Distribution of the total and dissolved mercury concentrations at the Irkutsk city snow sampling during winter 2021-2022

Abstract

We took 41 samples for a quantitative assessment of the total and dissolved mercury concentrations in the snow of the city of Irkutsk during winter 2021-2022. The maximum concentration of total mercury was recorded near the Eternal Flame memorial (248 ng/dm³); the minimum concentration was 6 ng/dm³ at the Jewish cemetery. The maximum concentration of dissolved mercury was recorded near the Aviation Plant (11.5 ng/dm³), and the minimum – near the Maratovskoye traffic circle and Secondary School No. 66 (0.1 ng/dm³). In four samples, we did not detect dissolved mercury. Determining the mass concentration of mercury revealed that the concentrations of mercury compounds in the snow from Irkutsk were much lower than the MPC. Based on the results of the analysed samples, we created a cartographic material.