The fate of mercury species in a sub-arctic snowpack during snowmelt

Details The fate of mercury species in a sub-arctic snowpack during snowmelt The fate of mercury species in a sub-arctic snowpack during snowmelt

Jun 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003georl..30l..23d&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 30, Issue 12, pp. 23-1, CiteID 1621, DOI 10.1029/2003GL017308

Physics

14

Atmospheric Composition And Structure: Geochemical Cycles, Atmospheric Composition And Structure: Constituent Sources And Sinks, Hydrology: Snow And Ice (1827), Geochemistry: Trace Elements (3670)

Scientific paper

An extensive mercury study was conducted in April 2002 prior to and during the annual melting of a snowpack in a sub-arctic site along the Hudson Bay (Canada). Gas-phase measurements show that the snowmelt coincides with an elemental mercury (Hg°) pulse in the snowpack air far above ambient levels. Additional measurements of inorganic mercury (Hg2+) and methylmercury (MeHg+) in snow pits, in surface snow and in a meltwater sample clearly reveal that most of Hg is removed from the snow during the first days of snowmelt. We estimate that gas-phase exchanges contribute poorly to remove Hg from the snowpack; consequently during a snowmelt day more than 90% of Hg present in the snow surface is likely released with the meltwater. In arctic areas, where Hg accumulates at an accelerated rate in the snow surfaces [ Lu et al., 2001] during mercury depletion events (MDE), the discharge of this toxic and bio-accumulating pollutant in water systems could be a threat to ecosystems and local indigenous populations.

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