Atmospheric transport of heavy metals to regions of the North of the European territory of Russia

Abstract

We examine the decadal (2001–2010) regularities in the processes of distant transport of air masses and heavy metals (HM) to five locations in the North of the European territory of Russia. The spatial and seasonal differences in these processes are considered. We use the back trajectories statistical method for the transport of air masses, and a model description of the distant transport of HM on submicron aerosol particles. The study revealed the most significant sources of HM metals in different seasons for different regions, namely the industrial centers of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk oblasts, as well as the more distant Sverdlovsk, Leningrad and Vologda oblasts, and the cities of Kirov, Perm and Norilsk. The mean indicators of anthropogenic environmental pollution in the background areas of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk oblasts at a large distance from the emission sources. The estimates obtained for lead and cadmium are in a reasonable agreement with available measurements. It is shown that it is only with high winter-summer ratios of anthropogenic HM concentration (higher than 170, which corresponds to about 50% of cases) that anthropogenic impacts on the environment in a warm season can be neglected in the areas under consideration. Otherwise 14 to 45% of the anthropogenic annual flow of HM from the atmosphere can be deposited on the snow-free surface of soils and water bodies. It is found that a combination of the effectivenesses of sources and sinks during the distant transport of HM leads to uneven pollution of the territory under consideration, and this must be taken into account when selecting so-called background (low-pollution) areas separately for each pollutant involved.