Measurements of elements, sulphate and SO2 in Nuuk Greenland

The Greenlandic population is known to be exposed to heavy metals and persistent organic compounds (POPs) depending on the fraction of their diet coming from sea animals. Long-range atmospheric transport of air pollution to western Greenland, possibly from Canada or USA and in episodes also from Eurasia, is suspected to be a main cause. At Lille Malene Mountain close to Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, continuous monitoring of heavy metals as well as SO2 and sulphate were carried out by a filter pack system. The results are presented and discussed in this article. Sources were identified by a receptor model (COPREM), and model calculations of the concentrations were performed with an Eulerian model (DEHM). The levels of particle bound heavy metals and sulphur were very low. Analysis of data by COPREM showed that sea spray and crustal dust were the dominant source of inorganic particulate mass and that anthropogenic sources contributed with less than 8% of the inorganic particle mass. The measured levels of SOx (sum of and SO2) and Pb in Nuuk were reproduced by DEHM. However, the very low measured values of SOx and Pb concentrations made it impossible to use them to improve and develop model performance of DEHM.