Profiles of mercury in snow pack at Station Nord, Greenland, shortly after polar sunrise

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Ferrari, Christophe, Dommergue, Aurélien, Boutron, Claude, Jitaru, Petru, Adams, Freddy
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2004
• Subjects: Physics; Greenland; Station Nord
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10067/465030151162165141

Abstract: Mercury (Hg) species have been measured in the snow pack at Station Nord, Greenland both in the snow and in the air of snow from February 25 to March 15, 2002, during twilight and low solar irradiation periods. More than 99% of Hg is in the snow itself ( similar to 94 - 97% as Hg2+ and similar to 5% as MeHg+) while less than 1% is in the interstitial air of snow as Hgdegrees. Gaseous Elemental Mercury (Hgdegrees) concentrations, decreased exponentially with depth from similar to 1.5 ng/m(3) outside to similar to 0.1 ng/m(3) at 120 cm depth in the snow air. Hgdegrees incorporation flux to the snow pack has been evaluated to similar to 5.8 - 7.0 pg/m(2)/h which is weak, indicating that this process does not change significantly the Hg content in the snow. We believe that this decrease in the air of snow is the result of fast oxidation processes of Hgdegrees rather than adsorption of Hgdegrees onto snow surfaces.