Abstract
Mercury is a toxic element of serious concern for human and
environmental health. Understanding its natural cycling in the environment is
an important goal towards assessing its impacts and the effectiveness of
mitigation strategies. Due to the unique chemical and physical properties of
mercury, the atmosphere is the dominant transport pathway for this heavy
metal, with the consequence that regions far removed from sources can be
impacted. However, there exists a dearth of long-term monitoring of
atmospheric mercury, particularly in the tropics and Southern Hemisphere.
This paper presents the first 2 years of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM)
measurements taken at the Australian Tropical Atmospheric Research Station
(ATARS) in northern Australia, as part of the Global Mercury Observation
System (GMOS). Annual mean GEM concentrations determined at ATARS
(0.95 ± 0.12 ng m−3) are consistent with recent observations at
other sites in the Southern Hemisphere. Comparison with GEM data from other
Australian monitoring sites suggests a concentration gradient that decreases
with increasing latitude. Seasonal analysis shows that GEM concentrations at
ATARS are significantly lower in the distinct wet monsoon season than in the
dry season. This result provides insight into alterations of natural mercury
cycling processes as a result of changes in atmospheric humidity,
oceanic/terrestrial fetch, and convective mixing, and invites future
investigation using wet mercury deposition measurements. Due to its location
relative to the atmospheric equator, ATARS intermittently samples air
originating from the Northern Hemisphere, allowing an opportunity to gain
greater understanding of inter-hemispheric transport of mercury and other
atmospheric species. Diurnal cycles of GEM at ATARS show distinct nocturnal
depletion events that are attributed to dry deposition under stable boundary
layer conditions. These cycles provide strong further evidence supportive of
a multi-hop
model of GEM cycling, characterised by multiple surface
depositions and re-emissions, in addition to long-range transport through the
atmosphere.
Citation
ID:
216235
Ref Key:
howard2017atmosphericatmospheric