An investigation of atmospheric mercury accumulated in the snow cover from the urbanized coastal zone of the Baltic Sea, Poland

The preliminary research on Hg snow chemistry was conducted in the industrially-impacted region of the southern Baltic Sea during winter campaigns in 2008 and 2009. Mercury content in urban snow samples was quantitatively determined through the use of an atomic absorption technique. The average total Hg concentration value in shallow snow cover from the urbanized coastal zone of the Baltic Sea was calculated to be 8.6 ng L−1. A strong relationship between the anthropogenic emission factors (contribution from local and regional coal combustion processes) and low temperature was identified for all the examined snow episodes. The highest Hg concentration in the urban snow samples was observed during the southern advection, which indicated that local/regional anthropogenic emission predominantly affected the Hg deposition. Other environmental variables (meteorological and chemical) were also investigated to establish the most important atmospheric processes and sources of Hg in the urban snow cover and to assess the changes in atmospheric Hg chemistry during the winter season.