Preliminary study of the concentration and variation characteristics of total gaseous mercury in Dinghu Mountain Area
鼎湖山大气气态总汞含量和变化特征的初步研究

From October 2009 to April 2010, total gaseous mercury (TGM) in Dinghu Mountain, a background area of the Pearl River Delta (PRD), was continuously monitored using high-resolution automatic atmospheric mercury vapor analyzer (Tekran 2537B). Average concentration of TGM was (5.54±2.89) ng·m-3 with a range from 1.87 to 29.94 ng·m-3, which was much higher than those reported in global and domestic background areas (1.5~2.0 ng·m-3). This finding suggested mercury pollution in the atmosphere. The highest concentration of TGM was found in April, and the lowest in November during the sampling period. Meanwhile, a diurnal TGM distribution pattern indicated that higher concentration of TGM was observed in daytime. The TGM in Dinghu Mountain area was mainly affected by regional atmospheric pollution from the PRD. Based on the relationship between TGM and the concentrations of NO2 and SO2, as well as the analysis of TGM and the variation of electric power demand, we concluded that TGM in this area was contributed from mercury-related anthropogenic sources, especially coal-fired emission.