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This study investigated the seasonal variation and spatial distribution of total gaseous mercury (TGM) and particulate mercury (Hg p ) in the ambient atmosphere of Kaohsiung City, the largest industrial city in Taiwan, located at the coastal region of southern Taiwan. TGM and Hg p were measured at six sensitivity sites and one coastal background site, from June to December, 2010. Field measurement results showed that the seasonal averaged concentrations of TGM and Hg p were in the range of 2.38-9.41 and 0.02-0.59 ng/m 3 with the highest concentrations of 9.41 and 0.59 ng/m 3 , respectively. Moreover, the partition of atmospheric mercury was found to be 92.71-99.17% TGM and 0.83-7.29% Hg p . As a whole, the concentrations of mercury species in the dry season were higher than those in the wet season, for both TGM or Hg p concentrations. The TGM and Hg p concentrations at the Hsiao-kang site was the highest in Kaohsiung City. Hot spots of atmospheric mercury were found at two regions in Kaohsiung City, including a steel industrial complex in the south and a petrochemical industrial complex in the north. The correlation of atmospheric mercury with meteorological parameters (e.g., ambient temperature, relative humidity, and UV intensity) and air pollutants (e.g., CO, SO 2 , NO x , and O 3 ) was further discussed. The results indicated that TGM and Hg p concentrations correlated positively with SO 2 , NO x , CO, ambient temperature, and UV B , and negatively with relative humidity, O 3 , and wind speed.

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This study investigated the seasonal and daily variations of the total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentration in the ambient atmosphere, the correlation of TGM concentration with meteorological parameters (e.g., temperature, humidity, and wind speed) and criteria air pollutant concentrations (e.g., SO 2 , NO x , CO, O 3 , PM 10 , and PM 2.5 ), as well as the transportation routes, at the Penghu Islands. The field measurement results showed that the average TGM concentration during the monitoring period was 3.17 ± 1.17 ng/m 3 , within the range of 1.17-8.63 ng/m 3 , with the highest concentration being observed in spring, while the TGM concentration typically increased in the morning, reached its peak concentration, and then started to decrease at nightfall. Moreover, the lowest average TGM concentration of 1.81 ± 0.15 ng/m 3 was observed in summer, and this figure is close to the background TGM concentration of the Northern Hemisphere (1.6-1.8 ng/m 3 ). The correlation analysis indicated that TGM concentration correlated positively with SO 2 , NO x , CO, O 3 , PM 10 , PM 2.5 and negatively with ambient temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. In addition, the transportation route analysis showed that elevated TGM concentrations could be transported from either North China, East China, or South China to the Penghu Islands, while those originating from the South China Sea had the lowest contribution to the TGM levels at the Penghu Islands. Therefore, local sources and open burning might be mainly influenced by the long-range transportation of air masses, as the prevailing wind direction and air mass transportation routes potentially play critical roles in the variation of TGM concentration at the Penghu Islands.

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