Source apportionment of atmospheric mercury pollution in China using the GEOS-Chem model.
China is the largest atmospheric mercury (Hg) emitter in the world. Its Hg emissions and environmental impacts need to be evaluated. In this study, China's Hg emission inventory is updated to 2007 and applied in the GEOS-Chem model to simulate the Hg concentrations and depositions in China. Results indicate that simulations agree well with observed background Hg concentrations. The anthropogenic sources contributed 35-50% of THg concentration and 50-70% of total deposition in polluted regions. Sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the impacts of mercury emissions from power plants, non-ferrous metal smelters and cement plants. It is found that power plants are the most important emission sources in the North China, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and the Pearl River Delta (PRD) while the contribution of non-ferrous metal smelters is most significant in the Southwest China. The impacts of cement plants are significant in the YRD, PRD and Central China.
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Regional Environmental Quality, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Long
L
Wang
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Regional Environmental Quality, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: shxwang@tsinghua.edu.cn.
Shuxiao
S
Wang
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Regional Environmental Quality, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Lei
L
Zhang
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Center for Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Department of Marine Sciences, Texas A&M University at Galveston, Galveston, TX 77553, USA.
Yuxuan
Y
Wang
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138, USA.
Yanxu
Y
Zhang
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138, USA.
Chris
C
Nielsen
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138, USA.
Michael B
MB
McElroy
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Regional Environmental Quality, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing 100084, China.
Jiming
J
Hao
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D011210:Power Plants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D045483:Rivers
D000393:Air Pollutants; D008628:Mercury
China; Control policy; Industrial sources; Mercury pollution; Nested-grid GEOS-Chem