TY - JOUR
T1 - Anthropogenic and natural drivers of seesaw-like spatial patterns in precipitation mercury over western China
AU - Huang, Jie
AU - Kang, Shichang
AU - Wang, Long
AU - Liu, Kaiyun
AU - Ram, Kirpa
AU - Sillanpää, Mika
AU - Tang, Wenjun
AU - Guo, Junming
AU - Zhang, Qianggong
AU - Ma, Ming
AU - Tripathee, Lekhendra
AU - Wang, Feiyue
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/8/15
Y1 - 2022/8/15
N2 - Investigation of mercury (Hg) from atmospheric precipitation is important for evaluating its ecological impacts and developing mitigation strategies. Western China, which includes the Tibetan Plateau and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, is one of the most remote region in the world and is understudied in regards to Hg precipitation. Here we report seesaw-like patterns in spatial variations of precipitation Hg in Western China, based on Hg speciation measurements at nine stations over this remote region. The Hg fraction analyzed included total Hg (HgT), particulate-bound Hg (HgP) and methylmercury (MeHg). Spatially, HgT concentrations and percentage of HgP in precipitation were markedly greater in the westerlies domain than those in the monsoon domain, but the higher wet HgT flux, MeHg concentration and percentage of MeHg in precipitation mainly occurred in the monsoon domain. Similar spatial patterns of wet Hg deposition were also obtained from GEOS-Chem modeling. We show that the disparity of anthropogenic and natural drivers between the two domains are mainly responsible for this seesaw-like spatial patterns of precipitation Hg in Western China. Our study may provide a baseline for assessment of environmental Hg pollution in Western China, and subsequently assist in protecting this remote alpine ecosystem.
AB - Investigation of mercury (Hg) from atmospheric precipitation is important for evaluating its ecological impacts and developing mitigation strategies. Western China, which includes the Tibetan Plateau and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, is one of the most remote region in the world and is understudied in regards to Hg precipitation. Here we report seesaw-like patterns in spatial variations of precipitation Hg in Western China, based on Hg speciation measurements at nine stations over this remote region. The Hg fraction analyzed included total Hg (HgT), particulate-bound Hg (HgP) and methylmercury (MeHg). Spatially, HgT concentrations and percentage of HgP in precipitation were markedly greater in the westerlies domain than those in the monsoon domain, but the higher wet HgT flux, MeHg concentration and percentage of MeHg in precipitation mainly occurred in the monsoon domain. Similar spatial patterns of wet Hg deposition were also obtained from GEOS-Chem modeling. We show that the disparity of anthropogenic and natural drivers between the two domains are mainly responsible for this seesaw-like spatial patterns of precipitation Hg in Western China. Our study may provide a baseline for assessment of environmental Hg pollution in Western China, and subsequently assist in protecting this remote alpine ecosystem.
KW - Anthropogenic and natural drivers
KW - Precipitation mercury
KW - Seesaw-like patterns
KW - Western China
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130526077&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119525
DO - 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119525
M3 - Article
C2 - 35618142
AN - SCOPUS:85130526077
SN - 0269-7491
VL - 307
JO - Environmental Pollution
JF - Environmental Pollution
M1 - 119525
ER -
