Chung-Shin Yuan

By Yi-Hsiu Jen and Chung-Shin Yuan

This chapter measured atmospheric mercury from two cases of small-scale regions to large-scale regions, and further investigated the tempospatial variation of atmospheric mercury, gas-particulate partition, the transportation routes of mercury, and the comparison of mercury concentration in urban areas and stationary sources. In a heavily polluted industrial city, Kaohsiung, field measurement results showed that total gaseous mercury (TGM) and Hgp concentrations were in the range of 2.38–9.41 and 0.02–0.59 ng/m3 with the highest concentrations of 9.41 and 0.59 ng/m3, respectively. Moreover, the partition of atmospheric mercury was apportioned as 92.71–99.17% TGM and 0.83–7.29% Hgp. The hot spots of atmospheric mercury were allocated at two regions in Kaohsiung City, including a steel industrial complex in the south and a petrochemical industrial complex in the north. In a coastal site of the Penghu Islands, the field measurement results showed that the average TGM concentration during the monitoring periods was 3.17 ± 1.17 ng/m3 with the range of 1.17–8.63 ng/m3, as the highest concentration being observed in spring, while the average TGM concentrations in the daytime were typically higher than that at nighttime. Therefore, prevailing wind direction and air mass transportation routes potentially played critical roles on the variation of TGM concentration at the Penghu Islands.

Part of the book: Heavy Metals