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
Mercury as a Global Pollutant: Sources, Pathways, and Effects
TL;DR: Understanding of sources, atmosphere-land-ocean Hg dynamics and health effects are synthesized, and integration of Hg science with national and international policy efforts is needed to target efforts and evaluate efficacy.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global mercury emissions to the atmosphere from anthropogenic and natural sources
Nicola Pirrone,Sergio Cinnirella,Xinbin Feng,R. B. Finkelman,Hans R. Friedli,Joy J. Leaner,Robert P. Mason,Arun B. Mukherjee,Glenn B. Stracher,David G. Streets,Kevin Telmer +10 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provided an up-to-date assessment of global mercury emissions from anthropogenic and natural sources, including re-emission processes and primary emissions from natural reservoirs.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global Biogeochemical Cycling of Mercury: A Review
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors studied uncertainty in the global biogeochemical cycle of mercury, including oxidation processes in the atmosphere, land atmosphere and ocean-atmosphere cycling.
Journal ArticleDOI
Mechanisms Regulating Mercury Bioavailability for Methylating Microorganisms in the Aquatic Environment: A Critical Review
TL;DR: This Review evaluates the current state of knowledge regarding the mechanisms regulating microbial mercury methylation, including the speciation of mercury in environments where methylation occurs and the processes that control mercury bioavailability to these organisms.
Journal ArticleDOI
Whole-ecosystem study shows rapid fish-mercury response to changes in mercury deposition
R. Harris,John W. M. Rudd,Marc Amyot,Christopher L. Babiarz,Ken G. Beaty,Paul J. Blanchfield,R.A. Bodaly,Brian A. Branfireun,Cynthia C. Gilmour,Jennifer A. Graydon,Andrew Heyes,Holger Hintelmann,James P. Hurley,Carol A. Kelly,David P. Krabbenhoft,Steve E. Lindberg,Robert P. Mason,Michael J. Paterson,Cheryl L. Podemski,Art Robinson,Ken A. Sandilands,George R. Southworth,Vincent L. St. Louis,Michael T. Tate +23 more
TL;DR: Mercury emissions reductions will yield rapid (years) reductions in fish methylmercury concentrations and will yield concomitant reductions in risk, however, a full response will be delayed by the gradual export of mercury stored in watersheds.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Global emission of mercury from anthropogenic sources in 1995
TL;DR: In this article, an estimate of the global emission of mercury from anthropogenics sources in 1995 has been prepared, and major emphasis is placed on emissions from stationary combustion sources, nonferrous metal production, pig iron and steel production, cement production and waste disposal.
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Development and characterization of an annular denuder methodology for the measurement of divalent inorganic reactive gaseous mercury in ambient air.
TL;DR: Manual and automated annular denuder methodologies, to provide high-resolution ambient RGM measurements, were developed and evaluated and found the RGM collection efficiency to be >94% and mean collocated precision to be <15%.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global source attribution for mercury deposition in the United States.
TL;DR: A multiscale modeling system that consists of a global chemical transport model (CTM) and a nested continental CTM was used to simulate the global atmospheric fate and transport of mercury and its deposition over the contiguous United States.
Journal ArticleDOI
Export of atmospheric mercury from Asia
Daniel A. Jaffe,Eric Prestbo,Phil Swartzendruber,Peter Weiss-Penzias,Shungo Kato,Akinori Takami,Shiro Hatakeyama,Yoshizumi Kajii +7 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report on measurements of mercury from two sites during spring 2004 which received Asian outflow: Hedo Station,Okinawa (HSO),Japan and the Mt. Bachelor Observatory (MBO) in central Oregon,USA.
Journal ArticleDOI
Accumulation of atmospheric mercury in forest foliage
Jody Ericksen,Mae Sexauer Gustin,David E. Schorran,Dale W. Johnson,Steve E. Lindberg,James S. Coleman +5 more
TL;DR: This article used unique mesocosms to examine the role that plants play in accumulating and transforming atmospheric Hg and found that approximately 80% of the total Hg accumulated in the aboveground biomass was found in the leaves, and roughly 1% of that Hg was methylated.