High-Resolution Measurements of SO2, HNO3 and HCl at the Urban Environment of Athens, Greece: Levels, Variability and Gas to Particle Partitioning

High-resolution measurements of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitric acid (HNO3), and hydrochloric acid (HCl) were conducted in Athens, Greece, from 2014 to 2016 via a wet rotating annular denuder system paired with an ion chromatograph. Decreased mean annual levels of SO2 and HNO3 (equal to 3.3 ± 4.8 μg m−3 and 0.7 ± 0.6 μg m−3, respectively) were observed relative to the past, whereas for HCl (mean of 0.4 μg m−3 ) no such comparison was possible as the past measurements are very scarce. Regional and local emission sources regulated the SO2 levels and contributed to both the December and the July maxima of 6.6 μg m−3 and 5.5 μg m−3, respectively. Similarly, the significant enhancement at noon and during the winter nighttime was due to transported SO2 and residential heating, respectively. The oxidation of NO2 by OH radicals and the heterogeneous reactions of HNO3 on sea salt seemed to drive the HNO3 and HCl formation, respectively, whereas nighttime biomass burning affected only the former by almost 50%. During summer, the sulfate anions dominated over the SO2, in contrast to the chloride and nitrate ions that prevailed during the winter and were linked to the aerosol acidity that influences their lifetime as well as their impact on ecosystems.

Phase transitions in natural C-O-H-N-S fluid inclusions - implications for gas mixtures and the behavior of solid H2S at low temperatures

C-O-H-N-S-bearing fluids are known as one of the most challenging geochemical systems due to scarcity of available experimental data. H₂S-rich fluid systems were recognized in a wide array of world-class mineral deposits and hydrocarbon reservoirs. Here we report on a nature of low-temperature (T ≥ -192 °C) phase transitions observed in natural CH₄-H₂S-CO₂-N₂-H₂O fluid inclusions, which are modeled as closed thermodynamic systems and thus serve as natural micro-laboratories representative of the C-O-H-N-S system. For the first time, we document solid-solid H₂S (α ↔ β ↔ γ) transitions, complex clathrates and structural transformations of solid state H₂S in natural inclusion gas mixtures. The new data on Raman spectroscopic features and a complete sequence of phase transition temperatures in the gas mixtures contribute to scientific advancements in fluid geochemistry. Enhanced understanding of the phase equilibria in the C-O-H-N-S system is a prerequisite for conscientious estimation of P-T-V-X properties, necessary to model the geologic evolution of hydrocarbon and mineral systems. Our findings are a driver for the future research expeditions to extraterrestrial H₂S-rich planetary systems owing to their low temperature environments.

The emissions of CO2 and other volatiles from the world's subaerial volcanoes

Volcanoes are the main pathway to the surface for volatiles that are stored within the Earth. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is of particular interest because of its potential for climate forcing. Understanding the balance of CO₂ that is transferred from the Earth’s surface to the Earth’s interior, hinges on accurate quantification of the long-term emissions of volcanic CO₂ to the atmosphere. Here we present an updated evaluation of the world’s volcanic CO₂ emissions that takes advantage of recent improvements in satellite-based monitoring of sulfur dioxide, the establishment of ground-based networks for semi-continuous CO₂-SO₂ gas sensing and a new approach to estimate key volcanic gas parameters based on magma compositions. Our results reveal a global volcanic CO₂ flux of 51.3 ± 5.7 Tg CO₂/y (11.7 × 10¹¹ mol CO₂/y) for non-eruptive degassing and 1.8 ± 0.9 Tg/y for eruptive degassing during the period from 2005 to 2015. While lower than recent estimates, this global volcanic flux implies that a significant proportion of the surface-derived CO₂ subducted into the Earth’s mantle is either stored below the arc crust, is efficiently consumed by microbial activity before entering the deeper parts of the subduction system, or becomes recycled into the deep mantle to potentially form diamonds.

