Comparison of PM10 concentrations and metal content in three different sites of the Venice Lagoon: An analysis of possible aerosol sources

Abstract

The Venice Lagoon is exposed to atmospheric pollutants from industrial activities, thermoelectric power plants, petrochemical plants, incinerator, domestic heating, ship traffic, glass factories and vehicular emissions on the mainland. In 2005, construction began on the mobile dams (MOSE), one dam for each channel connecting the lagoon to the Adriatic Sea as a barrier against high tide. These construction works could represent an additional source of pollutants. PM 10 samples were taken on random days between 2007 and 2010 at three different sites: Punta Sabbioni, Chioggia and Malamocco, located near the respective dam construction worksites. Chemical analyses of V, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Mo, Cd, Sb, Tl and Pb in PM 10 samples were performed by Inductively coupled plasmaquadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-QMS) and results were used to identify the main aerosol sources. The correlation of measured data with meteorology, and source apportionment, failed to highlight a contribution specifically associated to the emissions of the MOSE construction works. The comparison of the measurements at the three sites showed a substantial homogeneity of metal concentrations in the area. Source apportionment with principal component analysis (PCA) and positive matrix factorization (PMF) showed that a four principal factors model could describe the sources of metals in PM 10 . Three of them were assigned to specific sources in the area and one was characterised as a source of mixed origin (anthropogenic and crustal). A specific anthropogenic source of PM 10 rich in Ni and Cr, active at the Chioggia site, was also identified.

Impact of maritime traffic on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, metals and particulate matter in Venice air

“…3). In MAL and PS the reconstruction of the model was good (R 2 was 0.76 for MAL and 0.89 for PS); the identified factors were very similar in the two sites and were coherent with a previous study in the same study area (Contini et al 2012).…”

“…One or two blank samples containing the same amount of individual acids were routinely prepared for simultaneous digestion. The cleaning procedure was reported in Contini et al (2012). Metals (V, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Mo, Cd, Sb, Tl, Pb) in PM 10 samples were measured by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry (ICP-QMS 7500I, Agilent Technologies).…”

“…The uncertainty of missing values was four times the median value; the uncertainty of values under the LOD was 5/6 LOD. In order to individuate the right number of factors different solutions were explored; the parameters IM (maximum of the average of the scaled residual) and IS (maximum of the standard deviation of the scaled residuals), together with the Q value were examined, following the approach reported in Contini et al (2012). Different running were also performed for multiple values of the peak coefficient (F peak between -1.0 to 1.0, with steps of 0.2).…”

Characterization of PM10 and PM2.5 and Their Metals Content in Different Typologies of Sites in South-Eastern Italy

“…Calculations were not performed for cases in which only a threshold value is given in Tables 6 and 7 (i.e., when more than 50% of the samples were not quantified). Fe is not the only possible choice for crustal reference, but it is one commonly used in calculation of EFs [35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. The analysis of EFs furnishes only qualitative information, because the wide variation of the elemental concentration must also be considered.…”

Trace elements in size-segregated urban aerosol in relation to the anthropogenic emission sources and the resuspension

“…A cluster analysis (CA) was performed, separately for each Dp interval including nuclei mode (PM < 0.49 ), accumulation mode and PM 0.95-1.5 ), and mode of coarse particles (PM 1.5-3.0 , PM 3.0-7.2 , and PM >7.2 ), which points the valuable information of source identification (Đorđević et al 2004a, b;Contini et al 2012).…”