Gaseous mercury emissions from soil following forest loss and land use changes: Field experiments in the United States and Brazil

Carpi, Anthony; Fostier, Anne Hélène; Orta, Olivia R.; Santos, José Carlos dos; Gittings, M. L.

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.08.004

Cited by 60 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…Hg emissions from the unthinned site were from the forest floor only and were comparable to emissions for our highest soil fire severity burn class (4.6 g ha À1 ), while both thinned and clearcut sites also had losses from upper mineral soils (A horizon) leading to higher Hg emissions. Similarly, Carpi et al (2014) used chamber methods to measure Hg fluxes of 4.1 g ha À1 from Brazilian forest soils (0-5 cm) during harvesting and fire that also fall into the range we measured.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emissions of forest floor and mineral soil carbon, nitrogen and mercury pools and relationships with fire severity for the Pagami Creek Fire in the Boreal Forest of northern Minnesota

Kolka

Sturtevant

Miesel

et al. 2017

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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Forest fires cause large emissions of C (carbon), N (nitrogen) and Hg (mercury) to the atmosphere and thus have important implications for global warming (e.g. via CO 2 and N 2 O emissions), anthropogenic fertilisation of natural ecosystems (e.g. via N deposition), and bioaccumulation of harmful metals in aquatic and terrestrial systems (e.g. via Hg deposition). Research indicates that fires are becoming more severe over much of North America, thus increasing element emissions during fire. However, there has been little research relating forest floor and mineral soil losses of C, N and Hg to on-the-ground indices of fire severity that enable scaling up those losses for larger-scale accounting of fire-level emissions. We investigated the relationships between forest floor and mineral soil elemental pools across a range of soil-level fire severities following the 2011 Pagami Creek wildfire in northern Minnesota, USA. We were able to statistically differentiate losses of forest floor C, N and Hg among a five-class soil-level fire severity classification system. Regression relationships using soil fire severity class were able to predict remaining forest floor C, N and Hg pools with 82-96% confidence. We correlated National Aeronautics and Space Administration Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-Classic imagery to ground-based plot-scale estimates of soil fire severity to upscale emissions of C, N and Hg to the fire level. We estimate that 468 000 Mg C, 11 000 Mg of N and over 122 g of Hg were emitted from the forest floor during the burning of the 28 310 ha upland area of the Pagami Creek fire.Abstract. Forest fires cause large emissions of C (carbon), N (nitrogen) and Hg (mercury) to the atmosphere and thus have important implications for global warming (e.g. via CO 2 and N 2 O emissions), anthropogenic fertilisation of natural ecosystems (e.g. via N deposition), and bioaccumulation of harmful metals in aquatic and terrestrial systems (e.g. via Hg deposition). Research indicates that fires are becoming more severe over much of North America, thus increasing element emissions during fire. However, there has been little research relating forest floor and mineral soil losses of C, N and Hg to on-the-ground indices of fire severity that enable scaling up those losses for larger-scale accounting of fire-level emissions. We investigated the relationships between forest floor and mineral soil elemental pools across a range of soil-level fire severities following the 2011 Pagami Creek wildfire in northern Minnesota, USA. We were able to statistically differentiate losses of forest floor C, N and Hg among a five-class soil-level fire severity classification system. Regression relationships using soil fire severity class were able to predict remaining forest floor C, N and Hg pools with 82-96% confidence. We correlated National Aeronautics and Space Administration Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-Classic imagery to ground-based plot-scale estimates of soil fire severity to upscale emissions o...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emissions of forest floor and mineral soil carbon, nitrogen and mercury pools and relationships with fire severity for the Pagami Creek Fire in the Boreal Forest of northern Minnesota

Kolka

Sturtevant

Miesel

et al. 2017

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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“…Deforestation followed by biomass harvesting can increase forest floor irradiation and temperature and therefore enhanced Hg 0 emission (Carpi et al, 2014;Mazur et al, 2014). Carpi et al (2014) reported forest floor soil fluxes of −0.73 ± 1.84 and 0.33 ± 0.09 ng m −2 h −1 from intact New England and Amazon forest floors, respectively. Substantial emission fluxes at 9.13 ± 2.08, 21.2 ± 0.35 ng m −2 h −1 were observed after deforestation, suggesting forest coverage effectively reduced ground floor Hg 0 emission.…”

Section: Air-vegetation Hg 0 Exchangementioning

confidence: 99%

Global observations and modeling of atmosphere–surface exchange of elemental mercury: a critical review

