Influences on and patterns in total gaseous mercury (TGM) at Harwell, England.

Total gaseous mercury (TGM) was monitored during 2013 at the rural monitoring site, Harwell, England using the Tekran 2537A monitoring system. Average TGM for the year was 1.45 ± 0.24 ng m(-3). This is comparable to other northern hemisphere studies, but on average 0.5 ng m(-3) higher than at its sister monitoring station at Auchencorth Moss, Scotland, but 14% lower than that found in a similar study at the same location of 1.68 ng m(-3) in 1995/6. Using wind sector analysis we show the important influence of local emissions, with our data showing that the largest influence on TGM observed is that of the adjacent Science & Innovation campus, making the site more a 'suburban background'. By using co-located measurements of black carbon and sulphur dioxide as tracers, we present an initial investigation into the impact of the closure of Didcot A coal fired power station, which ceased operating in March 2013. Further analysis using air mass back trajectories shows the long-range contribution to TGM from continental Europe, and that the lowest levels are associated with marine air masses from the west.

Patterns and source analysis for atmospheric mercury at Auchencorth Moss, Scotland.

Gaseous elemental (GEM), particulate bound (PBM) and gaseous oxidised (GOM) mercury species were monitored between 2009 and 2011 at the rural monitoring site, Auchencorth Moss, Scotland using the Tekran speciation monitoring system. GEM average for the three year period was 1.40±0.19 ng m(-3) which is comparable with other northern hemisphere studies. PBM and GOM concentrations are very low in 2009 and 2010 with geometric mean (×/÷standard deviation) PBM values of 2.56 (×/÷3.44) and 0.03 (×/÷17.72) pg m(-3) and geometric mean (×/÷standard deviation) GOM values of 0.11 (×/÷4.94) and 0.09 (×/÷8.88) pg m(-3) respectively. Using wind sector analysis and air mass back trajectories, the importance of local and regional sources on speciated mercury are investigated and we show the long range contribution to GEM from continental Europe, and that the lowest levels are associated with polar and marine air masses from the north west sector.

Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congener concentrations in seabirds found dead in mortality incidents around the British coast.

Livers from 121 birds killed in mortality incidents in U.K. coastal waters between 1991 and 1996 were analyzed for 16 PCB congeners (IUPAC numbers 8, 18, 28, 31, 52, 77, 101, 118, 126, 128, 138, 149, 153, 169, 170, and 180). Species analyzed were guillemot (Uria aalge), shag (Phalacrocorax arisotelis), kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), puffin (Fratercula arctica), razorbill (Alca torda), fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis), gannet (Sula bassana), and herring gull (Larus argentatus). This is the first report of PCBs in U.K. seabird tissues to be presented since 1983. Mean concentrations of total PCBs ranged from 0.47 to 15.8 mg/kg WW, similar to concentrations reported for North Sea birds during the 1970s and 1980s and lower than those reported for the same species in the Irish Sea during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The congeners generally present in the highest concentrations were (in decreasing order) 153, 138, 180, 118, and 170. Despite the birds having similar diets, both inter- and intraspecies differences in PCB congener profile were found. In guillemots from several sites on the east coast, the dominant congener was 138, compared to guillemots from the south coast, which had the more typical congener pattern found in seabirds. Some of the differences in total PCB values could be due to different causes of death, with a subsequent effect on body lipid levels.

Health evaluation of penguins (Sphenisciformes) following mortality in the Falklands (South Atlantic).

In the Falklands, heavy mortality of rock-hopper penguins Eudyptes chrysocome occurred during the 1985-86 breeding season. Starvation was diagnosed as the primary cause of death, possibly caused by a shortage of euphausiid crustaceans (krill) due to unusual meterological conditions. 'Puffinosis' may possibly have been a contributory factor; otherwise no conclusive evidence of infectious disease or toxicosis was found and also no evidence of radioactive contamination. In the 1986-87 breeding season no unusual mortality occurred, but 99 apparently healthy penguins were examined, i.e., rockhoppers Eudyptes chrysocome syn E. crestatus, gentoos Pygoscelis papua and Magellanics Spheniscus magellanicus. Full necropsies were carried out on 54. Tissue examinations were made for cadmium, copper, iron, manganese, mercury, lead and zinc. High tissue cadmium concentrations found in healthy birds in 1987 were similar to those in penguins which died in 1986, and therefore not considered to be of pathological significance. Although there has been no repetition of the unusually hot 1985-86 breeding season in the Falklands, penguins and other seabirds have had fluctuating breeding successes since then. The precise cause, including the roles of meteorological conditions and overexploitation of some forms of prey species, is unclear.