High variability of atmospheric mercury in the summertime boundary layer through the central Arctic Ocean

Authors

Juan Yu, University of Science and Technology of China
Zhouqing Xie, University of Science and Technology of China
Hui Kang, University of Science and Technology of China
Zheng Li, University of Science and Technology of China
Chen Sun, University of Science and Technology of China
Lingen Bian, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences
Pengfei Zhang, CUNY City College

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

August 2014

Abstract

The biogeochemical cycles of mercury in the Arctic springtime have been intensively investigated due to mercury being rapidly removed from the atmosphere. However, the behavior of mercury in the Arctic summertime is still poorly understood. Here we report the characteristics of total gaseous mercury (TGM) concentrations through the central Arctic Ocean from July to September, 2012. The TGM concentrations varied considerably (from 0.15 ng/m3 to 4.58 ng/m3), and displayed a normal distribution with an average of 1.23 ± 0.61 ng/m3. The highest frequency range was 1.0–1.5 ng/m3, lower than previously reported background values in the Northern Hemisphere. Inhomogeneous distributions were observed over the Arctic Ocean due to the effect of sea ice melt and/or runoff. A lower level of TGM was found in July than in September, potentially because ocean emission was outweighed by chemical loss.

Comments

This work was originally published in Scientific Reports, available at doi:10.1038/srep06091.