RESEARCH ARTICLE · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres · 2025

An Interhemispheric Difference in Atmospheric Gaseous Elemental Mercury Isotopes Reveals a New Insight in Oceanic Mercury Emissions

Kaihui Tang, Zhengcheng Song, Xuewu Fu, Yanxu Zhang, Hui Zhang, Ye Sun, Hui Zhang, Xian Wu, Qianwen Deng, Leiming Zhang, Suhaimi Suratman, Tan Hock Seng, Xinbin Feng

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Abstract

Abstract Oceanic emission of gaseous elemental mercury (Hg0 or GEM) is an important source for atmospheric mercury (Hg), but existing estimates of global gross oceanic Hg0 emissions are highly variable (800–7,220 Mg yr−1). This study measured atmospheric GEM concentrations and isotopic compositions at two coastal sites in Terengganu, Malaysia, a region that receives air masses from both hemispheres, during 2019–2021 to diagnose the amount of oceanic Hg0 emissions. Significantly lower mean (±1sd) concentration (1.28 ± 0.20 ng m−3), Δ199Hg (−0.23 ± 0.03‰), and Δ200Hg (−0.066 ± 0.018‰) and significantly higher δ202Hg (0.43 ± 0.12‰) were observed during the wet season when air masses were predominantly from the Southern Hemisphere, compared with those (mean concentration, Δ199Hg, Δ200Hg, and δ202Hg of 1.77 ± 0.09 ng m−3, −0.17 ± 0.03‰, −0.045 ± 0.023‰, and 0.25 ± 0.11‰, respectively) during the dry season when air masses were predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere, suggesting interhemispheric difference in GEM concentrations and its isotopic compositions. Using a Δ200Hg mass balance model, we estimated that the oceanic Hg0 emissions from HgII reduction should be below 2,250 ± 891 Mg yr−1 (±1sd), which is at the low‐end range of the literature reported values. We then used the constrained value as emission input to a three‐dimensional atmospheric Hg isotope model and reproduced well the global distributions and interhemispheric gradient of atmospheric GEM Δ200Hg. The findings from the present study will help to better understand Hg0 emissions from global oceans and their roles in global atmospheric Hg cycling.

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