scholarly journals Five-year records of Total Mercury Deposition flux at GMOS sites in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Sprovieri ◽  
Nicola Pirrone ◽  
Mariantonia Bencardino ◽  
Francesco D'Amore ◽  
Helene Angot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wet Deposition ◽  
Total Mercury ◽  
Observation System ◽  
Deposition Flux ◽  
Mercury Deposition ◽  
Data Set ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Tropical Areas ◽  
Wet Scavenging ◽  
Northern And Southern Hemispheres

Abstract. The atmospheric deposition of mercury (Hg) occurs via several mechanisms including dry and wet scavenging by precipitation events. In an effort to understand the atmospheric cycling and seasonal depositional characteristics of Hg, wet deposition samples were collected for approximately five years at 17 selected GMOS monitoring sites located in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres in the framework of the Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS) project. Total mercury (THg) exhibited annual and seasonal patterns in Hg wet deposition samples. Inter-annual differences in total wet deposition are mostly linked with precipitation volume, with the greatest deposition flux occurring in the wettest years. This data set provides a new insight into baseline concentrations of THg concentrations in precipitation worldwide, particularly in regions, such as the Southern Hemisphere and tropical areas where wet deposition as well as atmospheric Hg species were not investigated before, opening the way for future and additional simultaneous measurements across the GMOS network as well as new findings in future modeling studies.

scholarly journals Five-year records of mercury wet deposition flux at GMOS sites in the Northern and Southern hemispheres

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 2689-2708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Sprovieri ◽  
Nicola Pirrone ◽  
Mariantonia Bencardino ◽  
Francesco D'Amore ◽  
Helene Angot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wet Deposition ◽  
Observation System ◽  
Deposition Flux ◽  
Data Set ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Tropical Areas ◽  
Wet Deposition Flux ◽  
Wet Scavenging ◽  
Northern And Southern Hemispheres ◽  
Precipitation Events

Abstract. The atmospheric deposition of mercury (Hg) occurs via several mechanisms, including dry and wet scavenging by precipitation events. In an effort to understand the atmospheric cycling and seasonal depositional characteristics of Hg, wet deposition samples were collected for approximately 5 years at 17 selected GMOS monitoring sites located in the Northern and Southern hemispheres in the framework of the Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS) project. Total mercury (THg) exhibited annual and seasonal patterns in Hg wet deposition samples. Interannual differences in total wet deposition are mostly linked with precipitation volume, with the greatest deposition flux occurring in the wettest years. This data set provides a new insight into baseline concentrations of THg concentrations in precipitation worldwide, particularly in regions such as the Southern Hemisphere and tropical areas where wet deposition as well as atmospheric Hg species were not investigated before, opening the way for future and additional simultaneous measurements across the GMOS network as well as new findings in future modeling studies.

scholarly journals Characteristics of atmospheric mercury deposition and size-fractionated particulate mercury in urban Nanjing, China

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 2233-2244 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Zhu ◽  
T. Wang ◽  
R. Talbot ◽  
H. Mao ◽  
X. Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dry Deposition ◽  
Wet Deposition ◽  
Fine Particles ◽  
Unit Area ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Deposition Flux ◽  
Coarse Particles ◽  
Mercury Deposition ◽  
Particulate Mercury