Volcano monitoring applications of the Ozone Monitoring Instrument

The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) is a satellite-based ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer with unprecedented sensitivity to atmospheric sulphur dioxide (SO2) concentrations. Since late 2004, OMI has provided a high-quality SO2 dataset with near-continuous daily global coverage. In this review, we discuss the principal applications of this dataset to volcano monitoring: (1) the detection and tracking of large eruption clouds, primarily for aviation hazard mitigation; and (2) the use of OMI data for long-term monitoring of volcanic degassing. This latter application is relatively novel, and despite showing some promise, requires further study into a number of key uncertainties. We discuss these uncertainties, and illustrate their potential impact on volcano monitoring with OMI through four new case studies. We also discuss potential future avenues of research using OMI data, with a particular emphasis on the need for greater integration between various monitoring strategies, instruments and datasets.

Volcanic emissions of mercury to the atmosphere: global and regional inventories

A comprehensive, time-averaged inventory of subaerial emissions of mercury from volcanoes that were active between 1980 and 2000 is derived based on the Hg/SO(2) ratios of the exhalations. Worldwide flux of mercury from volcanic eruptions is estimated to be 57 t/year while the flux from degassing activities is 37.6 t/year. After correcting for 'unmeasured' SO(2) emissions, the total global flux of Hg to the atmosphere is estimated to be 112 t/year. There are regional differences in average emissions during the 20-year period, with the estimated fluxes being 29 t/year in South and Central America, 27 t/year in Southeast Asia; 24 t/year in North America (including Hawaii), 4.1 t/year in Australia, 3.4 t/year in Japan and northern Asia, 3.1 t/year in Europe and western Asia and 2.3 t/year in Africa.

Environmental impacts of tropospheric volcanic gas plumes

Recent studies suggest that the environmental effects of volcanic gas emissions in the lower troposphere have been underestimated. This chapter first briefly summarizes the techniques available for characterizing tropospheric volcanic gas plumes, including the composition and fluxes of emitted gases and aerosols, as well as their atmospheric dispersion. The second part documents the contribution of gas emissions from degassing craters to the composition of the atmosphere, including effects from dry and wet deposition chemistry. The third section deals with the detrimental impacts on vegetation, soils, and groundwater in relation to passive degassing activity. Improved understanding of the impacts of volcanic degassing on the atmospheric and terrestrial environment will require: (1) systematic two-dimensional and three-dimensional measurements of tropospheric volcanic plumes, (2) development of general physical and chemical models to describe the fate of volcanic gases and aerosols during transport in the troposphere, and (3) investigation of the response of diverse ecosystems to volcanogenic air pollution.

Optical sensing of volcanic gas and aerosol emissions

Volcanic gas and aerosol surveillance yield important insights into magmatic, hydrothermal, and atmospheric processes. A range of optical sensing and sampling techniques has been applied to measurements of the composition and fluxes of volcanic emissions. In particular, the 30-year worldwide volcanological service record of the Correlation Spectrometer (COSPEC) illustrates the point that robust, reliable, straightforward optical techniques are of tremendous interest to the volcano observatory and research community. This chapter reviews the field, in particular the newer and more versatile instruments capable of augmenting or superseding COSPEC, with the aim of stimulating their rapid adoption by the volcanological community. It focuses on sensors that can be operated from the ground, since they generally offer the most flexibility and sensitivity. The success of COSPEC underlines the point, however, that such devices should be comparatively cheap, and easy to use and maintain, if they are to be widely used.

