The Arctic: a sink for mercury

Ariya, Parisa A.; Dastoor, Ashu; Amyot, Marc; Schroeder, W. H.; Barrie, Leonard A.; Anlauf, K. G.; Raofie, Farhad; Ryzhkov, A.; Davignon, Didier; Lalonde, Janick D.; Steffen, Alexandra

doi:10.1111/j.1600-0889.2004.00118.x

Cited by 153 publications

(141 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…According to our current understanding of gas phase chemistry of Hg 0 , Br or BrO are relevant oxidants that could significantly decrease the lifetime of Hg 0 (Ariya et al, 2004). Both NO x and O 3 chemistry would be impacted by the presence of halogens.…”

Section: Examining Oxidation Pathways With Halogensmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic recycling of gaseous elemental mercury in the boundary layer of the Antarctic Plateau

et al. 2012

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Abstract. Gaseous elemental mercury (Hg 0 ) was investigated in the troposphere and in the interstitial air extracted from the snow at Dome Concordia station (alt. 3320 m) on the Antarctic Plateau during January 2009. Measurements and modeling studies showed evidence of a very dynamic and daily cycling of Hg 0 inside the mixing layer with a range of values from 0.2 ng m −3 up to 2.3 ng m −3 . During low solar irradiation periods, fast Hg 0 oxidation processes in a confined layer were suspected. Unexpectedly high Hg 0 concentrations for such a remote place were measured under higher solar irradiation due to snow photochemistry. We suggest that a daily cycling of reemission/oxidation occurs during summer within the mixing layer at Dome Concordia.Hg 0 concentrations showed a negative correlation with ozone mixing ratios, which contrasts with atmospheric mercury depletion events observed during the Arctic spring. Unlike previous Antarctic studies, we think that atmospheric Hg 0 removal may not be the result of advection processes. The daily and dramatic Hg 0 losses could be a consequence of surface or snow induced oxidation pathways. It remains however unclear whether halogens are involved. The cycling of other oxidants should be investigated together with Hg species in order to clarify the complex reactivity on the Antarctic plateau.

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Section: Examining Oxidation Pathways With Halogensmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic recycling of gaseous elemental mercury in the boundary layer of the Antarctic Plateau

et al. 2012

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“…This may stem from the mercury arctic depletion events (MDE). The modelling of this phenomenon is currently addressed in several works (see Ariya et al, 2004;Calvert and Lindberg, 2003). How to pragmatically represent the phenomenon within a hemispherical mercury model can be found in Christensen et al (2004) or Travnikov and Ryaboshapko (2002).…”

Section: Improving the Monthly Averaged Boundary Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inverse modelling for mercury over Europe

Roustan

Bocquet

2006

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. The fate and transport of mercury over Europe is studied using a regional Eulerian transport model. Because gaseous elemental mercury is a long-lived species in the atmosphere, boundary conditions must be properly taken into account. Ground measurements of gaseous mercury are very sensitive to the uncertainties attached to those forcing conditions. Inverse modelling can help to constrain the forcing fields and help to improve the predicted mercury concentrations. More generally, it allows to reduce the weaknesses of a regional model against a global or hemispherical model for such diffuse trace constituent. Adjoint techniques are employed to relate rigorously and explicitly the measurements to the forcing fields. This way, the inverse problem is clearly defined. Using EMEP measurements of gaseous mercury and performing the inversions, it is shown that boundary conditions can be improved significantly as well as the forecast concentrations. Using inverse modelling to improve the emission inventory is however much more difficult. Indeed, there are currently not enough mercury monitoring stations, and they are located far away from the center of Europe.

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“…Since the discovery of the Atmospheric Mercury Depletion Event (AMDE) in 1995, significant efforts have been carried out to understand this circumpolar phenomenon (Ariya et al, 2004;Skov et al, 2004). Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) is converted to reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) during an AMDE.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural and anthropogenic atmospheric mercury in the European Arctic: a fractionation study

et al. 2011

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Abstract. Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) is converted to reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) during springtime Atmospheric Mercury Depletion Events (AMDE).This study reports the longest time series of GEM, RGM and particle-bound mercury (PHg) concentrations from a European Arctic site. From 27 April 2007 until 31 December 2008 composite GEM, RGM and PHg measurements were conducted in 11 • 53 E). The average concentrations of the complete dataset were 1.6 ± 0.3 ng m −3 , 8 ± 13 pg m −3 and 8 ± 25 pg m −3 for GEM, RGM and PHg, respectively. For the complete dataset the atmospheric mercury distribution was 99 % GEM, whereas RGM and PHg constituted <1 %. The study revealed a seasonal distribution of GEM, RGM and PHg previously undiscovered in the Arctic. Increased concentrations of RGM were observed during the insolation period from March through August, while increased PHg concentrations occurred almost exclusively during the spring AMDE period in March and April. The elevated RGM concentrations suggest that atmospheric RGM deposition also occurs during the polar summer. RGM was suggested as the precursor for the PHg existence, but long range transportation of PHg has to be taken into consideration. Still there remain gaps in the knowledge of how RGM and PHg are related in the environment. RGM and PHg accounted for on average about 10 % Correspondence to: A. O. Steen (anne.steen@chem.ntnu.no) of the depleted GEM during AMDEs. Although speculative, the fairly low RGM and PHg concentrations supported by the predominance of PHg with respect to RGM and no clear meteorological regime associated with these AMDEs would all suggest the events to be of non-local origin. With some exceptions, no clear meteorological regime was associated with the GEM, RGM and PHg concentrations throughout the year.

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The Arctic: a sink for mercury

Cited by 153 publications

References 29 publications

Dynamic recycling of gaseous elemental mercury in the boundary layer of the Antarctic Plateau

Dynamic recycling of gaseous elemental mercury in the boundary layer of the Antarctic Plateau

Inverse modelling for mercury over Europe

Natural and anthropogenic atmospheric mercury in the European Arctic: a fractionation study

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