Abstract. A comprehensive measurement study of mercury wet deposition and size-fractionated particulate mercury (HgP) concurrent with meteorological variables was conducted from June 2011 to February 2012 to evaluate the characteristics of mercury deposition and particulate mercury in urban Nanjing, China. The volume-weighted mean (VWM) concentration of mercury in rainwater was 52.9 ng L−1 with a range of 46.3–63.6 ng L−1. The wet deposition per unit area was averaged 56.5 μg m−2 over 9 months, which was lower than that in most Chinese cities, but much higher than annual deposition in urban North America and Japan. The wet deposition flux exhibited obvious seasonal variation strongly linked with the amount of precipitation. Wet deposition in summer contributed more than 80% to the total amount. A part of contribution to wet deposition of mercury from anthropogenic sources was evidenced by the association between wet deposition and sulfates, as well as nitrates in rainwater. The ions correlated most significantly with mercury were formate, calcium, and potassium, which suggested that natural sources including vegetation and resuspended soil should be considered as an important factor to affect the wet deposition of mercury in Nanjing. The average HgP concentration was 1.10 ± 0.57 ng m−3. A distinct seasonal distribution of HgP concentrations was found to be higher in winter as a result of an increase in the PM10 concentration. Overall, more than half of the HgP existed in the particle size range less than 2.1 μm. The highest concentration of HgP in coarse particles was observed in summer, while HgP in fine particles dominated in fall and winter. The size distribution of averaged mercury content in particulates was bimodal, with two peaks in the bins of < 0.7 μm and 4.7–5.8 μm. Dry deposition per unit area of HgP was estimated to be 47.2 μg m−2 using meteorological conditions and a size-resolved particle dry deposition model. This was 16.5% less than mercury wet deposition. Compared to HgP in fine particles, HgP in coarse particles contributed more to the total dry deposition due to higher deposition velocities. Negative correlation between precipitation and the HgP concentration reflected the effect of scavenging of HgP by precipitation.

scholarly journals Model analyses of atmospheric mercury: present air quality and effects of transpacific transport on the United States

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 9849-9893 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Lei ◽  
X.-Z. Liang ◽  
D. J. Wuebbles ◽  
Z. Tao
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Wet Deposition ◽  
Total Mercury ◽  
The United States ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Mercury Deposition ◽  
Transpacific Transport ◽  
Mercury Cycle

Abstract. Atmospheric mercury is a toxic air and water pollutant that is of significant concern because of its effects on human health and ecosystems. A mechanistic representation of the atmospheric mercury cycle is developed for the state-of-the-art global climate-chemistry model, CAM-Chem (Community Atmospheric Model with Chemistry). The model simulates the emission, transport, transformation and deposition of atmospheric mercury (Hg) in three forms: elemental mercury (Hg(0)), reactive mercury (Hg(II)), and particulate mercury (PHg). Emissions of mercury include those from human, land, ocean, biomass burning and volcano related sources. Land emissions are calculated based on surface solar radiation flux and skin temperature. A simplified air–sea mercury exchange scheme is used to calculate emissions from the oceans. The chemistry mechanism includes the oxidation of Hg(0) in gaseous phase by ozone with temperature dependence, OH, H2O2 and chlorine. Aqueous chemistry includes both oxidation and reduction of Hg(0). Transport and deposition of mercury species are calculated through adapting the original formulations in CAM-Chem. The CAM-Chem model with mercury is driven by present meteorology to simulate the present mercury air quality during the 1999–2001 periods. The resulting surface concentrations of total gaseous mercury (TGM) are then compared with the observations from worldwide sites. Simulated wet depositions of mercury over the continental United States are compared to the observations from 26 Mercury Deposition Network stations to test the wet deposition simulations. The evaluations of gaseous concentrations and wet deposition confirm a strong capability for the CAM-Chem mercury mechanism to simulate the atmospheric mercury cycle. The results also indicate that mercury pollution in East Asia and Southern Africa is very significant with TGM concentrations above 3.0 ng m−3. The comparison to wet deposition indicates that wet deposition patterns of mercury are more affected by the spatial variability of precipitation. The sensitivity experiments show that 22% of total mercury deposition and 25% of TGM concentrations in the United States are resulted from domestic anthropogenic sources, but only 9% of total mercury deposition and 7% of TGM concentrations are contributed by transpacific transport. However, the contributions of domestic and transpacific sources on the western United States levels of mercury are of comparable magnitude.

scholarly journals Characteristics of atmospheric mercury deposition and size-fractionated particulate mercury in urban Nanjing, China

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 28309-28341 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Zhu ◽  
T. Wang ◽  
R. Talbot ◽  
H. Mao ◽  
X. Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dry Deposition ◽  
Wet Deposition ◽  
Fine Particles ◽  
Unit Area ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Deposition Flux ◽  
Coarse Particles ◽  
Mercury Deposition ◽  
Particulate Mercury

