Variations of Atmospheric Total Gaseous Mercury Concentrations for the Sampling Campaigns of 2001/2002 and 2009/2010 and Implications of Changes in Regional Emissions of Atmospheric Mercury (Vol.34, No.2)

FU Xue-wu, FENG Xin-bin

State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China

Abstract: The long-term measurement of atmospheric mercury is an important indicator for understanding the temporal variation of regional Hg emissions. We carried out two one-year-long continuous measurements of the atmospheric total gaseous mercury (TGM) in Guiyang in the campaigns of 2001/2002 and 2009/2010. The geometric mean of TGM concentrations in Guiyang increased from 7.45±12.80 ng/m3 in 2001/2002 to 8.88±7.06 ng/m3 in 2009/2010, showing an increasing rate of 19%. The increasing of atmospheric TGM concentrations mainly occurred in winter, autumn, and spring, whereas the levels of TGM in summer for the two campaigns were consistent. Also, the increasing rate of atmospheric TGM from 2009/2010 to 2001/2002 was much higher during day-time (33%) than during night-time (7%). The increasing trend of atmospheric TGM in Guiyang agrees well with the anthropogenic mercury emissions in Guiyang as well as in the Guizhou province, indicating the increasing of regional anthropogenic mercury emissions played an important role. In addition, impact of increasing emissions of atmospheric mercury in the mainland of China and the Indo-China Peninsula, which may contribute to the increasing TGM via long-range atmospheric transports, cannot be ruled out.

Keywords: atmospheric total gaseous mercury long-term variation anthropogenic sources urban area

*Corresponding Author, E-Mail: fuxuewu@mail.gyig.ac.cn

Bulletin of Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry Vol. 34, No.2, 2015, page 242-249