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Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering

ISSN 2095-2201

ISSN 2095-221X(Online)

CN 10-1013/X

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2018 Impact Factor: 3.883

Front.Environ.Sci.Eng.    0, Vol. Issue () : 553-560    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-013-0523-2
RESEARCH ARTICLE
A 14-year measurement of toxic elements in atmospheric particulates in Hong Kong from 1995 to 2008
Wei NIE1,2,3,Tao WANG1,2,Aijun DING3,Xuehua ZHOU1,Wenxing WANG1,*()
1. Environment Research Institute, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
3. Institute for Climate and Global Change Research, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210009, China
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Abstract

Toxic elements in the atmosphere can enter and accumulate in the human body, seriously impacting human health. In this study, we analyzed a 14-year (1995–2008) measurement of three toxic elements (As, Cd and Cr) in PM10 in Hong Kong, China. The pollution of these toxic elements in Hong Kong was not serious. The trend analysis showed that As and Cr in PM10 increased at a statistically significant level (p<0.05) during the 14-year period, while the Cd in PM10 did not change significantly. Typical seasonal variations were observed for all three toxic elements, largely in relation to the Asian monsoon. Hourly 10-day backward trajectories were computed and categorised into four groups. The continental air masses showed much higher concentrations of the three toxic elements than the marine air masses. The abundances of As and Cd in the PM10 were much higher in the continental air masses than those in the marine air masses, while the abundances of Cr showed an opposite pattern. The trends of the three toxic elements in East China’s air mass were consistent with those in the overall data set of Hong Kong. Examination of the toxic element data recorded at urban sites and a roadside site also indicated a large contribution of external air masses to particulate As and Cd in Hong Kong. These results suggest that the long-range transport from the mainland of China is the dominant contributor to particulate As and Cd, while both local and long-distance sources determine the particulate Cr in Hong Kong.

Keywords toxic elements      increasing trends      seasonal variations      air masses      long-distance sources     
Corresponding Author(s): Wenxing WANG   
Issue Date: 11 June 2014
 Cite this article:   
Wei NIE,Tao WANG,Aijun DING, et al. A 14-year measurement of toxic elements in atmospheric particulates in Hong Kong from 1995 to 2008[J]. Front.Environ.Sci.Eng., 0, (): 553-560.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-013-0523-2
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y0/V/I/553
Fig.1  (a) The four major groups of back trajectories and the percentages they represent of total trajectories during the 1995–2008 period (Asian emission inventory of the PM2.5 in 2006 are from Ref. [9]), (b) Air monitoring stations in Hong Kong from which the data used in this study were sourced. The red circles, blue boxes, and purple triangle represent urban, roadside and background sites, respectively
toxic elementsPM10/ (ng·m-3)
Hong Konga)Guangzhoub)Beijingc)Shanghaid)
As5.0 (145)70.4842.1
Cd1.7 (7853)15.36.810.9
Cr2.2 (11)701932.3
Tab.1  Concentrations of toxic elements in Hong Kong and other major cities of China
Fig.2  Monthly means of (a) As, (b) Cd, and (c) Cr in PM10 and the linear fit of the average data from 5 urban sites in Hong Kong during 1995–2008
Fig.3  Whisker plot of the seasonal variations of (a) As, (b) Cd, and (c) Cr in PM10 from five urban sites in Hong Kong during 1995–2008
Air massPM10/(µg·m-3)As/(ng·m-3)Cd/(ng·m-3)Cr/(ng·m-3)Sample /d
EC71.67.2 (0.10)2.6 (0.04)2.7 (0.04)894
CC+ PRD86.211.7 (0.14)3.7 (0.04)3.2 (0.04)65
Marine28.10.53 (0.02)0.24 (0.01)1.2 (0.04)439
AC36.31.1 (0.03)0.43 (0.01)1.4 (0.04)31
Tab.2  Concentrations of PM10 mass and three toxic elements in the PM10 in different air-mass groups during the period of 1995–2008
Fig.4  Whisker plot of concentrations of As (left panel), Cd (middle panel), and Cr (right panel) measured in a roadside site (Mong Kok) and urban sites (averaged values of the selected five urban sites) from 1995 to 2008
Fig.5  Annual mean concentrations of (a) As, (b) Cd and (c) Cr in PM10 at five urban sites in the East China air mass and that in the Marine air mass in Hong Kong during the 1995–2008 period
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