Background levels of atmospheric mercury in Kagoshima City, and influence of mercury emission from Sakurajima Volcano, Southern Kyushu, Japan
Vapor phase mercury concentration was determined daily for 1 year (Jan. 1996-Jan. 1997) in order to present the levels of atmospheric mercury in Kagoshima City and to estimate the influence of mercury emission from Sakurajima Volcano, southern Kyushu, Japan. The atmospheric mercury was collected on a porous gold collector at Kagoshima University and was determined by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry; Kagoshima University of Kagoshima City is located approximately 11 km west of Sakurajima Volcano. The mercury concentration obtained was in the range 1.2-52.5 ng m(-3) (mean 10.8 ng m(-3), n = 169). The atmospheric concentration varied from season to season; the concentration was high in summer and lower in winter. A linear relation was obtained by plotting ln[Hg/ng m(-3)] vs. 1/T for the north, south and west winds with correlation coefficients of -0.76, -0.79 and -0.83, respectively, but no such dependency was found for the east wind (r = -0.035). When the wind is blowing from the east, Kagoshima City is on the leeward side of the volcano. The impact of the fumarolic activity of the volcano on ambient air in the city was evident in the disappearance of temperature dependency with the appearance of the east wind. Atmospheric mercury concentration except for the east wind was considered to be background levels of Kagoshima City. As background levels, 8.1 +/- 5.3 ng m(-3), 14.8 +/- 7.9 ng m(-3), 13.9 +/- 11.7 ng m(-3) and 4.4 +/- 1.6 ng m(-3) (mean +/- S.D.) were obtained for spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively.
Tomiyasu
T
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Kagoshima University, Japan. tomy@sci.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
Nagano
A
Sakamoto
H
Yonehara
N