A 6,000-years record of atmospheric mercury accumulation in the high Arctic from peat deposits on Bathurst Island, Nunavut, Canada

2003 ◽  
Vol 107 ◽  
pp. 545-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Givelet ◽  
F. Roos-Barraclough ◽  
M. E. Goodsite ◽  
W. Shotyk
Keyword(s):  
High Arctic ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Mercury Accumulation ◽  
Peat Deposits

Atmospheric Mercury Accumulation Rates Between 5900 and 800 Calibrated Years BP in the High Arctic of Canada Recorded by Peat Hummocks

2004 ◽  
Vol 38 (19) ◽  
pp. 4964-4972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Givelet ◽  
Fiona Roos-Barraclough ◽  
Michael E. Goodsite ◽  
Andriy K. Cheburkin ◽  
William Shotyk
Keyword(s):  
High Arctic ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Mercury Accumulation ◽  
Accumulation Rates

Response to Comment on “Atmospheric Mercury Accumulation Rates between 5900 and 800 Calibrated Years BP in the High Arctic of Canada Recorded by Peat Hummocks”

2005 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 910-912 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Shotyk ◽  
Nicolas Givelet ◽  
Andriy K. Cheburkin ◽  
Michael E. Goodsite ◽  
Fiona Roos-Barraclough
Keyword(s):  
High Arctic ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Mercury Accumulation ◽  
Accumulation Rates

scholarly journals Diatom ooze—A large marine mercury sink

Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 361 (6404) ◽  
pp. 797-800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Zaferani ◽  
Marta Pérez-Rodríguez ◽  
Harald Biester
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Marine Sediment ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Anthropogenic Pollution ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Mercury Accumulation ◽  
Accumulation Rates ◽  
Sediment Data

The role of algae for sequestration of atmospheric mercury in the ocean is largely unknown owing to a lack of marine sediment data. We used high-resolution cores from marine Antarctica to estimate Holocene global mercury accumulation in biogenic siliceous sediments (diatom ooze). Diatom ooze exhibits the highest mercury accumulation rates ever reported for the marine environment and provides a large sink of anthropogenic mercury, surpassing existing model estimates by as much as a factor of 7. Anthropogenic pollution of the Southern Ocean began ~150 years ago, and up to 20% of anthropogenic mercury emitted to the atmosphere may have been stored in diatom ooze. These findings reveal the crucial role of diatoms as a fast vector for mercury sequestration and diatom ooze as a large marine mercury sink.

scholarly journals Dynamics of gaseous oxidized mercury at Villum Research Station during the High Arctic summer

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (17) ◽  
pp. 13287-13309
Author(s):  
Jakob Boyd Pernov ◽  
Bjarne Jensen ◽  
Andreas Massling ◽  
Daniel Charles Thomas ◽  
Henrik Skov
Keyword(s):  
General Pattern ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Cold Temperatures ◽  
Air Masses ◽  
Arctic Summer ◽  
Gaseous Oxidized Mercury

Abstract. While much research has been devoted to the subject of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) and gaseous oxidized mercury (GOM) in the Arctic spring during atmospheric mercury depletion events, few studies have examined the behavior of GOM in the High Arctic summer. GOM, once deposited and incorporated into the ecosystem, can pose a threat to human and wildlife health, though there remain large uncertainties regarding the transformation, deposition, and assimilation of mercury into the food web. Therefore, to further our understanding of the dynamics of GOM in the High Arctic during the late summer, we performed measurements of GEM and GOM, along with meteorological parameters and atmospheric constituents, and utilized modeled air mass history during two summer campaigns in 2019 and 2020 at Villum Research Station (Villum) in northeastern Greenland. Seven events of enhanced GOM concentrations were identified and investigated in greater detail. In general, the common factors associated with event periods at ground level were higher levels of radiation and lower H2O mixing ratios, accumulated precipitation, and relative humidity (RH), although none were connected with cold temperatures. Non-event periods at ground level each displayed a different pattern in one or more parameters when compared to event periods. Generally, air masses during event periods for both campaigns were colder and drier, arrived from higher altitudes, and spent more time above the mixed layer and less time in a cloud compared to non-events, although some events deviated from this general pattern. Non-event air masses displayed a different pattern in one or more parameters when compared to event periods, although they were generally warmer and wetter and arrived from lower altitudes with little radiation. Coarse-mode aerosols were hypothesized to provide the heterogenous surface for halogen propagation during some of the events, while for others the source is unknown. While these general patterns were observed for event and non-event periods, analysis of individual events showed more specific origins. Five of the seven events were associated with air masses that experienced similar conditions: transported from the cold, dry, and sunlit free troposphere. However, two events experienced contrasting conditions, with air masses being warm and wet with surface layer contact under little radiation. Two episodes of extremely high levels of NCoarse and BC, which appear to originate from flaring emissions in Russia, did not contribute to enhanced GOM levels. This work aims to provide a better understanding of the dynamics of GOM during the High Arctic summer.

