Arctic mercury flux increased through the Last Glacial Termination with a warming climate

• Published in: Nature Geoscience
• Main Authors: Segato, Delia, Saiz-Lopez, A., Mahajan, Anoop Sharad, Wang, Feiyue, Corella, Juan Pablo, Cuevas, Carlos A., Erhardt, Tobias, Jensen, Camilla Marie, Zeppenfeld, Chantal, Kjær, Helle Astrid, Turetta, Clara, Cairns, Warren Raymond Lee, Barbante, Carlo, Spolaor, Andrea
• Other Authors: A.P. Moller Foundation, University of Copenhagen, National Science Foundation (US), Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (Germany), National Institute of Polar Research (Japan), University of Bergen, Swiss National Science Foundation, Institut Polaire Français Paul Emile Victor, Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement (France), University of Manitoba, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing Normal University, European Commission, Ministry of Earth Sciences (India), Canada Research Chairs, Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (Switzerland), Aarhus University Research Foundation, Mahajan, Anoop Sharad `
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature 2023
• Subjects: Arctic; Bergen; Canada; Greenland; Norway; Paul-Emile Victor; Alfred Wegener Institute; artico; East Greenland; East Greenland Ice-core Project; Greenland ice core; Greenland Ice core Project; ice core; National Institute of Polar Research; National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/329969; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01172-9; https://doi.org/10.13039/100010318; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100005747; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100002739; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003207; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001804; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100002367; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000780; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100004796; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001851; https://doi.org/10.13039/100000001; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100005036; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100002726; https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85158005130

9 pags., 3 figs. Mercury is a pollutant of global concern, especially in the Arctic, where high levels are found in biota despite its remote location. Mercury is transported to the Arctic via atmospheric, oceanic and riverine long-range pathways, where it accumulates in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. While present-day mercury deposition in the Arctic from natural and anthropogenic emissions is extensively studied, the control of past climate changes on natural mercury variability remains unknown. Here we present an Arctic mercury record covering the Last Glacial Termination to the early Holocene epoch (15.7–9.0 thousand years before 2000 ce), collected as part of the East Greenland Ice-Core Project. We find a threefold increase in mercury depositional fluxes from the Last Glacial Termination into the early Holocene, which coincided with abrupt regional climate warming. Atmospheric chemistry modelling, combined with available sea-ice proxies, indicates that oceanic mercury evaporation and atmospheric bromine drove the increase in mercury flux during this climatic transition. Our results suggest that environmental changes associated with climate warming may contribute to increasing mercury levels in Arctic ecosystems. It is supported by funding agencies and institutions in Denmark (A. P. Møller Foundation, University of Copenhagen), USA (US National Science Foundation, Office of Polar Programs), Germany (Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research), Japan (National Institute of Polar Research and Arctic Challenge for Sustainability), Norway (University of Bergen and Trond Mohn Foundation), Switzerland (Swiss National Science Foundation), France (French Polar Institute Paul-Emile Victor, Institute for Geosciences and Environmental research), Canada (University of Manitoba) and China (Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing Normal University). A.S. acknowledges the ‘Programma di Ricerca in Artico’ (PRA, project number PRA2019-0011, Sentinel) for supporting this work. A.S.-L. ...