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Yushan Su

Bio: Yushan Su is an academic researcher from Ontario Ministry of the Environment. The author has contributed to research in topics: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers & Arctic. The author has an hindex of 19, co-authored 37 publications receiving 1520 citations. Previous affiliations of Yushan Su include Norwegian Institute for Air Research & Environment Canada.

Papers
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TL;DR: Levels and patterns of POPs in Arctic air may be affected by various processes driven by climate change, such as reduced ice cover, increasing seawater temperatures and an increase in biomass burning in boreal regions as exemplified by the data from the Zeppelin and Alert stations.

329 citations

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TL;DR: The contribution of traffic-related particulate matter (PM2.5, particles smaller than 2.5μm in diameter) sources can vary temporally and spatially, which may disproportionately contribute to health outcomes as mentioned in this paper.

110 citations

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TL;DR: The monitoring of halogenated flame retardants at Nam Co and Alert suggests significant potential for long-range atmospheric transport and suggests that FRs in Tibet do not have regional sources, but are reflective of truly global background contamination.

100 citations

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TL;DR: Model simulations reproduce the higher relative abundance of lighter PCB congeners with increasing latitude, observed in air and soil, and quantify the relative importance of partitioning, persistence and emissions in establishing PCB patterns.
Abstract: Due to the wide range of their physical-chemical properties, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have played an important role in the derivation of the global fractionation hypothesis, which predicts changes in the composition of persistent organic pollutant mixtures with latitude. Recent historical emission estimates, the derivation of an internally consistent property data set, in combination with a zonally averaged global fate and transport model, allow a quantitative investigation of the compositional shifts PCBs experience as a function of environmental compartment, latitude and time. Model simulations reproduce the higher relative abundance of lighter PCB congeners with increasing latitude, observed in air and soil, and quantify the relative importance of partitioning, persistence and emissions in establishing PCB patterns. Compositional variations consistent with global fractionation, as well as inverted concentration profiles with higher levels in the Arctic than at lower latitudes, are consistent with only minor fractions of the global PCB inventory being transferred northward.

98 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Yushan Su1, Hayley Hung1, Ed Sverko1, Phil Fellin, Henrik Li 
TL;DR: In this article, the first continuous multi-year measurements of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in Arctic air were reported, and the results of this study and previous measurements suggest that potential sources of PBDEs in the Arctic air include both volatilization emissions and LRT inputs.

97 citations


Cited by
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Rolf Sander1
TL;DR: According to Henry's law, the equilibrium ratio between the abundances in the gas phase and in the aqueous phase is constant for a dilute solution as discussed by the authors, and a compilation of 17 350 values of Henry's Law constants for 4632 species, collected from 689 references is available at http://wwwhenrys-law.org
Abstract: Many atmospheric chemicals occur in the gas phase as well as in liquid cloud droplets and aerosol particles Therefore, it is necessary to understand the distribution between the phases According to Henry's law, the equilibrium ratio between the abundances in the gas phase and in the aqueous phase is constant for a dilute solution Henry's law constants of trace gases of potential importance in environmental chemistry have been collected and converted into a uniform format The compilation contains 17 350 values of Henry's law constants for 4632 species, collected from 689 references It is also available at http://wwwhenrys-laworg

1,935 citations

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TL;DR: Findings of BTBPE, HxBBz, PBEB, PBT and TBECH in seabirds and/or marine mammals indicate that these compounds reach the Arctic, most probably by long range atmospheric transport and accumulate in higher trophic level organisms and that increasing use as PBDE replacements will lead to increasing concentrations.

695 citations

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TL;DR: An update of this emission database is presented, taking into account new information on PCB production in Poland, as well as new data on the chemical composition of various technical mixtures for which less information had been available.

558 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For example, the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) data has been used to evaluate the regional and spatial trends of air pollution during a period of nearly 40 years as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: . European scale harmonized monitoring of atmospheric composition was initiated in the early 1970s, and the activity has generated a comprehensive dataset (available at http://www.emep.int ) which allows the evaluation of regional and spatial trends of air pollution during a period of nearly 40 yr. Results from the monitoring made within EMEP, the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme, show large reductions in ambient concentrations and deposition of sulphur species during the last decades. Reductions are in the order of 70–90% since the year 1980, and correspond well with reported emission changes. Also reduction in emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) are reflected in the measurements, with an average decrease of nitrogen dioxide and nitrate in precipitation by about 23% and 25% respectively since 1990. Only minor reductions are however seen since the late 1990s. The concentrations of total nitrate in air have decreased on average only by 8% since 1990, and fewer sites show a significant trend. A majority of the EMEP sites show a decreasing trend in reduced nitrogen both in air and precipitation on the order of 25% since 1990. Deposition of base cations has decreased during the past 30 yr, and the pH in precipitation has increased across Europe. Large inter annual variations in the particulate matter mass concentrations reflect meteorological variability, but still there is a relatively clear overall decrease at several sites during the last decade. With few observations going back to the 1990s, the observed chemical composition is applied to document a change in particulate matter (PM) mass even since 1980. These data indicate an overall reduction of about 5 μg m−3 from sulphate alone. Despite the significant reductions in sulphur emissions, sulphate still remains one of the single most important compounds contributing to regional scale aerosol mass concentration. Long-term ozone trends at EMEP sites show a mixed pattern. The year-to-year variability in ozone due to varying meteorological conditions is substantial, making it hard to separate the trends caused by emission change from other effects. For the Nordic countries the data indicate a reduced occurrence of very low concentrations. The most pronounced change in the frequency distribution is seen at sites in the UK and the Netherlands, showing a reduction in the higher values. Smaller changes are seen in Germany, while in Switzerland and Austria, no change is seen in the frequency distribution of ozone. The lack of long-term data series is a major obstacle for studying trends in volatile organic compounds (VOC). The scatter in the data is large, and significant changes are only found for certain components and stations. Concentrations of the heavy metals lead and cadmium have decreased in both air and precipitation during the last 20 yr, with reductions in the order of 80–90% for Pb and 64–84% for Cd (precipitation and air respectively). The measurements of total gaseous mercury indicate a dramatic decrease in concentrations during 1980 to about 1993. Trends in hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) show a significant decrease in annual average air concentrations. For other persistent organic pollutants (POPs) the patterns is mixed, and differs between sites and between measurements in air versus precipitation.

544 citations

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TL;DR: The current understanding of vapour-particle partitioning of PAHs and the PAH deposition processes is reviewed, and in greater detail, their chemical reactions are reviewed.
Abstract: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are of considerable concern due to their well-recognised toxicity and especially due to the carcinogenic hazard which they present. PAHs are semi-volatile and therefore partition between vapour and condensed phases in the atmosphere and both the vapour and particulate forms undergo chemical reactions. This article briefly reviews the current understanding of vapour-particle partitioning of PAHs and the PAH deposition processes, and in greater detail, their chemical reactions. PAHs are reactive towards a number of atmospheric oxidants, most notably the hydroxyl radical, ozone, the nitrate radical (NO3) and nitrogen dioxide. Rate coefficient data are reviewed for reactions of lower molecular weight PAH vapour with these species as well as for heterogeneous reactions of higher molecular weight compounds. Whereas the data for reactions of the 2-3-ring PAH vapour are quite extensive and generally consistent, such data are mostly lacking for the 4-ring PAHs and the heterogeneous rate data (5 and more rings), which are dependent on the substrate type and reaction conditions, are less comprehensive. The atmospheric reactions of PAH lead to the formation of oxy and nitro derivatives, reviewed here, too. Finally, the capacity of PAHs for long range transport and the results of numerical model studies are described. Research needs are identified.

511 citations