High-sensitivity mercury-vapor analysis has been automated to provide a continuous monitoring of mercury in the earth's atmosphere over the last 2-year period. In the San Francisco Bay area (Los Altos) winter concentrations range from slightly over ½ to 25 nanograms of mercury per cubic meter of air. Summer concentrations range from slightly over 1 to 50 nanograms per cubic meter. Concentration of mercury seems to depend primarily on wind direction, wind speed, and seasonal temperature variations. Numerous other variables also affect it. It is shown that high mercury levels always coincide with high smog levels.
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Samuel H. Williston (1968) studied this question.