Past, current and projected atmospheric emissions of trace elements in theMediterranean region

This report presents past and current annual emissions of Pb, Ni, Cu, Cd, a nd V to the atmosphere from major anthropogenic sources in the Mediterranea n Sea region and discusses projected emissions for the 1998-2015 period. Ga soline combustion still represents the major emission source of Pb in the u rban environment, however its contribution to the regional atmospheric budg et is following a downward trend. On a country-by-country basis, spatial di stributions of current Pb emissions show that Syria is the leading emitting country with 18.7% of the regional total, followed by Italy (12.3%), Franc e (11.2%), Turkey (11.1%), Egypt (7.5%), Yugoslavia (6.3%), Spain (6.2%), L ibya (5.5%), Algeria (5.1%), Israel (4.0%), Bulgaria (3.1%), Morocco (2.3%) , Lebanon (2.2%), Greece (2.1%), Jordan (1.1%), Tunisia (0.5%), Cyprus (0.5 %), Albania (0.3%). The emission of trace elements from the combustion of f ossil fuels as well as from primary and secondary non-ferrous metal smelter s represents an important source of Pb, Ni, Cu, Cd and V in the region as a whole. Greece, Tunisia and Lebanon are the major per-capital contributors of Pb released to the regional atmosphere, whereas over 50% of Ni is releas ed from anthropogenic sources in Lebanon, Tunisia, Bulgaria and Cyprus. Cad mium emissions are significant in Lebanon,Tunisia and Bulgaria, whereas Lib ya is the major emitter of Cu in the region. Annual emissions in the Medite rranean Sea region are compared with those derived for other regions and th e variations in emission patterns by source category are discussed. The pro jected emissions of trace elements up to the 2015 are estimated considering an upper and lower case scenario in the temporal variations of the control efficiency of major emission source categories. (C) 1999 IAWQ Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.