Journal ArticleDOI
A Synthesis of Progress and Uncertainties in Attributing the Sources of Mercury in Deposition
Steve E. Lindberg,Russell Bullock,Ralf Ebinghaus,Daniel R. Engstrom,Xinbin Feng,William F. Fitzgerald,Nicola Pirrone,Eric M. Prestbo,Christian Seigneur +8 more
TLDR
It is agreed that the uncertainty is strongly dependent upon scale and that the question as stated is answerable with greater confidence both very near and very far from major point sources, assuming that the “global pool” is a recognizable “source.”Abstract:
A panel of international experts was convened in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2005, as part of the 8th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant. Our charge was to address the state of science pertinent to source attribution, specifically our key question was: "For a given location, can we ascertain with confidence the relative contributions of local, regional, and global sources, and of natural versus anthropogenic emissions to mercury deposition?" The panel synthesized new research pertinent to this question published over the past decade, with emphasis on four major research topics: long-term anthropogenic change, current emission and deposition trends, chemical transformations and cycling, and modeling and uncertainty. Within each topic, the panel drew a series of conclusions, which are presented in this paper. These conclusions led us to concur that the answer to our question is a "qualified yes," with the qualification being dependent upon the level of uncertainty one is willing to accept. We agreed that the uncertainty is strongly dependent upon scale and that our question as stated is answerable with greater confidence both very near and very far from major point sources, assuming that the "global pool" is a recognizable "source." Many regions of interest from an ecosystem-exposure standpoint lie in between, where source attribution carries the greatest degree of uncertainty.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Uncertainties in estimating mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in China
TL;DR: In this paper, a new comprehensive sub-module for estimation of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in China is constructed as an uncertainty case study, integrating up-to-date information regarding mercury content in coal by province, coal washing and cleaning, coal consumption by province and mercury removal efficiencies by control technology or technology combinations, etc.
Journal ArticleDOI
Atmospheric mercury concentration and chemical speciation at a rural site in Beijing, China: implications of mercury emission sources
TL;DR: In this paper, the average GEM, RGM and PBM concentrations were found to be 3.22 ± 1.74, 10.1 ± 18.8 and 98.2 ± 112.7 pg m−3, respectively, about 2-20 times higher than the background concentration of the Northern Hemisphere.
Journal ArticleDOI
Factors influencing changes in mercury concentrations in lake water and yellow perch (Perca flavescens) in Adirondack lakes
TL;DR: In this article, the same cluster of 25 lakes was resurveyed in 2005-2006 to evaluate if changes in lake concentrations of Hg species or fish Hg have occurred.
Journal ArticleDOI
Mercury in freshwater ecosystems of the Canadian Arctic: recent advances on its cycling and fate.
John Chételat,Marc Amyot,Paul A. Arp,Jules M. Blais,David C. Depew,Craig A. Emmerton,Marlene Evans,Mary Gamberg,Nikolaus Gantner,Catherine Girard,Jennifer A. Graydon,Jane L. Kirk,David R. S. Lean,Igor Lehnherr,Derek C. G. Muir,Mina Nasr,Alexandre J. Poulain,Michael Power,Pat Roach,Gary A. Stern,Heidi K. Swanson,Shannon van der Velden +21 more
TL;DR: Preliminary evidence suggests that climate change impacts on the Hg cycle as well as biogeochemical controls of methylmercury production and the processes leading to increasing Hg levels in some fish populations in the Canadian Arctic may be impacting the cycling and bioaccumulation of mercury.
Journal ArticleDOI
Depletion of atmospheric gaseous elemental mercury by plant uptake at Mt.Changbai, Northeast China
Xuewu Fu,Wei Zhu,Hui Zhang,Jonas Sommar,Ben Yu,Xu Yang,Xun Wang,Che-Jen Lin,Che-Jen Lin,Xinbin Feng +9 more
TL;DR: In this paper, GEM depletions in a temperate mixed forest at Mt. Changbai, Northeast China were reported during the leaf growing season and in the absence of gaseous oxidized mercury enrichment (GOM enrichment).
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
The biogeochemical cycling of elemental mercury: Anthropogenic influences☆
TL;DR: A review of the available information on global Hg cycling shows that the atmosphere and surface ocean are in rapid equilibrium; the evasion of Hg0 from the oceans is balanced by the total oceanic deposition of hg(II) from the atmosphere as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Case for Atmospheric Mercury Contamination in Remote Areas
TL;DR: A review of the weaknesses in interpretation and the choice of information that has been used to argue against atmospheric Hg contamination can be found in this paper, where the authors examine the weaknesses of the information used to support the prevailing scientific view that natural geologic sources are the principal contributors of Hg.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global anthropogenic mercury emission inventory for 2000
TL;DR: Wilson et al. as mentioned in this paper presented a new inventory of global emissions of mercury to the atmosphere from anthropogenic sources for the year 2000, showing that the largest emissions of Hg to the global atmosphere occur from combustion of fossil fuels, mainly coal in utility, industrial, and residential boilers.
Journal ArticleDOI
Arctic springtime depletion of mercury
W.H. Schroeder,Kurt G. Anlauf,Leonard A. Barrie,J. Y. Lu,Alexandra Steffen,D. Schneeberger,Torunn Berg +6 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that during the spring (April to early June) of 1995, there were frequent episodic depletions in mercury vapour concentrations in Arctic surface air.