Abstract. A comprehensive measurement study of mercury wet deposition and size-fractioned particulate mercury (HgP) concurrent with meteorological variables was conducted from June 2011 to February 2012 to evaluate the characteristics of mercury deposition and particulate mercury in urban Nanjing, China. The volume weighted mean (VWM) concentration of mercury in rainwater was 52.9 ng L−1 with a range of 46.3–63.6 ng L−1. The wet deposition per unit area was averaged 56.5 μg m−2 over 9 months, which was lower than that in most Chinese cities, but much higher than annual deposition in urban America and Japan. The wet deposition flux exhibited obvious seasonal variation strongly linked with the amount of precipitation. Wet deposition in summer contributed more than 80% to the total amount. A part of contribution to wet deposition of mercury from anthropogenic sources was evidenced by the association between wet deposition and sulfates, and nitrates in rainwater. The ions correlated most significantly with mercury were formate, calcium and potassium, which suggested that natural sources including vegetation and resuspended soil should be considered as an important factor to affect the wet deposition of mercury in Nanjing. The average HgP concentration was 1.10 ± 0.57 ng m−3. A distinct seasonal distribution of HgP concentrations was found to be higher in winter as a result of an increase in the PM10 concentration. Overall, more than half of HgP existed in the particle size range less than 2.1 μm. The highest concentration of HgP in coarse particles was observed in summer while HgP in fine particles dominated in fall and winter. The size distribution of averaged mercury content in particulates was bimodal with two peaks in the bins of <0.7 μm and 4.7–5.8 μm. Dry deposition per unit area of HgP was estimated to be 47.2 μg m−2 using meteorological conditions and a size-resolved particle dry deposition model. This was 16.5% less than mercury wet deposition. Compared to HgP in fine particles, HgP in coarse particles contributed more to the total dry deposition due to higher deposition velocities. Negative correlation between precipitation and the HgP concentration reflected the effect of scavenging of HgP by precipitation.

scholarly journals Total atmospheric mercury deposition in forested areas in South Korea

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. 7653-7662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin-Su Han ◽  
Yong-Seok Seo ◽  
Moon-Kyung Kim ◽  
Thomas M. Holsen ◽  
Seung-Muk Yi
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Dry Deposition ◽  
Wet Deposition ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Deposition Flux ◽  
Mercury Deposition ◽  
Temperate Deciduous Forest ◽  
Deposition Fluxes ◽  
Forested Areas

Abstract. In this study, mercury (Hg) was sampled weekly in dry and wet deposition and throughfall and monthly in litterfall, and as it was volatilized from soil from August 2008 to February 2010 to identify the factors influencing the amount of atmospheric Hg deposited to forested areas in a temperate deciduous forest in South Korea. For this location there was no significant correlation between the estimated monthly dry deposition flux (litterfall + throughfall – wet deposition) (6.7 µg m−2 yr−1) and directly measured dry deposition (9.9 µg m−2 yr−1) likely due primarily to Hg losses from the litterfall collector. Dry deposition fluxes in cold seasons (fall and winter) were lower than in warmer seasons (spring and summer). The volume-weighted mean (VWM) Hg concentrations in both precipitation and throughfall were highest in winter, likely due to increased scavenging by snow events. Since South Korea experiences abundant rainfall in summer, VWM Hg concentrations in summer were lower than in other seasons. Litterfall fluxes were highest in the late fall to early winter, when leaves were dropped from the trees (September to November). The cumulative annual Hg emission flux from soil was 6.8 µg m−2 yr−1. Based on these data, the yearly deposition fluxes of Hg calculated using two input approaches (wet deposition + dry deposition or throughfall + litterfall) were 6.8 and 3.6 µg m−2 yr−1, respectively. This is the first reported study which measured the amount of atmospheric Hg deposited to forested areas in South Korea, and thus our results provide useful information to compare against data related to Hg fate and transport in this part of the world.

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