A compilation of paleoclimate records from lake sediments, trees, glaciers, and marine sediments provides a view of circum-Arctic environmental variability over the last 400 years. From 1840 to the mid-20th century, the Arctic warmed to the highest temperatures in four centuries. This warming ended the Little Ice Age in the Arctic and has caused retreats of glaciers, melting of permafrost and sea ice, and alteration of terrestrial and lake ecosystems. Although warming, particularly after 1920, was likely caused by increases in atmospheric trace gases, the initiation of the warming in the mid-19th century suggests that increased solar irradiance, decreased volcanic activity, and feedbacks internal to the climate system played roles.

Recent and historical deposition of mercury (Hg) was examined over a broad geographic area from southwestern Northwest Territories to Labrador and from the U.S. Northeast to northern Ellesmere Island using dated sediment cores from 50 lakes (18 in midlatitudes (41-50 degrees N), 14 subarctic (51-64 degrees N) and 18 in the Arctic (65-83 degrees N)). Distinct increases of Hg overtime were observed in 76% of Arctic, 86% of subarctic and 100% of midlatitude cores. Subsurface maxima in Hg depositional fluxes (microg m(-2) y(-1)) were observed in only 28% of midlatitude lakes and 18% of arctic lakes, indicating little recent reduction of inputs. Anthropogenic Hg fluxes adjusted for sediment focusing and changes in sedimentation rates (deltaF(adj,F)) ranged from -22.9 to 61 microg m(-2) y(-1) and were negatively correlated (r = -0.57, P < 0.001) with latitude. Hg flux ratios (FRs; post-1990)/pre-1850) ranged from 0.5 to 7.7. The latitudinal trend for Hg deltaF(adj,F) values showed excellent agreement with predictions of the global mercury model, GRAHM for the geographic location of each lake (r = 0.933, P < 0.001). The results are consistent with a scenario of slow atmospheric oxidation of mercury, and slow deposition of reactive mercury emissions, declining with increasing latitude away from emission sources in the midlatitudes, and support the view that there are significant anthropogenic Hg inputs in the Arctic.