Large subglacial source of mercury from the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet
The Greenland Ice Sheet is currently not accounted for in Arctic mercury budgets, despite large and increasing annual runoff to the ocean and the socio-economic concerns of high mercury levels in Arctic organisms. Here we present concentrations of mercury in meltwaters from three glacial catchments...
Published in: | Nature Geoscience |
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21534 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00753-w |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/21534 2023-05-15T14:51:56+02:00 Large subglacial source of mercury from the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet Hawkings, Jon R. Linhoff, Benjamin S. Wadham, Jemma L. Stibal, Marek Lamborg, Carl H. Carling, Gregory T. Lamarche-Gagnon, Guillaume Kohler, Tyler J. Ward, Rachael Hendry, Katharine R. Falteisek, Lukáš Kellerman, Anne M. Cameron, Karen A. Hatton, Jade E. Tingey, Sarah Holt, Amy D. Vinšová, Petra Hofer, Stefan Bulínová, Marie Větrovský, Tomáš Meire, Lorenz Spencer, Robert G. M. 2021-05-24 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21534 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00753-w eng eng Springer Nature Nature Geoscience info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/793962/EU/Iron and Carbon Interactions and Biogeochemical CycLing in Subglacial EcosystemS/ICICLES/ info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/678371/EU/Isotope CYcling in the LABrador Sea/ICY-LAB/ Hawkings, J.R., Linhoff, B.S., Wadham, J.L., Stibal, M., Lamborg, C.H., Carling, G.T., . Spencer, R.G.M. (2021). Large subglacial source of mercury from the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Nature Geoscience . FRIDAID 1911748 doi:10.1038/s41561-021-00753-w 1752-0894 1752-0908 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21534 openAccess Copyright 2021 The Author(s) VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450::Mineralogy petrology geochemistry: 462 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450::Mineralogi petrologi geokjemi: 462 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed publishedVersion 2021 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00753-w 2021-06-25T17:58:12Z The Greenland Ice Sheet is currently not accounted for in Arctic mercury budgets, despite large and increasing annual runoff to the ocean and the socio-economic concerns of high mercury levels in Arctic organisms. Here we present concentrations of mercury in meltwaters from three glacial catchments on the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet and evaluate the export of mercury to downstream fjords based on samples collected during summer ablation seasons. We show that concentrations of dissolved mercury are among the highest recorded in natural waters and mercury yields from these glacial catchments (521–3,300 mmol km −2 year −1 ) are two orders of magnitude higher than from Arctic rivers (4–20 mmol km −2 year −1 ). Fluxes of dissolved mercury from the southwestern region of Greenland are estimated to be globally significant (15.4–212 kmol year −1 ), accounting for about 10% of the estimated global riverine flux, and include export of bioaccumulating methylmercury (0.31–1.97 kmol year −1 ). High dissolved mercury concentrations (~20 pM inorganic mercury and ~2 pM methylmercury) were found to persist across salinity gradients of fjords. Mean particulate mercury concentrations were among the highest recorded in the literature (~51,000 pM), and dissolved mercury concentrations in runoff exceed reported surface snow and ice values. These results suggest a geological source of mercury at the ice sheet bed. The high concentrations of mercury and its large export to the downstream fjords have important implications for Arctic ecosystems, highlighting an urgent need to better understand mercury dynamics in ice sheet runoff under global warming. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Global warming Greenland Ice Sheet University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Arctic Greenland Nature Geoscience 14 7 496 502 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450::Mineralogy petrology geochemistry: 462 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450::Mineralogi petrologi geokjemi: 462 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450::Mineralogy petrology geochemistry: 462 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450::Mineralogi petrologi geokjemi: 462 Hawkings, Jon R. Linhoff, Benjamin S. Wadham, Jemma L. Stibal, Marek Lamborg, Carl H. Carling, Gregory T. Lamarche-Gagnon, Guillaume Kohler, Tyler J. Ward, Rachael Hendry, Katharine R. Falteisek, Lukáš Kellerman, Anne M. Cameron, Karen A. Hatton, Jade E. Tingey, Sarah Holt, Amy D. Vinšová, Petra Hofer, Stefan Bulínová, Marie Větrovský, Tomáš Meire, Lorenz Spencer, Robert G. M. Large subglacial source of mercury from the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
