Airborne 210Pb, Si, Zn and Pb as tracers for atmospheric pollution in Helsinki metropolitan area

Eleftheria Ioannidou; Stefanos Papagiannis; Manousos Ioannis Manousakas; Mika Vestenius; Konstantinos Eleftheriadis; Jussi Paatero; Lambrini Papadopoulou; Alexandra Ioannidou

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2024.111252

Airborne ²¹⁰Pb, Si, Zn and Pb as tracers for atmospheric pollution in Helsinki metropolitan area

Appl Radiat Isot. 2024 Apr:206:111252. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2024.111252. Epub 2024 Feb 24.

Authors

Eleftheria Ioannidou¹, Stefanos Papagiannis², Manousos Ioannis Manousakas³, Mika Vestenius⁴, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis⁵, Jussi Paatero⁴, Lambrini Papadopoulou⁶, Alexandra Ioannidou⁷

Affiliations

¹ Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Physics, Nuclear Physics & Elementary Particle Physics Division, Thessaloniki, 54 124, Greece. Electronic address: eleioann@physics.auth.gr.
² Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory, INRASTES, NCSR Demokritos, 15310, Agia Paraskevi, Athens, Greece; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, 45110, Ioannina, Greece; Institue of Nuclear and Particle Physics, NCSR Demokritos, 15310, Agia Paraskevi, Athens, Greece.
³ Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory, INRASTES, NCSR Demokritos, 15310, Agia Paraskevi, Athens, Greece; Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232, Villigen, Switzerland.
⁴ Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), Observation Services, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101, Helsinki, Finland.
⁵ Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory, INRASTES, NCSR Demokritos, 15310, Agia Paraskevi, Athens, Greece.
⁶ Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Geology, Thessaloniki, 54 124, Greece.
⁷ Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Physics, Nuclear Physics & Elementary Particle Physics Division, Thessaloniki, 54 124, Greece.

PMID: 38422941
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2024.111252

Abstract

This study analyzed 16070 daily and 608 weekly air filter samples from the Helsinki metropolitan area collected between 1962 and 2005. The aim was to use the Potential Source Contribution Function (PSCF) to determine potential sources of silicon (Si), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), and radioactive isotope ²¹⁰Pb. The main sources for Si and Pb were industrial activities, particularly mining, metal industry, and traffic. Common source areas for Zn and ²¹⁰Pb were identified in the eastern and southeastern parts of the measuring site.

Keywords: Air pollution; Atmospheric tracer; Local pollution; Long-range transport; Radioactive isotope.