Iodine Isotopes (I-127 and I-129) in Aerosols at High Altitude Alp Stations

Autor(en)

Tania Jabbar, Peter Steier, Gabriele Wallner, Alfred Priller, Norbert Kandler, August Kaiser

Abstrakt

Concentrations of gases and particulate matter have been proven to be affected by meteorological and geographical variables from urban locations to high mountain clean air sites. Following our previous research in Vienna, we summarize here new findings about concentration levels of iodine isotopes in aerosols collected at two Alpine meteorological stations, Sonnblick (Austria) and Zugspitze (Germany) during 2001. The present study mainly focuses on the effect of altitude on the anthropogenic concentration of I-129 and on the isotopic ratio I-129/I-127. Iodine was separated from matrix elements by using either an anion exchange method or solvent extraction, and was analyzed by ICP-MS and AMS. Over the altitude change from Vienna to Zugspitze and Sonnblick (202 m to 2962 m and 3106 m above sea level), stable iodine level decreased from an average of 0.94 ng m(-3) to 0.52 ng m(-3) and 0.62 ng m(-3), respectively. Similarly, I-129 concentrations at both Alpine stations were about 1 order of magnitude lower (10(4) atoms m(-3)) than values obtained for Vienna (10(5) atoms m(-3)) and reveal a strong vertical concentration gradient of I-129. A high degree of variability is observed, which is due to wide variation in the origin of air masses. Furthermore, air trajectory analysis demonstrates the importance of large scale air transport mostly from southeast Europe for influencing Sonnblick whereas influence from northwest Europe is strong at Zugspitze. In contrast to I-129, a higher concentration of Be-7 was found at higher altitude stations compared to Vienna which probably results from its production in the upper atmosphere.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Anorganische Chemie, Isotopenphysik

Externe Organisation(en)

Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG)

Journal

Environmental Science & Technology

Band

46

Seiten

8637-8644

Anzahl der Seiten

8

ISSN

0013-936X

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1021/es300948t

Publikationsdatum

2012

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

104003 Anorganische Chemie, 103014 Kernphysik, 105904 Umweltforschung

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/b7b1bed4-f00d-4311-8667-1bf759f17e4c