A gas tungsten arc in helium was modeled taking into account the contamination of the plasma by metal vapor from the weld pool. The whole region of gas tungsten arc atmosphere including the tungsten cathode, arc plasma and weld pool was treated using a unified numerical model. The anode was of a low sulfur stainless steel or a high sulfur stainless steel. A viscosity approximation was used to express the diffusion coefficient in terms of viscosity of shielding gas and metal vapor. The transient two-dimensional distributions of the temperature, velocity of plasma flow and iron vapor concentration were predicted, together with the weld penetration at the atmospheric pressure. The distribution of the iron vapor is obviously different between the case of a low sulfur stainless steel anode and the case of a high sulfur stainless steel anode. © 2009 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.