Characteristics and source appointment of atmospheric particulate mercury over East China Sea: Implication on the deposition of atmospheric particulate mercury in marine environment.

Abstract Total Suspended Particulate (TSP) samples were collected at Huaniao Island in northern East China Sea (ECS) from March 2012 to January 2013. Chemical analysis were conducted to measure the concentration of total particulate mercury (TPM) and speciated particulate mercury including HCl-soluble particulate mercury (HPM), elemental particulate mercury (EPM) and residual particulate mercury (RPM). The bromine (Br) and iodine (I) on particles were also detected. The mean concentration of TPM during the study period was 0.23 ± 0.15 ng m −3 , while the obviously seasonal variation was found that the concentrations of TPM in spring, summer, fall and winter were 0.34 ± 0.20 ng m −3 , 0.15 ± 0.03 ng m −3 , 0.15 ± 0.05 ng m −3 and 0.27 ± 0.26 ng m −3 , respectively. The statistically strong correlation of bromine and iodine to HPM was only found in spring with r = 0.81 and 0.77 (p