Estimation of possible airborne elemental inputs to the Slovenian marine environment

In evaluation of the influence of environmental pollution on the ecosystem, data about the elemental concentrations of the atmospheric aerosols, combined with information about particle size and meteorological data, are of significant importance. They are also necessary prerequisites for source/receptor studies and long-range transport modeling. As such, these data are irreplaceable for the estimation of potential elemental input from air to the sea, an understanding of which is one of the tasks of the Mediterranean Pollution Programme (MED POL). Three sampling locations (Sečovlje, Koper, and Iskrba) in Slovenia were chosen for the present study, two at the coast and the third one in a scarcely inhabited, almost unpolluted area, as a reference point, and the element concentrations in the collected particulate matter (PM) were determined. From the Iskrba data the wet scavenging coefficient of airborne sulphur due to precipitation was estimated as k = (1.0±0.3)·10⁻⁴s⁻¹ (at 1.5 mm·h⁻¹).