topic_facet |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450::Mineralogy petrology geochemistry: 462 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450::Mineralogi petrologi geokjemi: 462 |
description |
The Greenland Ice Sheet is currently not accounted for in Arctic mercury budgets, despite large and increasing annual runoff to the ocean and the socio-economic concerns of high mercury levels in Arctic organisms. Here we present concentrations of mercury in meltwaters from three glacial catchments on the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet and evaluate the export of mercury to downstream fjords based on samples collected during summer ablation seasons. We show that concentrations of dissolved mercury are among the highest recorded in natural waters and mercury yields from these glacial catchments (521–3,300 mmol km −2 year −1 ) are two orders of magnitude higher than from Arctic rivers (4–20 mmol km −2 year −1 ). Fluxes of dissolved mercury from the southwestern region of Greenland are estimated to be globally significant (15.4–212 kmol year −1 ), accounting for about 10% of the estimated global riverine flux, and include export of bioaccumulating methylmercury (0.31–1.97 kmol year −1 ). High dissolved mercury concentrations (~20 pM inorganic mercury and ~2 pM methylmercury) were found to persist across salinity gradients of fjords. Mean particulate mercury concentrations were among the highest recorded in the literature (~51,000 pM), and dissolved mercury concentrations in runoff exceed reported surface snow and ice values. These results suggest a geological source of mercury at the ice sheet bed. The high concentrations of mercury and its large export to the downstream fjords have important implications for Arctic ecosystems, highlighting an urgent need to better understand mercury dynamics in ice sheet runoff under global warming. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hawkings, Jon R. Linhoff, Benjamin S. Wadham, Jemma L. Stibal, Marek Lamborg, Carl H. Carling, Gregory T. Lamarche-Gagnon, Guillaume Kohler, Tyler J. Ward, Rachael Hendry, Katharine R. Falteisek, Lukáš Kellerman, Anne M. Cameron, Karen A. Hatton, Jade E. Tingey, Sarah Holt, Amy D. Vinšová, Petra Hofer, Stefan Bulínová, Marie Větrovský, Tomáš Meire, Lorenz Spencer, Robert G. M. |
author_facet |
Hawkings, Jon R. Linhoff, Benjamin S. Wadham, Jemma L. Stibal, Marek Lamborg, Carl H. Carling, Gregory T. Lamarche-Gagnon, Guillaume Kohler, Tyler J. Ward, Rachael Hendry, Katharine R. Falteisek, Lukáš Kellerman, Anne M. Cameron, Karen A. Hatton, Jade E. Tingey, Sarah Holt, Amy D. Vinšová, Petra Hofer, Stefan Bulínová, Marie Větrovský, Tomáš Meire, Lorenz Spencer, Robert G. M. |
author_sort |
Hawkings, Jon R. |
title |
Large subglacial source of mercury from the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
title_short |
Large subglacial source of mercury from the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
title_full |
Large subglacial source of mercury from the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
title_fullStr |
Large subglacial source of mercury from the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
title_full_unstemmed |
Large subglacial source of mercury from the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet |
title_sort |
large subglacial source of mercury from the southwestern margin of the greenland ice sheet |
publisher |
Springer Nature |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21534 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00753-w |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Global warming Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Arctic Global warming Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
Nature Geoscience info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/793962/EU/Iron and Carbon Interactions and Biogeochemical CycLing in Subglacial EcosystemS/ICICLES/ info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/678371/EU/Isotope CYcling in the LABrador Sea/ICY-LAB/ Hawkings, J.R., Linhoff, B.S., Wadham, J.L., Stibal, M., Lamborg, C.H., Carling, G.T., . Spencer, R.G.M. (2021). Large subglacial source of mercury from the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Nature Geoscience . FRIDAID 1911748 doi:10.1038/s41561-021-00753-w 1752-0894 1752-0908 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21534 |
op_rights |
openAccess Copyright 2021 The Author(s) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00753-w |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
496 |
op_container_end_page |
502 |
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1766323072490536960 |