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
Interactions between Hg and soil microbes: microbial diversity and mechanisms, with an emphasis on fungal processes
Alexis Durand,Alexis Durand,François Maillard,François Maillard,Julie Foulon,Julie Foulon,Michel Chalot,Michel Chalot +7 more
TL;DR: The fungal communities are more resilient than bacterial communities to Hg exposure, and understanding Hg tolerance and accumulation by fungi may lead to new remediation biotechnologies.
Journal ArticleDOI
Seasonal Variations of Total Gaseous Mercury at a French Coastal Mediterranean Site
TL;DR: In this paper, the seasonal variation and spatial distribution of atmospheric particles at three islands in the Taiwan Strait were investigated, and the average PM10 concentrations at the Kinmen islands were generally higher than other sampling sites, suggesting that a superimposition phenomenon was regularly observed during the air pollution episodes at Kinmen Islands and Xiamen region.
Journal ArticleDOI
Source apportionment of mercury in surface soils near the Wuda coal fire area in Inner Mongolia, China.
TL;DR: According to characteristic Hg isotope compositions of different sources, it is concluded that the Hg in Wuda soils mainly sourced from cement plants andcoal fires, and coal fires were still an important Hg contamination source in Wda area.
Journal ArticleDOI
Mercury Accumulation in Sediment Cores from Three Washington State Lakes: Evidence for Local Deposition from a Coal-Fired Power Plant
Chad V. Furl,Callie A. Meredith +1 more
TL;DR: Results indicated lakes immediately downwind of the power plant contained elevated HgA,F levels with respect to the reference lake, and Estimated fluxes to Lake Sammamish were compared to measured values from a nearby mercury wet deposition collector to gauge the efficacy of the core deconstruction techniques.
Journal ArticleDOI
Development of a Ground-Based Atmospheric Monitoring Network for the Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS)
TL;DR: The Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS) project as mentioned in this paper is a coordinated global observational network for atmospheric Hg, which is used to provide information on the concentration of Hg species in ambient air and precipitation on the global scale.
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.
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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.