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Reliable quantification of air-surface fluxes of elemental Hg vapor (Hg 0 ) is crucial for understanding mercury (Hg) global biogeochemical cycles. There have been extensive measurements and modeling efforts devoted to estimating the exchange fluxes between the atmosphere and various surfaces (e.g., soil, canopies, water, snow, etc.) in the past three decades. However, large uncertainties remain due to the complexity of Hg 0 bidirectional exchange, limitations of flux quantification techniques and challenges in model parameterization. In this study, we provide a critical review on the state of science in the atmosphere-surface exchange of Hg 0 . Specifically, the advancement of flux quantification techniques, mechanisms in driving the air-surface Hg exchange and modeling efforts are presented. Due to the semi-volatile nature of Hg 0 and redox transformation of Hg in environmental media, Hg deposition and evasion are influenced by multiple environmental variables including seasonality, vegetative coverage and its life cycle, temperature, light, moisture, atmospheric turbulence and the presence of reactants (e.g., O 3 , radicals, etc.). However, the effects of these processes on flux have not been fundamentally and quantitatively determined, which limits the accuracy of flux modeling.We compile an up-to-date global observational flux database and discuss the implication of flux data on the global Hg budget. Mean Hg 0 fluxes obtained by micrometeorological measurements do not appear to be significantly greater than the fluxes measured by dynamic flux chamber methods over unpolluted surfaces (p = 0.16, one-tailed, Mann-Whitney U test). The spatiotemporal coverage of existing Hg 0 flux measurements is highly heterogeneous with large data gaps existing in multiple continents (Africa, South Asia, Middle East, South America and Australia). The magnitude of the evasion flux is strongly enhanced by human activities, particularly at contaminated sites. Hg 0 flux observations in East Asia are comparatively larger in magnitude than the rest of the world, suggesting substantial re-emission of previously deposited mercury from anthropogenic sources. The Hg 0 exchange over pristine surfaces (e.g., background soil and water) and vegetation needs better constraints for global analyses of the atmospheric Hg budget. The existing knowledge gap and the associated research needs for future measurements and modeling efforts for the air-surface exchange of Hg 0 are discussed.

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“…The post hoc tests (Tukey's HSD) were performed at 5% significance level. Data for deciduous forest in China are from Zhou et al 2016c; for evergreen forests are from Du et al, 2014, Fu et al, 2008c, Wang et al, 2006, Ma et al, 2014, Ma et al, 2016, Luo et al (2015a), Fang et al, 2003Zhou et al 2016c; for North America are from Ericksen et al, 2006, Hartman et al, 2009, Carpi and Lindberg, 1998, Kuiken et al 2008a, b, Lee et al 2000, Poissant et al 2004, Poissant and Casimir, 1998, Carpi et al, 2014, Choi and Holsen, 2009, Schroeder et al, 1989; for Europe are from Xiao et al 1991, Kyllönen et al, 2012; from Brazil are from Almeida et al, 2009;Carpi et al, 2014;Magarelli and Fostier, 2005. Atmos.…”

Section: 939mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury fluxes, budgets and pools in forest ecosystems of China: A critical review

Zhou

Wang

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Abstract. Mercury (Hg) accumulation and retention in forest ecosystems play a key role in global biogeochemical cycling of Hg. Especially in China, forests are suffering highly elevated Hg loads. Numerous studies have been conducted to characterize the fluxes and pools of Hg in the terrestrial forests in China during the past decade, which provide insights into spatial distributions and estimate the Hg mass balance in forests through observations at widely diverse subtropical and temperate locations. In this paper, we present a comprehensive review of the research status of forest Hg in China to characterize the Hg budgets and pools. Averaged total Hg (THg) inputs at remote forests and rural & suburban forests in China are about 2 to 4-fold and 2.5 to 5-fold higher than the observed values in Europe and North America, respectively. The highly elevated THg inputs are mainly derived from the elevated atmospheric Hg concentrations. Additionally, production of litterfall biomass is showed to be an important influential factor raising the high Hg inputs at subtropical forests. Compared to the input, THg outputs from the forest ecosystems are relative small, which results in large amount of Hg resided in the forest soils. The annual THg retentions range from 26.1 to 60.4&thinsp;µg&thinsp;m&minus;2 at subtropical forests and from 12.4 to 26.2&thinsp;µg&thinsp;m&minus;2 at temperate forests of China, which are about 3.8- to 7.9-fold and 1.2 to 2.8-fold higher compared to those in North America. Given the large areal coverage, THg retention in forest is appropriately 69&thinsp;t&thinsp;yr&minus;1 in China and is much high than that in global scale estimated by models. The much higher THg retention has elevated the THg pools in Chinese subtropical forests, which poses a serious threat for large Hg pulses remitted back to the atmosphere and additional ecological risks in the forest. The current study has implication for the role of China forests in the global Hg biogeochemical cycle and the optimization of atmospheric Hg transport and deposition models.

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Gaseous mercury emissions from soil following forest loss and land use changes: Field experiments in the United States and Brazil

Cited by 60 publications

References 31 publications

Emissions of forest floor and mineral soil carbon, nitrogen and mercury pools and relationships with fire severity for the Pagami Creek Fire in the Boreal Forest of northern Minnesota

Emissions of forest floor and mineral soil carbon, nitrogen and mercury pools and relationships with fire severity for the Pagami Creek Fire in the Boreal Forest of northern Minnesota

Global observations and modeling of atmosphere–surface exchange of elemental mercury: a critical review

Mercury fluxes, budgets and pools in forest ecosystems of China: A critical review

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