RESUMEN
Airborne particulate matter (PM) was collected in Beijing between 24 February and 12 March 2014 to investigate chemical characteristics and potential industrial sources of aerosols along with health risk of haze events. Results showed secondary inorganic aerosol was the major contributor to PM2.5 during haze days. Utilizing specific elements, including Fe, La, Tl and As, as fingerprinting tracers, four emission sources, namely iron and steel manufacturing, petroleum refining, cement plant, and coal combustion were explicitly identified; their elevated contributions to PM during haze days were also estimated. The average cancer risk from exposure to inhalable PM toxic metals was 1.53 × 10(-4) on haze days, which is one order of magnitude higher than in other developed cities. These findings suggested heavy industries emit large amounts of not only primary PM but also precursor gas pollutants, leading to secondary aerosol formation and harm to human health during haze days.
Asunto(s)
Contaminantes Atmosféricos/análisis , Monitoreo del Ambiente/métodos , Industrias , Metales Pesados/análisis , Material Particulado/análisis , Salud Urbana , Aerosoles , Contaminantes Atmosféricos/toxicidad , Beijing , Carbón Mineral , Humanos , Metalurgia , Metales Pesados/toxicidad , Neoplasias/inducido químicamente , Industria del Petróleo y Gas , Tamaño de la Partícula , Material Particulado/toxicidad , Medición de Riesgo , Estaciones del AñoRESUMEN
A catastrophic earthquake, namely the 921-earthquake, occurred with a magnitude of M(L)=7.3 in Taiwan on September 21, 1999, causing severe disaster. The evaluation of real-time air-quality data, obtained by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), revealed a staggering increase in ambient SO(2) concentrations by more than one order of magnitude across the island several hours prior to the earthquake, particularly at background stations. The abrupt increase in SO(2) concentrations likely resulted from seismic-triggered degassing instead of air pollution. An additional case of a large earthquake (M(L)=6.8), occurring on March 31, 2002, was examined to confirm our observations of significantly enhanced SO(2) concentrations in ambient air prior to large earthquakes. The coincidence between large earthquakes and increases in trace gases during the pre-quake period (several hours) indicates the potential of employing air-quality monitoring data to forecast catastrophic earthquakes.