutzungsteilchen dieser Grösse an der Messtelle alle drei Jahre sich verdoppelt hat.

     

不同环境污染载体的磁学研究及其应用特点

环境磁学因其快速、经济以及对样品破坏性小的优点,逐渐在现代环境污染研究中发挥着重要作用.研究对象也扩展到土壤、降尘、植物和沉积物等污染载体.为了探讨现代污染中环境磁学的应用,回顾了环境磁学应用于环境污染研究的发展情况,总结了国内外基于不同污染载体的环境磁学研究成果,并对土壤、降尘、植物和沉积物在环境磁学研究中的特点及局限进行了初步探讨.除了反映污染分布外,各污染物载体的磁学应用各有侧重:土壤分布广泛,并可以用于反映中长期污染历史;降尘可用于监测短期污染变化;植物的磁学研究提供了高分辨率的污染分布图,且更为经济;沉积物稳定沉积以及受外界干扰较小,有助于污染历史的研究.不过,磁背景值的区分,人类活动对污染载体磁信息干扰等问题也需要得到关注.并认为,在未来的环境磁学发展方向中,应该努力挖掘现有参数的新意义,探索新的环境磁学参数,深入探讨磁性响应机理,同时运用不同污染物载体作为研究对象进行综合分析.     

The distribution of particulate matter in the Atlantic Ocean

We have determined the dry weight of suspended particulate matter in seawater in a section through the western Atlantic Ocean from 75°N to 52°S. The concentrations, operationally defined as that weight retained on 0.6-μm and 0.4-μm pore size Nuclepore filters, contained in 1 kg of seawater, range from 5 to 300 μg/kg and show readily explainable regional features. High concentrations are found in surface waters and in association with radpidly moving bottom waters in the Denmark Straits overflow and in Antarctic bottom waters to 15°S. Low concentrations, <12 μg/kg, characterize the mid-water regions of the sub-tropical gyres. High concentrations are seen in sinking Labrador Sea water and in a plume extending at least a kilometer off the bottom at 35°N–40°N where the cruise track intersects the North Atlantic gyre. It is doubtful whether this important phenomenon could be observed by any means other than through particulate observations, either optical or gravimetric, and this provides a unique insight into the scale of vertical turbulent processes.     

Particulate matter pollution from a small coke-burning factory: soil magnetic screening and its relation with a simple atmospheric dispersion model

Coal combustion processes lead to release of gases and particulate matter (PM) into the atmosphere that are often harmful to human health. These airborne pollutants seem to be dispersed and deposited in soils mainly according to the prevailing atmospheric conditions. Several trace elements can be found attached to PM as well as Fe-rich magnetic particles that can produce magnetic enhancement in the uppermost soil horizons. In the present work, we use a simple Gaussian Dispersion Model (GDM) for modelling the distribution of fine PM emission coming from a small coal (coke) burning factory in order to evaluate the relationship between such modelled data (PM distribution) and measured data (soil magnetic properties and trace metal contents). Our results show a strong spatial variation of concentration-dependent magnetic parameters based on a uniform magnetomineralogy in the overall study area. In addition, these results were analysed using multivariate statistics for 13 magnetic and chemical variables and the GDM results for two different atmospheric stability classes, and hence the in-situ magnetic susceptibility, anhysteretic and saturation remanent magnetization showed positive and statistically significant correlation with the GDM results (R = 0.70). Therefore, these results demonstrate the usefulness of magnetic properties in monitoring the PM distribution in soils or other environmental PM collectors.     

钢铁厂周围不同污染介质的磁学性质及环境意义

为了通过钢铁厂周围不同污染介质的磁学性质研究,实现对环境污染的有效监测,本文系统地采集了河北兴隆和湖南娄底两个钢铁厂周围的树皮和草表面的飞灰、土壤及不同树种的年轮样品.其中前三者用来反映现今污染源,而树木年轮用来追踪长时间尺度的污染历史.通过综合岩石磁学实验分析（包括热磁曲线、磁滞性质和低温实验等）、电子扫描电镜(SEM)和能谱(EDX)以及X射线衍射(XRD)分析,发现钢铁厂周围现今污染源中的主要粗颗粒磁性矿物为磁铁矿、赤铁矿和纯铁.其中8~50 μm的球形磁铁矿颗粒和呈棱角状的铁颗粒是钢铁厂污染物的特征磁性矿物.对不同树种来说,其中香樟树和枫树树木年轮中的磁性矿物以顺磁性物质为主, 不适合用于环境磁学的污染监测.而柳树中的磁性矿物（主要为磁铁矿）与现今污染源的磁性矿物相符.以上研究表明多参数岩石磁学测量并辅以微观分析等手段,可以精确地提取磁性矿物的种类及粒度特征, 判别重工业区污染源,为应用磁学方法来监测环境污染提供依据.     

Sea level time series and ocean tide analysis from multipath signals at five GPS sites in different parts of the world

