Field Approaches to Measure Hg Exchange Between Natural Surfaces and the Atmosphere—A Review

Abstract

This review focuses on a vital part of Hg (Hg) atmosphere-natural surface exchange field observational studies, namely the theory, applications, strengths, and limitations of the various experimental methodologies applied to gauge the flux process. We present an in-depth review, a comprehensive literature synthesis, and methodological and instrumentation advances for terrestrial and marine Hg flux studies in recent years. In particular, we outline the theory of a wide range of measurement techniques and detail the operational protocols.

KEY WORDS:

• air-water exchange
• flux footprint
• flux measurement tools
• gaseous elemental mercury
• mercury
• micro-meteorological techniques
• terrestrial ecosystems

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was supported by National Research Program of China (2013CB430003) as well as by Chinese Academy of Sciences through an instrument development program (YZ200910) and of Natural Science Foundation of China through grants 41030752 and 40825011. The authors express their gratitude to the three anonymous reviewers who provided helpful comments and suggestions to significantly improve the manuscript.