Understanding mercury oxidation and air–snow exchange on the East Antarctic Plateau: a modeling study

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: Song, Shaojie, E, Angot, Hélène, Selin, Noelle, E, Gallée, Hubert, Sprovieri, Francesca, Pirrone, Nicola, Helmig, Detlev, Savarino, Joel, Magand, Olivier, Dommergue, Aurélien
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes 2016-2019 (UGA 2016-2019 ), Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research (IIA), National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Arctic Alpine Research University of Colorado Boulder (INSTAAR), University of Colorado Boulder, Université Grenoble Alpes 2016-2019 (UGA 2016-2019 ), Environnements, Dynamiques et Territoires de Montagne (EDYTEM), Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; Antarc*; Antarctic; Greenland
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02350377; https://hal.science/hal-02350377/document; https://hal.science/hal-02350377/file/acp-18-15825-2018.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15825-2018

International audience Distinct diurnal and seasonal variations of mercury (Hg) have been observed in near-surface air at Con-cordia Station on the East Antarctic Plateau, but the processes controlling these characteristics are not well understood. Here, we use a box model to interpret the Hg 0 (gaseous elemental mercury) measurements in thes year 2013. The model includes atmospheric Hg 0 oxidation (by OH, O 3 , or bromine), surface snow Hg II (oxidized mercury) reduction, and air-snow exchange, and is driven by meteorological fields from a regional climate model. The simulations suggest that a photochemically driven mercury diurnal cycle occurs at the air-snow interface in austral summer. The fast oxidation of Hg 0 in summer may be provided by a two-step bromine-initiated scheme, which is favored by low temperature and high nitrogen oxides at Concordia. The summertime diurnal variations of Hg 0 (peaking during daytime) may be confined within several tens of meters above the snow surface and affected by changing mixed layer depths. Snow re-emission of Hg 0 is mainly driven by photoreduction of snow Hg II in summer. Intermittent warming events and a hypothesized reduction of Hg II occurring in snow in the dark may be important processes controlling the mercury variations in the non-summer period, although their relative importance is uncertain. The Br-initiated oxidation of Hg 0 is expected to be slower at Summit Station in Greenland than at Con-cordia (due to their difference in temperature and levels of nitrogen oxides and ozone), which may contribute to the observed differences in the summertime diurnal variations of Hg 0 between these two polar inland stations.