We present sea level observations derived from the analysis of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) data recorded by five coastal GPS stations. These stations are located in different regions around the world, both in the northern and in the southern hemisphere, in different multipath environments, from rural coastal areas to busy harbors, and experience different tidal ranges.The recorded SNR data show periodic variations that originate from multipath, i.e. the interference of direct and reflected signals. The general assumption is that for satellite arcs facing the open sea, the rapid SNR variations are due to reflections off the sea surface. The SNR data recorded from these azimuth intervals were analyzed by spectral analysis with two methods: a standard analysis method assuming a static sea level during a satellite arc and an extended analysis method assuming a time dependent sea level during a satellite arc.The GPS-derived sea level results are compared to sea level records from co-located traditional tide gauges, both in the time and in the frequency domain. The sea level time series are highly correlated with correlation coefficients to the order of 0.89–0.99. The root-mean-square (RMS) difference is 6.2 cm for the station with the lowest tidal range of 165 cm and 43 cm for the station with the highest tidal range of 772 cm. The relative accuracy, defined as the ratio of RMS and tidal range, is between 2.4% and 10.0% for all stations.Comparing the standard analysis method and the extended analysis method, the results based on the extended analysis method agree better with the independent tide gauge records for the stations with a high tidal range. For the station with the highest tidal range (772 cm), the RMS is reduced by 47% when using the extended analysis method. Furthermore, the results also indicate that the standard analysis method, assuming a static sea level, can be used for stations with a tidal range of up to about 270 cm, without performing significantly worse than the extended analysis method.Tidal amplitudes and phases are derived by harmonic analysis of the sea level records. Again, a high level of agreement is observed between the tide gauge and the GPS-derived results. Comparing the GPS-derived results, the results based on the extended analysis method show a higher degree of agreement with the traditional tide gauge results for stations with larger tidal ranges. Spectral analysis of the residuals after the harmonic analysis reveals remaining signal power at multiples of the draconitic day. This indicates that the observed SNR data are to some level disturbed by additional multipath signals, in particular for GPS stations that are located in harbors.     

Fractionation and concentration of suspended particulate matter in natural waters

A scheme for the fractionation and concentration of suspended particulate matter (SPM) from natural waters has been tested. This scheme involves the sequential use of three fractionation techniques—sieving, continuous flow centrifugation and tangential flow filtration to collect gram amounts of SPM over the entire particulate and colloidal size range. The separation scheme is able to process large samples (ca. 1001), within reasonable times (ca. 1 day) and the apparatus is portable. Reproducibility and potential artifacts introducing during the fractionation and concentration of SPM, particularly when tangential flow filtration is used, are discussed. It has been shown that there is a systematic increase in the content of organic carbon, Mg, Ca, Na, K, Cu and Zn with decreasing particle size, highlighting the importance of the colloidal ( < 1 μm) fraction.     

Surface areas and porosities of particulate matter in turbid estuaries

A vacuum microbalance technique has been used to determine the specific surface areas and porosities of suspended solids and sediments from two turbid estuaries. In the Tamar Estuary, the suspended solids had specific surface areas in the range 8–20 m² g⁻¹ whereas the sediments were in the range 5–15 m² g⁻¹. Sediments from the iron-rich system of Restronguet Creek were in the range 5–26 m² g⁻¹. The specific surface areas and porosities of the particles were influenced by the carbon and non-detrital iron contents. The results are relevant to sorption behaviour of dissolved trace constituents in the presence of natural particles.     

Bacterial growth and the decomposition of particulate organic carbon collected in sediment traps

We have studied bacterial abundance and production in samples from sediment traps deployed for 1 and 100 days in several areas of the shelf and slope regions of the Middle Atlantic Bight, U.S.A. By making a series of assumptions about bacterial growth at the expense of POC in traps, we have estimated that the turnover time of organic particles collected in traps during long deployments is slow (mean 1500 ± 300 days), if only bacterial activity is considered. However the abundance and biomass of bacteria in traps is very high, ranging from 3 to 30 × 10¹¹ cells gC^?1, i.e., 0.3 to 3% of the POC is bacterial carbon. Fifteen to 88% of the particles in traps were colonized by bacteria, but usually about half the particles had only 0 to 1 cell attached. Growth of bacteria was observed at all scales relevant to these trap deployments; over periods ranging from hours to weeks, at rates of 0.01 to 0.3 d^?1. In spite of slow growth, bacteria appeared to be physiologically active in that [³H]adenine and [³H]thymidine were incorporated more rapidly into RNA and protein than into DNA. Total incorporation rates were high. We conclude that even relatively old (ca. 1 y) POC in sediment traps supports high levels of active bacterial biomass, but that POC decomposition is slow, so that bacteria may not be the principal agents of POC turnover following collection.     

云南高原湖泊有色可溶性有机物和颗粒物光谱吸收特性

云南高原湖泊是我国湖泊分布最密集的五大湖群之一,不但湖泊数量众多而且类型多样.由于湖泊所处位置海拔较高,容易受只益增强UV-B辐射影响.通过对云南高原34个湖泊有色可溶性有机物和颗粒物吸收测定,分析其光谱吸收特性及对总吸收的贡献,有利于深刻理解紫外辐射在高原湖泊内衰减.不同湖泊间CDOM吸收差异明显,其大小与水体营养盐状况相关,CDOM吸收系数与水体总氮存在显著正相关.增加背景项的指数函数模型能最好模拟CDOM光谱吸收.除在浮游植物浓度非常高的杞麓湖、听湖、星云湖,颗粒物吸收系数在675nm附近存在一个吸收蜂外,其它湖泊总颗粒物光谱吸收大致随波长的增加吸收系数逐渐降低,呈现非色素颗粒物光谱吸收特征,整体上颗粒物吸收以非色素颗粒物为主.CDOM对总吸收的贡献主要集中在600nm以下波长,尤其是400nm以下的紫外波段,其在紫外波段(350-400nm)的贡献明显要大于光合有效辐射波段(400-700nm)(ANOVA,P<0.001).特别对于透明度SD≥1.0的清澈型湖泊,CDOM吸收对紫外辐射衰减的贡献更大,其吸收很大程度上决定了紫外辐射的影响深度.     

Plastic particles found in tern pellets,on coastal beaches and at factory sites

Small polystyrene particles, evidently of industrial origin, now appear as a contaminant of the sea in several parts of the world. They have been discovered in pellets of indigestible food regurgitated by gulls and terns, so are clearly entering the food chain at some point. So far as is known at present, they are harmless but it would be as well to exercise caution in releasing plastic to the environment.