Radon-222 and Radium-226 seawater and ice data from Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea 2021 ...

• Main Author: Stephens, Mark
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Arctic Data Center 2023
• Subjects: Radon-222; Radium-226; Bering Sea; Chukchi Sea; marginal ice zone; mercury; gas transfer velocity; piston velocity; air-sea gas exchange; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Chukchi; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18739/a23x83n3n; https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.18739/A23X83N3N

Mercury (Hg) concentrations and speciation within surface waters of the Arctic Ocean are controlled by a complex set of processes including photochemical and microbial transformations, redox reactions, and air-sea exchange of gaseous and particulate Hg species. In this study, our aim was to estimate the magnitude of volatile Hg fluxes across the air-sea interface, and examine the influence of ice cover on this process. While gas exchange in the open ocean has been modeled as a function of wind speed, the parameterization is problematic in the presence of sea ice, which can physically block gas exchange, as well as reduce fetch and dampen waves. By using measurements of Radon-222 (Rn-222) gas and it parent isotope, Radium-226 (Ra-226), to accurately measure gas exchange velocities (k), the relative impacts of chemical and biological processes on mercury distributions within the surface waters can then be deduced. This dataset contains Radon-222 and Radium-226 activity concentrations from R/V Sikuliaq cruise ...