Characterization of mercury in atmospheric particulate matter in the southeast coastal cities of China

Developmental Biology

Yanting Chen¹  Lingling Xu²  Jinsheng Chen¹  Zhenchuan Niu¹  Liqian Yin¹ 

[1] Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China$$;Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China$$Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China$$

关键词: Particulate mercury;    seasonal variation;    spatial distribution;    dry deposition flux;    backward air trajectory;   

DOI  :  10.5094/APR.2013.052

学科分类：农业科学（综合）

来源: Dokuz Eylul Universitesi * Department of Environmental Engineering

【 摘 要 】

Although present in a low concentration in the atmosphere, mercury in particulate matter (PHg) plays an important role in the biogeochemical process of mercury. In this study, the mercury concentrations in three size fractions of airborne particulate matters collected from 14 sites (12 urban sites, 1 rural site and 1 remote site) in the southeast coastal cities of China during different seasons in 2010–2011 were investigated. Most of PHg (46.8–71.9%) was concentrated in the finer particles, i.e. PM_2.5 (particulate matter ≤2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter). The average mercury concentrations in PM_2.5 were 141.2±128.1 (range of 7.6–956.5), 37.0±19.2 (5.6–89.4), and 24.0±14.6 (3.2– 59.9) pg m^–3 at urban, rural, and remote sites during the whole sampling period, respectively. The PHg concentrations were almost at the same level in spring, autumn, and winter, approximately two times of that in summer. PHg concentrations in the atmosphere displayed a significant spatial variation with far higher values in urban areas than those at rural and remote sites. The dry deposition fluxes of total PHg estimated by a theoretical model were 38.3, 47.7, and 58.7 µg m^–2 y^–1 at Ji’an (JA), Jimei (JM), and Longwen (LW), respectively. The backward air trajectory analysis revealed that the atmospheric PHg concentrations were mainly influenced by air masses from ocean sources that diluted PHg in summer and on contrary from continental sources in other seasons.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   

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