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- Title
Atmospheric mercury in the Latrobe Valley, Australia: Case study June 2013.
- Authors
Schofield, Robyn; Utembe, Steven; Gionfriddo, Caitlin; Tate, Michael; Krabbenhoft, David; Adeloju, Samuel; Keywood, Melita; Dargaville, Roger; Sandiford, Mike
- Abstract
Gaseous elemental mercury observations were conducted at Churchill, Victoria, in Australia from April to July, 2013, using a Tekran 2537 analyzer. A strong diurnal variation with daytime average values of 1.2-1.3 ng m-3 and nighttime average values of 1.6-1.8 ng m-3 was observed. These values are significantly higher than the Southern Hemisphere average of 0.85-1.05 ng m-3. Churchill is in the Latrobe Valley, approximately 150 km East of Melbourne, where approximately 80% of Victoria's electricity is generated from low-rank brown coal from four major power stations: Loy Yang A, Loy Yang B, Hazelwood, and Yallourn. These aging generators do not have any sulfur, nitrogen oxide, or mercury air pollution controls. Mercury emitted in the 2015-2016 year in the Latrobe Valley is estimated to have had an externalized health cost of $AUD88 million. Air pollution mercury simulations were conducted using theWeather Research and Forecast model with Chemistry at 3 x 3 km resolution. Electrical power generation emissions were added using mercury emissions created from the National Energy Market's 5-min energy distribution data. The strong diurnal cycle in the observed mercury was well simulated (R² = .49 and P value = 0.00) when soil mercury emissions arising from several years of wet and dry deposition in a radius around the power generators was included in the model, as has been observed around aging lignite coal power generators elsewhere. These results indicate that long-term air and soil sampling in power generation regions, even after the closure of coal fired power stations, will have important implications to understanding the airborne mercury emissions sources.
- Subjects
LATROBE Valley (Vic.); ATMOSPHERIC mercury; DIURNAL variations in meteorology; ELECTRIC power production; EMISSIONS (Air pollution); SOIL sampling
- Publication
Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 2021, Vol 9, p1
- ISSN
2325-1026
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1525/elementa.2021.00072