Chemical cycling and deposition of atmospheric mercury in polar regions: review of recent measurements and comparison with models

Title (Dublin Core)

Chemical cycling and deposition of atmospheric mercury in polar regions:
review of recent measurements and comparison with models

Description (Dublin Core)

Mercury (Hg) is a worldwide contaminant that can cause adverse health effects to wildlife and humans. While atmospheric modeling traces the link from emissions to deposition of Hg onto environmental surfaces, large uncertainties arise from our incomplete understanding of atmospheric processes (oxidation pathways, deposition, and re-emission). Atmospheric Hg reactivity is exacerbated in high latitudes and there is still much to be learned from polar regions in terms of atmospheric processes. This paper provides a synthesis of the atmospheric Hg monitoring data available in recent years (2011–2015) in the Arctic and in Antarctica along with a comparison of these observations with numerical simulations using four cutting-edge global models. The cycle of atmospheric Hg in the Arctic and in Antarctica presents both similarities and differences. Coastal sites in the two regions are both influenced by springtime atmospheric Hg depletion events and by summertime snowpack re-emission and oceanic evasion of Hg. The cycle of atmospheric Hg differs between the two regions primarily because of their different geography. While Arctic sites are significantly influenced by northern hemispheric Hg emissions especially in winter, coastal Antarctic sites are significantly influenced by the reactivity observed on the East Antarctic ice sheet due to katabatic winds. Based on the comparison of multi-model simulations with observations, this paper discusses whether the processes that affect atmospheric Hg seasonality and interannual variability are appropriately represented in the models and identifies research gaps in our understanding of the atmospheric Hg cycling in high latitudes.

Creator (Dublin Core)

Angot, Hélène

Dastoor, Ashu

Simone, Francesco

Gårdfeldt, Katarina

Gencarelli, Christian N.

Hedgecock, Ian M.

Langer, Sarka

Magand, Olivier

Mastromonaco, Michelle N.

Nordstrøm, Claus

Pfaffhuber, Katrine A.

Pirrone, Nicola

Ryjkov, Andrei

Selin, Noelle E.

Skov, Henrik

Song, Shaojie

Sprovieri, Francesca

Steffen, Alexandra

Toyota, Kenjiro

Travnikov, Oleg

Yang, Xin

Dommergue, Aurélien

Date (Dublin Core)

2018-10-09

Type (Dublin Core)

info:eu-repo/semantics/Text

Format (Dublin Core)

info:eu-repo/semantics/application/pdf

Identifier (Dublin Core)

10.5194/acp-16-10735-2016

https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/16/10735/2016/

Source (Dublin Core)

eISSN: 1680-7324

Language (Dublin Core)

eng

Relation (Dublin Core)

info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/265113

Rights (Dublin Core)

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Item