Bolide impacts and the oxidation state of carbon in the Earth's early atmosphere

A one-dimensional photochemical model was used to examine the effect of bolide impacts on the oxidation state of Earth's primitive atmosphere. The impact rate should have been high prior to 3.8 Ga before present, based on evidence derived from the Moon. Impacts of comets or carbonaceous asteroids should have enhanced the atmospheric CO/CO2 ratio by bringing in CO ice and/or organic carbon that can be oxidized to CO in the impact plume. Ordinary chondritic impactors would contain elemental iron that could have reacted with ambient CO2 to give CO. Nitric oxide (NO) should also have been produced by reaction between ambient CO2 and N2 in the hot impact plumes. High NO concentrations increase the atmospheric CO/CO2 ratio by increasing the rainout rate of oxidized gases. According to the model, atmospheric CO/CO2 ratios of unity or greater are possible during the first several hundred million years of Earth's history, provided that dissolved CO was not rapidly oxidized to bicarbonate in the ocean. Specifically, high atmospheric CO/CO2 ratios are possible if either: (1) the climate was cool (like today's climate), so that hydration of dissolved CO to formate was slow, or (2) the formate formed from CO was efficiently converted into volatile, reduced carbon compounds, such as methane. A high atmospheric CO/CO2 ratio may have helped to facilitate prebiotic synthesis by enhancing the production rates of hydrogen cyanide and formaldehyde. Formaldehyde may have been produced even more efficiently by photochemical reduction of bicarbonate and formate in Fe(++)-rich surface waters.

Sulfur, ultraviolet radiation, and the early evolution of life

The present biosphere is shielded from harmful solar near ultraviolet (UV) radiation by atmospheric ozone. We suggest here that elemental sulfur vapor could have played a similar role in an anoxic, ozone-free, primitive atmosphere. Sulfur vapor would have been produced photochemically from volcanogenic SO2 and H2S. It is composed of ring molecules, primarily S8, that absorb strongly throughout the near UV, yet are expected to be relatively stable against photolysis and chemical attack. It is also insoluble in water and would thus have been immune to rainout or surface deposition over the oceans. The concentration of S8 in the primitive atmosphere would have been limited by its saturation vapor pressure, which is a strong function of temperature. Hence, it would have depended on the magnitude of the atmospheric greenhouse effect. Surface temperatures of 45 degrees C or higher, corresponding to carbon dioxide partial pressures exceeding 2 bars, are required to sustain an effective UV screen. Two additional requirements are that the ocean was saturated with sulfite and bisulfite, and that linear S8 chains must tend to reform rings faster than they are destroyed by photolysis. A warm, sulfur-rich, primitive atmosphere is consistent with inferences drawn from molecular phylogeny, which suggest that some of the earliest organisms were thermophilic bacteria that metabolized elemental sulfur.

Global geochemical cycles of carbon, sulfur and oxygen

Time resolved data on the carbon isotopic composition of carbonate minerals and the sulfur isotopic composition or sulfate minerals show a strong negative correlation during the Cretaceous. Carbonate minerals are isotopically heavy during this period while sulfate minerals are isotopically light. The implication is that carbon is being transferred from the oxidized, carbonate reservoir to the reservoir of isotopically light reduced organic carbon in sedimentary rocks while sulfur is being transferred from the reservoir of isotopically light sedimentary sulfide to the oxidized, sulfate reservoir. These apparently oppositely directed changes in the oxidation state of average sedimentary carbon and sulfur are surprising because of a well-established and easy to understand correlation between the concentrations of reduced organic carbon and sulfide minerals in sedimentary rocks. Rocks rich in reduced carbon are also rich in reduced sulfur. The isotopic and concentration data can be reconciled by a model which invokes a significant flux of hydrothermal sulfide to the deep sea, at least during the Cretaceous.

Iron and sulfur in the pre-biologic ocean

Tentative geochemical cycles for the pre-biologic Earth are developed by comparing the relative fluxes of oxygen, dissolved iron, and sulfide to the atmosphere and ocean. The flux of iron is found to exceed both the oxygen and the sulfide fluxes. Because of the insolubility of iron oxides and sulfides the implication is that dissolved iron was fairly abundant and that oxygen and sulfide were rare in the atmosphere and ocean. Sulfate, produced by the oxidation of volcanogenic sulfur gases, was the most abundant sulfur species in the ocean, but its concentration was low by modern standards because of the absence of the river-borne flux of dissolved sulfate produced by oxidative weathering of the continents. These findings are consistent with the geologic record of the isotopic composition of sedimentary sulfates and sulfides. Except in restricted environments, the sulfur metabolism of the earliest organisms probably involved oxidized sulfur species not sulfide.