{
  "abstract": "Measurements of mercury (Hg) at sub- to picomolar concentrations in natural waters often rely on cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry (CVAFS), which provides the sensitivity required for trace detection. However, CVAFS instruments are not well suited for routine field deployment and require compressed high-purity argon or helium gas to operate, limiting their use in remote regions and locations without established analytical infrastructure. Cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS) offers a robust alternative but generally lacks the sensitivity required for low-level natural waters. Here, we optimized and tested the Nippon Instruments EMP Gold+, a purge-and-trap preconcentration system coupled to a portable CVAAS detector, to address this analytical challenge. We developed protocols for total Hg (THg) and dissolved gaseous Hg (DGM) and evaluated their performance in seawater during field deployments in Monterey Bay, California, USA and the Gulf of Guinea, Ghana. The optimized methods achieved detection limits of 0.97 pM for THg and 0.25 pM for DGM. THg measured in the Gulf of Guinea agreed closely with laboratory CVAFS measurements (R 2 = 0.953, slope = 1.11), with field matrix-spike recoveries of 90.6-96.2%. In Monterey Bay, portable DGM measurements reproduced the vertical structure observed independently for dimethylmercury using gas chromatography coupled to CVAFS. We demonstrate that this new approach can support direct measurements in regions where compressed gases and specialized analytical infrastructure are unavailable and provide rapid screening to guide subsequent sampling for more detailed Hg speciation.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Scripps Institution of Oceanography",
    "University of California San Diego",
    "University of San Diego",
    "Department of Marine and Fisheries Sciences",
    "University of Ghana",
    "Graduate School of Oceanography",
    "University of Rhode Island",
    "Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences",
    "University of Michigan",
    "Ocean Sciences Department",
    "University of California"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 11,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Roland P. Ovbiebo",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1889-7501"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Johannes West"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Abril Hernandez"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Hannah M. Adams"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Ziheng Kuang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Gabriella A. Yeboah"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Edem Mahu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Melissa Omand"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7,
        8
      ],
      "name": "Brian K. Arbic"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9,
        10
      ],
      "name": "Carl Lamborg"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Amina T. Schartup"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a44gmmbvr569f.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15009893/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "a44gmmbvr569f",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009893/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2307|Mercury impact and mitigation studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220380473",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-05",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a44gmmbvr569f.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:22Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15009893",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009893/v2"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2307|Mercury impact and mitigation studies",
      "subfield": "pharmacology-toxicology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A field-deployable method for measuring picomolar mercury levels in natural waters",
  "title_text": "A field-deployable method for measuring picomolar mercury levels in natural waters",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:22Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a44gmmbvr569f",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}