Dynamic Oxidation of Gaseous Mercury in the Arctic Troposphere at Polar Sunrise

• Published in: Environmental science & technology Vol. 36; no. 6; pp. 1245 - 1256
• Main Authors: Lindberg, Steve E, Brooks, Steve, Lin, C.-J, Scott, Karen J, Landis, Matthew S, Stevens, Robert K, Goodsite, Mike, Richter, Andreas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 15.03.2002
• Subjects: Air Pollutants - analysis; Applied sciences; Arctic Regions; Atmosphere; Atmospheric pollution; Bacteria; Biological Availability; Ecosystem; Environmental Monitoring; Exact sciences and technology; Gases; MATERIALS SCIENCE; MERCURY; Mercury - analysis; Mercury - chemistry; OXIDATION; Oxidation-Reduction; Periodicity; Photochemistry; Pollutants physicochemistry study: properties, effects, reactions, transport and distribution; Pollution; Snow; Sun; TROPOSPHERE; Alaska; Arctic Region; United States; North America; America; Arctic Regions; Arctic region; Arctic; USA, Alaska, Barrow; Atmospheric fallout; Snow; Pollutant behavior; Troposphere; Bromine monoxide; Ozone; Photochemical reaction; Free radical reaction; Chlorine monoxide; Heavy metal; Depletion; Atmospheric chemistry; Volatilization; Reaction mechanism; Air pollution; Oxidation; Geochemical cycle; Gas phase; Mercury; Polar regions
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/es0111941

Gaseous elemental mercury (Hg0) is a globally distributed air toxin with a long atmospheric residence time. Any process that reduces its atmospheric lifetime increases its potential accumulation in the biosphere. Our data from Barrow, AK, at 71° N show that rapid, photochemically driven oxidation of boundary-layer Hg0 after polar sunrise, probably by reactive halogens, creates a rapidly depositing species of oxidized gaseous mercury in the remote Arctic troposphere at concentrations in excess of 900 pg m-3. This mercury accumulates in the snowpack during polar spring at an accelerated rate in a form that is bioavailable to bacteria and is released with snowmelt during the summer emergence of the Arctic ecosystem. Evidence suggests that this is a recent phenomenon that may be occurring throughout the earth's polar regions.