Thallium Pollution in Europe Over the Twentieth Century Recorded in Alpine Ice: Contributions From Coal Burning and Cement Production
Emission inventories indicate that thallium, a highly toxic metal, is emitted during coal burning and cement production. These estimates have been established only for the 1980s and 1990s but up to now they have not been compared to long-term observations. Here we used alpine ice cores to document t...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3022733 https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098688 |
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ftnilu:oai:nilu.brage.unit.no:11250/3022733 2023-07-30T04:04:08+02:00 Thallium Pollution in Europe Over the Twentieth Century Recorded in Alpine Ice: Contributions From Coal Burning and Cement Production Legrand, Michel McConnell, Joseph R. Preunkert, Susanne Bergametti, Gilles Chellman, Nathan J Desboeufs, Karine Stohl, Andreas Eckhardt, Sabine Plach, Andreas 2022 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3022733 https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098688 eng eng NILU - Norsk institutt for luftforskning: 120007 EU: ENV4-CT97 EU: EVK2 CT2001-00113 Geophysical Research Letters. 2022, 49, e2022GL098688. urn:issn:0094-8276 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3022733 https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098688 cristin:2040325 © 2022. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. 49 Geophysical Research Letters 13 e2022GL098688 Peer reviewed Journal article 2022 ftnilu https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098688 2023-07-08T19:54:22Z Emission inventories indicate that thallium, a highly toxic metal, is emitted during coal burning and cement production. These estimates have been established only for the 1980s and 1990s but up to now they have not been compared to long-term observations. Here we used alpine ice cores to document thallium pollution over Europe since ∼1850. Ice-core thallium concentrations increased from 1890 to 1910, and decreased after 1965 to concentrations that were half 1890 levels. Comparison of ice-core trends, estimated past emissions, and state-of-the-art atmospheric aerosol transport modeling suggest that coal burning was responsible for thallium pollution in Europe, particularly from 1920 to 1965 because of high coal consumption at that time. The subsequent decline resulted from decreased coal consumption and reduced emissions following technological improvements. The ice-core data suggest that the rapid growth of cement production that took place in Europe after 1950 had a limited impact on thallium pollution. publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper ice core NILU – Norwegian Institute for Air Research: NILU Brage Geophysical Research Letters 49 13 |
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Open Polar |
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NILU – Norwegian Institute for Air Research: NILU Brage |
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ftnilu |
language |
English |
description |
Emission inventories indicate that thallium, a highly toxic metal, is emitted during coal burning and cement production. These estimates have been established only for the 1980s and 1990s but up to now they have not been compared to long-term observations. Here we used alpine ice cores to document thallium pollution over Europe since ∼1850. Ice-core thallium concentrations increased from 1890 to 1910, and decreased after 1965 to concentrations that were half 1890 levels. Comparison of ice-core trends, estimated past emissions, and state-of-the-art atmospheric aerosol transport modeling suggest that coal burning was responsible for thallium pollution in Europe, particularly from 1920 to 1965 because of high coal consumption at that time. The subsequent decline resulted from decreased coal consumption and reduced emissions following technological improvements. The ice-core data suggest that the rapid growth of cement production that took place in Europe after 1950 had a limited impact on thallium pollution. publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Legrand, Michel McConnell, Joseph R. Preunkert, Susanne Bergametti, Gilles Chellman, Nathan J Desboeufs, Karine Stohl, Andreas Eckhardt, Sabine Plach, Andreas |
spellingShingle |
Legrand, Michel McConnell, Joseph R. Preunkert, Susanne Bergametti, Gilles Chellman, Nathan J Desboeufs, Karine Stohl, Andreas Eckhardt, Sabine Plach, Andreas Thallium Pollution in Europe Over the Twentieth Century Recorded in Alpine Ice: Contributions From Coal Burning and Cement Production |
author_facet |
Legrand, Michel McConnell, Joseph R. Preunkert, Susanne Bergametti, Gilles Chellman, Nathan J Desboeufs, Karine Stohl, Andreas Eckhardt, Sabine Plach, Andreas |
author_sort |
Legrand, Michel |
title |
Thallium Pollution in Europe Over the Twentieth Century Recorded in Alpine Ice: Contributions From Coal Burning and Cement Production |
title_short |
Thallium Pollution in Europe Over the Twentieth Century Recorded in Alpine Ice: Contributions From Coal Burning and Cement Production |
title_full |
Thallium Pollution in Europe Over the Twentieth Century Recorded in Alpine Ice: Contributions From Coal Burning and Cement Production |
title_fullStr |
Thallium Pollution in Europe Over the Twentieth Century Recorded in Alpine Ice: Contributions From Coal Burning and Cement Production |
title_full_unstemmed |
Thallium Pollution in Europe Over the Twentieth Century Recorded in Alpine Ice: Contributions From Coal Burning and Cement Production |
title_sort |
thallium pollution in europe over the twentieth century recorded in alpine ice: contributions from coal burning and cement production |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3022733 https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098688 |
genre |
ice core |
genre_facet |
ice core |
op_source |
49 Geophysical Research Letters 13 e2022GL098688 |
op_relation |
NILU - Norsk institutt for luftforskning: 120007 EU: ENV4-CT97 EU: EVK2 CT2001-00113 Geophysical Research Letters. 2022, 49, e2022GL098688. urn:issn:0094-8276 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3022733 https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098688 cristin:2040325 |
op_rights |
© 2022. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098688 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
49 |
container_issue |
13 |
_version_ |
1772815338021322752 |