Changes in the atmospheric circulation and environmental pollution in Siberia from the industrial regions of Norilsk and the Urals in the early 21st century

Changes in the anthropogenic impact from two large Russian industrial regions (Norilsk and the Urals) on the environment of Siberia due to the transformation of the atmospheric circulation in the early 2000s are assessed. Five-day trajectories of air mass transport for every day of January, April, July, and October in 1981–2007 calculated by the HYSPLIT-4 model with the NOAA reanalysis database (NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis Data Files) are used to analyze the transport of anthropogenic aerosols. Rosgidromet (Russian Hydrology and Meteorology Center) information on atmospheric emissions from the regions under study is used. Seasonal and long-term variations in the average concentrations of anthropogenic heavy metals (Pb, Ni, and Cu) from those sources in near-surface air and the average flows of pollutants onto the surface were estimated for different Siberian sites. Differences between the 2000s and the 1990s are characterized by various mosaic spatial patterns in different seasons. From the viewpoint of pollution of surface environments and objects, the effect from the transformation of the atmospheric circulation may be comparable (but opposite) with that from changes in source emissions, which decreased in the studied decades. Annual depositions of heavy metals (only from the two sources) onto the catchment area of every large Siberian river (Ob, Yenisei, and Lena) are comparable with the flows of these metals in the river run-off.