Analysis Methods, Occurrence, and Transformation of Reactive Gaseous Mercury in the Atmosphere

Reactive gaseous mercury (RGM), also known as gaseous oxidized mercury. dominates atmospheric mercury deposition and is critical to the global cycle of mercury. This review introduces various sampling and analysis methods of RGM in detail. and discusses the advantages and limitations of the current techniques. The environmental processes including the formation. occurrence. and depletion of RGM in the atmosphere and related mechanisms are reviewed. and the contribution of each process in the atmospheric mercury cycle is explored. In view of the current analytical difficulties of RGM (e.g., ultralow concentration and sampling problems) and key scientific issues (e.g., chemical form and transformation) in the RGM research. efforts should be made to develop the feasible methods for RGM collection and speciation determinatiton in the real environment. so as to further explore its environmental behavior. This is challenging but important for the research of atmospheric mercury and will be helpful for understanding the role of RGM in cycle processes of atmospheric mercury.