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
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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
Spatial and temporal distribution of atmospheric mercury species over the Adriatic Sea
TL;DR: In this paper, field measurements of atmospheric mercury and related species were carried out during an intensive cruise campaign performed over the Adriatic sea from October 26th to November 12th, 2004 on board the R/V Urania.
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Mercury vapor air–surface exchange measured by collocated micrometeorological and enclosure methods – Part II: Bias and uncertainty analysis
TL;DR: In this article, the uncertainty in Hg0 flux measured by the relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) method, the aerodynamic gradient method (AGM), the modified Bowen ratio (MBR), as well as DFC of traditional (TDFC) and novel (NDFC) designs, are assessed using a robust data set from two field intercomparison campaigns.
Journal ArticleDOI
Mercury concentrations in tropical resident and migrant songbirds on Hispaniola
Jason M. Townsend,Christopher C. Rimmer,Charles T. Driscoll,Kent P. McFarland,Eduardo E. Iñigo-Elias +4 more
TL;DR: Two migrant songbird species overwintering on the island had higher blood Hg concentrations than have been recorded on their North American breeding grounds, suggesting that Hg biomagnification is occurring in terrestrial forests of Hispaniola.
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Summertime elemental mercury exchange of temperate grasslands on an ecosystem-scale
Johannes Fritsche,Georg Wohlfahrt,Christof Ammann,Matthias Zeeman,Albin Hammerle,Daniel Obrist,Christine Alewell +6 more
TL;DR: It is indicated that during the active vegetation period temperate grasslands are a small net sink for atmospheric mercury, which indicates that with increasing ozone concentrations depletion of GEM was observed, but could not be quantified from the flux signal.
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Temperature and sunlight controls of mercury oxidation and deposition atop the Greenland ice sheet
TL;DR: In the Greenland Summit Halogen-HOx experiment (GSHOX) as discussed by the authors, bromine and mercury chemistry was conclusively detected in the near surface air at Summit, Greenland.
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.
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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.
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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.