Characteristics of atmospheric speciated mercury concentrations (TGM, Hg(II) and Hg(p)) in Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Ambient speciated mercury concentrations including total gaseous mercury (TGM), gaseous divalent mercury (Hg(II)), and particulate mercury (Hg(p)) were measured on the roof of the Graduate School of Public Health building in Seoul, Korea from February 2005 to February 2006. The average concentrations were 3.22 ± 2.10 ng m −3, 27.2 ± 19.3 pg m −3, and 23.9 ± 19.6 pg m −3 for TGM, Hg(II), and Hg(p), respectively. Hg(II) and Hg(p) concentrations were higher during the daytime than during the nighttime, probably because of high photochemical activity. Hg 0 concentrations were not significantly correlated with ozone however a positive correlation between ozone and Hg(II) was found during periods of high humidity. Eighteen days were characterized as pollution events with 24 h average PM 2.5 concentrations >65 μg m −3. The average concentrations of TGM and Hg(p) during these events were 1.4–2 times higher than those during non-pollution events. In order to identify the contribution of long-range transported mercury to the enhanced mercury concentrations in Korea, an episode was defined as a period with hourly average TGM and CO concentrations higher than the monthly average TGM and CO concentrations and with significant enhancement of both TGM and CO concentrations for at least 10 h. A total of 70 episodes were identified during the sampling period: 36 local episodes and 34 long-range transport episodes. The mean ΔTGM/ΔCO slope for all episodes was 0.0063 ng m −3 ppbv −1 which agreed well with the slope (0.0036–0.0074 ng m −3 ppbv −1) found in previous studies that identified long-range transport of TGM from China. The mean slope during non-events was 0.0011 ng m −3 ppbv −1. Back-trajectory analysis showed that during episodes, air parcels arrived mostly from the major industrial areas in China ( n = 25, 73%), followed by Japan ( n = 4, 12%), Yellow Sea ( n = 3, 9%), and Russia ( n = 2, 6%).