scholarly journals Ten-year trends of atmospheric mercury in the high Arctic compared to Canadian sub-Arctic and mid-latitude sites

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1535-1545 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Cole ◽  
A. Steffen ◽  
K. A. Pfaffhuber ◽  
T. Berg ◽  
M. Pilote ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Continuous Monitoring ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Gaseous Mercury ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
Arctic Atmosphere ◽  
Global Emissions

Abstract. Global emissions of mercury continue to change at the same time as the Arctic is experiencing ongoing climatic changes. Continuous monitoring of atmospheric mercury provides important information about long-term trends in the balance between transport, chemistry, and deposition of this pollutant in the Arctic atmosphere. Ten-year records of total gaseous mercury (TGM) from 2000 to 2009 were analyzed from two high Arctic sites at Alert (Nunavut, Canada) and Zeppelin Station (Svalbard, Norway); one sub-Arctic site at Kuujjuarapik (Nunavik, Québec, Canada); and three temperate Canadian sites at St. Anicet (Québec), Kejimkujik (Nova Scotia) and Egbert (Ontario). Five of the six sites examined showed a decreasing trend over this time period. Overall trend estimates at high latitude sites were: −0.9% yr−1 (95% confidence limits: −1.4, 0) at Alert and no trend (−0.5, +0.7) at Zeppelin Station. Faster decreases were observed at the remainder of the sites: −2.1% yr−1 (−3.1, −1.1) at Kuujjuarapik, −1.9% yr−1 (−2.1, −1.8) at St. Anicet, −1.6% yr−1 (−2.4, −1.0) at Kejimkujik and −2.2% yr−1 (−2.8, −1.7) at Egbert. Trends at the sub-Arctic and mid-latitude sites agree with reported decreases in background TGM concentration since 1996 at Mace Head, Ireland, and Cape Point, South Africa, but conflict with estimates showing an increase in global anthropogenic emissions over a similar period. Trends in TGM at the two high Arctic sites were not only less negative (or neutral) overall but much more variable by season. Possible reasons for differences in seasonal and overall trends at the Arctic sites compared to those at lower latitudes are discussed, as well as implications for the Arctic mercury cycle. The first calculations of multi-year trends in reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) and total particulate mercury (TPM) at Alert were also performed, indicating increases from 2002 to 2009 in both RGM and TPM in the spring when concentrations are highest.

scholarly journals Dynamics of gaseous oxidized mercury at Villum Research Station during the High Arctic summer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Boyd Pernov ◽  
Bjarne Jensen ◽  
Andreas Massling ◽  
Daniel Charles Thomas ◽  
Henrik Skov
Keyword(s):  
Meteorological Data ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Cold Temperatures ◽  
Air Mass ◽  
Back Trajectories ◽  
Arctic Summer ◽  
Gaseous Oxidized Mercury

Abstract. While much research has been devoted to the subject of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) and gaseous oxidized mercury (GOM) in the Arctic spring, during atmospheric mercury depletion events, few studies have examined the behavior of GOM in the High Arctic summer. GOM, once introduced into the ecosystem, can pose a threat to human and wildlife health, though there remain large uncertainties regarding the transformation, deposition, and assimilation of mercury into the ecosystem. Therefore, to further our understanding of the dynamics of gaseous oxidized mercury in the High Arctic during the late summer, we performed measurements of GEM and GOM along with meteorological parameters, atmospheric constituents, and air mass history during two summer campaigns in 2019 and 2020 at Villum Research Station (Villum) in Northeastern Greenland. Five events of enhanced GOM concentrations were identified and investigated in greater detail. The origin of these events was identified, through analysis of air mass back-trajectories, associated meteorological data, and other atmospheric constituents, to be the cold, dry free troposphere. These events were associated with low RH, limited precipitation, cold temperatures, and intense sunlight along the trajectory path. Events were positively correlated with ozone, aerosol particle number, and black carbon mass concentration, which were interpreted as an indication of tropospheric air masses. This work aims to provide a better understanding of the dynamics of GOM during the High Arctic summer.

Atmospheric mercury accumulation and washoff processes on impervious urban surfaces

2008 ◽  
Vol 42 (32) ◽  
pp. 7429-7438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris S. Eckley ◽  
Brian Branfireun ◽  
Miriam Diamond ◽  
Peter C. Van Metre ◽  
Frank Heitmuller
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
Mercury Accumulation
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