Total gaseous concentrations in mercury in Seoul, Korea: Local sources compared to long-range transport from China and Japan.

Total gaseous mercury (TGM) and carbon monoxide (CO) were measured every 5min and hourly, respectively, in Seoul, Korea, from February 2005 through December 2006. The mean concentrations of TGM and CO were 3.44+/-2.13ngm(-3) and 613+/-323ppbv, respectively. TGM and CO concentrations were highest during the winter and lowest during the summer. In total, 154 high TGM concentration events were identified: 86 were classified as long-range transport events and 68 were classified as local events. The TGM and CO concentrations were well correlated during all long-range transport events and were weakly correlated during local events. Five-day backward trajectory analysis for long-range transport events showed four potential source regions: China (79%), Japan (13%), the Yellow Sea (6%), and Russia (2%). Our results suggest that measured DeltaTGM/DeltaCO can be used to identify long-range transported mercury and to estimate mercury emissions from long-range transport.