Temporal variation and potential origins of atmospheric speciated mercury at a remote island in South China Sea based on two-year field measurement data

Abstract

Abstract This study explored the temporal variation, gas-particle partition, and potential origins of atmospheric speciated mercury at a remote island in the South China Sea. Two-year data of three mercury species was measured at the Taiping Island. Air masses were clustered into five transport routes (A-E) to resolve the potential origins of atmospheric mercury. Field measurement showed that the concentration of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) (1.33 ± 0.52 ng/m3) was close to the GEM background level of Northern Hemisphere, while those of GOM and PHg were 13.39 ± 3.58 and 94.33 ± 30.25 pg/m3, respectively. Both regular and intensive samplings concluded a consistent trend of higher mercury level in winter and spring than that in summer and fall. GEM dominated atmospheric mercury in all seasons (86.2–98.5%), while the highest partition of particle-bound mercury (PHg) was observed in winter (13.8%). The highest GEM concentrations were observed for Route A originating from central China and western Taiwan Island, and followed by Routes D and E from the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, while the lowest concentrations of GEM were observed for Routes B and C originating from North China, Korea, and Japan. Most importantly, high correlation of GEM versus levoglucosan and K+ in PM2.5 (r = 0.764 and 0.758, p < 0.01) confirmed that GEM was mainly emitted from biomass burning sources at the surrounding countries.