Tundra uptake of atmospheric elemental mercury drives Arctic mercury pollution
Anthropogenic activities have led to large-scale mercury (Hg) pollution in the Arctic1,2,3,4,5,6. It has been suggested that sea-salt-induced chemical cycling of Hg (through ‘atmospheric mercury depletion events’, or AMDEs) and wet deposition via precipitation are sources of Hg to the Arctic in...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/219875 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22997 |
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ftunivlouvain:oai:dial.uclouvain.be:boreal:219875 2024-05-12T07:58:10+00:00 Tundra uptake of atmospheric elemental mercury drives Arctic mercury pollution Obrist, Daniel Agnan, Yannick Jiskra, Martin Olson, Christine L. Colegrove, Dominique P. Hueber, Jacques Moore, Christopher W. Sonke, Jeroen E. Helmig, Detlev UCL - SST/ELI/ELIE - Environmental Sciences 2017 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/219875 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22997 eng eng Springer Nature boreal:219875 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/219875 doi:10.1038/nature22997 urn:ISSN:0028-0836 urn:EISSN:1476-4687 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Nature, Vol. 547, no.7662, p. 201-204 (2017) Multidisciplinary info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2017 ftunivlouvain https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22997 2024-04-17T16:47:50Z Anthropogenic activities have led to large-scale mercury (Hg) pollution in the Arctic1,2,3,4,5,6. It has been suggested that sea-salt-induced chemical cycling of Hg (through ‘atmospheric mercury depletion events’, or AMDEs) and wet deposition via precipitation are sources of Hg to the Arctic in its oxidized form (Hg(II)). However, there is little evidence for the occurrence of AMDEs outside of coastal regions, and their importance to net Hg deposition has been questioned2,7. Furthermore, wet-deposition measurements in the Arctic showed some of the lowest levels of Hg deposition via precipitation worldwide8, raising questions as to the sources of high Arctic Hg loading. Here we present a comprehensive Hg-deposition mass-balance study, and show that most of the Hg (about 70%) in the interior Arctic tundra is derived from gaseous elemental Hg (Hg(0)) deposition, with only minor contributions from the deposition of Hg(II) via precipitation or AMDEs. We find that deposition of Hg(0)—the form ubiquitously present in the global atmosphere—occurs throughout the year, and that it is enhanced in summer through the uptake of Hg(0) by vegetation. Tundra uptake of gaseous Hg(0) leads to high soil Hg concentrations, with Hg masses greatly exceeding the levels found in temperate soils. Our concurrent Hg stable isotope measurements in the atmosphere, snowpack, vegetation and soils support our finding that Hg(0) dominates as a source to the tundra. Hg concentration and stable isotope data from an inland-to-coastal transect show high soil Hg concentrations consistently derived from Hg(0), suggesting that the Arctic tundra might be a globally important Hg sink. We suggest that the high tundra soil Hg concentrations might also explain why Arctic rivers annually transport large amounts of Hg to the Arctic Ocean9,10,11. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Tundra DIAL@UCLouvain (Université catholique de Louvain) Arctic Nature 547 7662 201 204 |
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Open Polar |
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DIAL@UCLouvain (Université catholique de Louvain) |
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ftunivlouvain |
language |
English |
topic |
Multidisciplinary |
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Multidisciplinary Obrist, Daniel Agnan, Yannick Jiskra, Martin Olson, Christine L. Colegrove, Dominique P. Hueber, Jacques Moore, Christopher W. Sonke, Jeroen E. Helmig, Detlev Tundra uptake of atmospheric elemental mercury drives Arctic mercury pollution |
topic_facet |
Multidisciplinary |
description |
Anthropogenic activities have led to large-scale mercury (Hg) pollution in the Arctic1,2,3,4,5,6. It has been suggested that sea-salt-induced chemical cycling of Hg (through ‘atmospheric mercury depletion events’, or AMDEs) and wet deposition via precipitation are sources of Hg to the Arctic in its oxidized form (Hg(II)). However, there is little evidence for the occurrence of AMDEs outside of coastal regions, and their importance to net Hg deposition has been questioned2,7. Furthermore, wet-deposition measurements in the Arctic showed some of the lowest levels of Hg deposition via precipitation worldwide8, raising questions as to the sources of high Arctic Hg loading. Here we present a comprehensive Hg-deposition mass-balance study, and show that most of the Hg (about 70%) in the interior Arctic tundra is derived from gaseous elemental Hg (Hg(0)) deposition, with only minor contributions from the deposition of Hg(II) via precipitation or AMDEs. We find that deposition of Hg(0)—the form ubiquitously present in the global atmosphere—occurs throughout the year, and that it is enhanced in summer through the uptake of Hg(0) by vegetation. Tundra uptake of gaseous Hg(0) leads to high soil Hg concentrations, with Hg masses greatly exceeding the levels found in temperate soils. Our concurrent Hg stable isotope measurements in the atmosphere, snowpack, vegetation and soils support our finding that Hg(0) dominates as a source to the tundra. Hg concentration and stable isotope data from an inland-to-coastal transect show high soil Hg concentrations consistently derived from Hg(0), suggesting that the Arctic tundra might be a globally important Hg sink. We suggest that the high tundra soil Hg concentrations might also explain why Arctic rivers annually transport large amounts of Hg to the Arctic Ocean9,10,11. |
author2 |
UCL - SST/ELI/ELIE - Environmental Sciences |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Obrist, Daniel Agnan, Yannick Jiskra, Martin Olson, Christine L. Colegrove, Dominique P. Hueber, Jacques Moore, Christopher W. Sonke, Jeroen E. Helmig, Detlev |
author_facet |
Obrist, Daniel Agnan, Yannick Jiskra, Martin Olson, Christine L. Colegrove, Dominique P. Hueber, Jacques Moore, Christopher W. Sonke, Jeroen E. Helmig, Detlev |
author_sort |
Obrist, Daniel |
title |
Tundra uptake of atmospheric elemental mercury drives Arctic mercury pollution |
title_short |
Tundra uptake of atmospheric elemental mercury drives Arctic mercury pollution |
title_full |
Tundra uptake of atmospheric elemental mercury drives Arctic mercury pollution |
title_fullStr |
Tundra uptake of atmospheric elemental mercury drives Arctic mercury pollution |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tundra uptake of atmospheric elemental mercury drives Arctic mercury pollution |
title_sort |
tundra uptake of atmospheric elemental mercury drives arctic mercury pollution |
publisher |
Springer Nature |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/219875 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22997 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Tundra |
op_source |
Nature, Vol. 547, no.7662, p. 201-204 (2017) |
op_relation |
boreal:219875 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/219875 doi:10.1038/nature22997 urn:ISSN:0028-0836 urn:EISSN:1476-4687 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22997 |
container_title |
Nature |
container_volume |
547 |
container_issue |
7662 |
container_start_page |
201 |
op_container_end_page |
204 |
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1798838506896752640 |