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Air–sea exchange of gaseous mercury in the tropical coast (Luhuitou fringing reef) of the South China Sea, the Hainan Island, China

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Abstract

The air–sea exchange of gaseous mercury (mainly Hg(0)) in the tropical ocean is an important part of the global Hg biogeochemical cycle, but the related investigations are limited. In this study, we simultaneously measured Hg(0) concentrations in surface waters and overlaying air in the tropical coast (Luhuitou fringing reef) of the South China Sea (SCS), Hainan Island, China, for 13 days on January–February 2015. The purpose of this study was to explore the temporal variation of Hg(0) concentrations in air and surface waters, estimate the air–sea Hg(0) flux, and reveal their influencing factors in the tropical coastal environment. The mean concentrations (±SD) of Hg(0) in air and total Hg (THg) in waters were 2.34 ± 0.26 ng m−3 and 1.40 ± 0.48 ng L−1, respectively. Both Hg(0) concentrations in waters (53.7 ± 18.8 pg L−1) and Hg(0)/THg ratios (3.8 %) in this study were significantly higher than those of the open water of the SCS in winter. Hg(0) in waters usually exhibited a clear diurnal variation with increased concentrations in daytime and decreased concentrations in nighttime, especially in cloudless days with low wind speed. Linear regression analysis suggested that Hg(0) concentrations in waters were positively and significantly correlated to the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) (R 2 = 0.42, p < 0.001). Surface waters were always supersaturated with Hg(0) compared to air (the degree of saturation, 2.46 to 13.87), indicating that the surface water was one of the atmospheric Hg(0) sources. The air–sea Hg(0) fluxes were estimated to be 1.73 ± 1.25 ng m−2 h−1 with a large range between 0.01 and 6.06 ng m−2 h−1. The high variation of Hg(0) fluxes was mainly attributed to the greatly temporal variation of wind speed.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (No. 2013CB430002), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41203068, 41573117, 41176066, and 41371461), and Young Scientists Fund of Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. RCEES-QN-20130048F). We thank Prof. Hui Huang and Prof. Weihua Zhou and the staff of the Tropical Marine Biological Research Station (Sanya) of the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology (Guangzhou), Chinese Academy of Sciences, for their assistance.We thank the reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

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  1. Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 18 Shuangqing Road, Beijing, 100085, China

    Zhijia Ci, Xiaoshan Zhang & Zhangwei Wang

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  1. Zhijia Ci
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  2. Xiaoshan Zhang
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Correspondence to Zhijia Ci.

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Ci, Z., Zhang, X. & Wang, Z. Air–sea exchange of gaseous mercury in the tropical coast (Luhuitou fringing reef) of the South China Sea, the Hainan Island, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 11323–11329 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6346-5

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