Features of Mercury Input with Wet Atmospheric Precipitation into the Territory of Barnaul (Altai Region)

Abstract

The problem of anthropogenic mercury pollution of the atmosphere of the Barnaul urbanized territory in the period 2016–2023 is considered. It is revealed that Hg concentration in atmospheric precipitation varied in a wide range of values: from <1 to 130 ng/l (volume-weighted concentration – 13.0 ng/l). HYSPLIT models backward trajectories of air masses movement in different seasons of the year were built, which showed the presence of both regional sources of Hg input (coal combustion at TPPs during the heating period) and transboundary Hg transfers from the territories of Central Asia, Europe and the Arctic. It was found that Hg concentrations in the snow cover of urban and background areas differ more than 3 times: 11.5 and 3.7 ng/l, respectively. It is noted that Hg concentrations in urban snow cover are 10.9–41.9 % lower than its values in precipitation sampled taken at the experimental site of IWEP SB RAS.