Short-term and spatial variation of selected metals in the atmosphere of Niteroi City, Brazil

In this work, the atmospheric concentration of selected trace elements (Cd, Fe, Mn, Pb, V and Zn) was determined in total suspended material (TSP) from three sampling sites located at Niteroi, an urban medium city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. TSP samples were collected with a high volume air sampler and glass fibber filters. The determinations of Cd, Pb and Zn were performed by ICP-AES while V was determined by ETA-AAS and Fe and Mn were measured by FAAS. Among all elements, Fe showed the highest concentrations (0.5-12.5 mug/m(3)) during the study but the concentrations of all elements varied along the week. The maximum levels of TSP, Fe, Mn, Cd and V were observed on Wednesday which was characterised by the highest winds frequency with higher speeds coming from the North quadrant, mainly from the Northeast direction. Enrichment factors showed that Cd, Pb and Zn are enriched in all sites suggesting that anthropogenic sources play important roles for those elements. Statistical analysis has been carried out to evaluate the effect of meteorological parameters and characterisation of sampling sites. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.