title: Atmospheric mercury in Changbai Mountain area, northeastern China I. The seasonal distribution pattern of total gaseous mercury and its potential sources.
abstract: An intensive field campaign for the measurement of total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentrations in ambient air was conducted in Changbai Mountain area from 5 August 2005 to 5 July 2006 using an automatic atmospheric mercury analyzer (Tekran 2537A), which was the first time TGM was monitored at a remote area in northeastern China. 99% of the hourly TGM concentrations fell between 1.28 and 9.49ngm(-3) with an annual arithmetic mean of 3.58+/-1.78ngm(-3), which was significantly elevated compared to values obtained in remote areas of Europe and North America. Seasonal mean TGM concentrations displayed a descending trend as follows: winter, spring, fall, and summer. Compared to spring/winter, TGM concentrations were lower in the summer/fall but the standard deviation (SD) of TGM levels was higher and indicated a correlation with anthropogenic emissions. TGM concentrations showed seasonal differences with respect to meteorological parameters: TGM levels in spring/winter were most correlated with wind speed, and correlated with solar radiation only in the winter, while TGM levels in summer/fall periods were most correlated with air temperature. There was a strong diurnal variation of seasonal TGM with significantly higher concentrations in daytime/nighttime compared to the early morning. The seasonal diel TGM pattern indicated regional biofuel and coal combustion were the primary mercury sources.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002, PR China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Xinbin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Xinjie
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Shijie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000531:Altitude; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005579:Fossil Fuels; D005740:Gases / Q000032:analysis; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D008685:Meteorological Concepts; D012621:Seasons
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D005579:Fossil Fuels; D005740:Gases; D008628:Mercury