Source identification of total mercury (TM) wet deposition using a Lagrangian particle dispersion model (LPDM)

Event-based precipitation samples for total mercury (TM) were collected with a modified MIC-B sampler concurrent with atmospheric gaseous oxidized mercury (GOM) and particulate bound mercury (PBM) concentrations in Seoul, Korea from January 2006 to December 2009 to: 1) determine the seasonal variations in TM wet deposition, 2) investigate contributions of GOM and PBM scavenging to mercury wet deposition, and 3) identify source areas contributing to the high TM wet deposition using a Lagrangian particle dispersion model (LPDM). The volume-weighted mean (VWM) TM concentration was highest in winter, while the wet deposition flux was highest in summer. Multiple linear regression showed that the scavenging coefficient (SC) for GOM was much higher than the SC for PBM indicating that GOM was more effectively scavenged by wet deposition than PBM. Joint-probability LPDM (JP-LPDM) indicated that the main sources of TM wet deposition were the industrial and coastal areas in China and Japan.