Antarctic springtime depletion of atmospheric mercury

被引:247
作者
Ebinghaus, R [1 ]
Kock, HH
Temme, C
Einax, JW
Löwe, AG
Richter, A
Burrows, JP
Schroeder, WH
机构
[1] GKSS Forschungszentrum Geesthacht GmbH, Inst Coastal Res Phys & Chem Anal, D-21502 Geesthacht, Germany
[2] Univ Jena, Dept Environm Anal, Inst Inorgan & Analyt Chem, D-07743 Jena, Germany
[3] Alfred Wegener Inst Polar & Marine Res, D-27568 Bremerhaven, Germany
[4] Univ Bremen, Inst Environm Phys, D-28359 Bremen, Germany
[5] Meteorol Serv Canada, Toronto, ON M3H 5T4, Canada
关键词
D O I
10.1021/es015710z
中图分类号
X [环境科学、安全科学];
学科分类号
08 ; 0830 ;
摘要
Unlike other heavy metals that are inherently associated with atmospheric aerosols, mercury in ambient air exists predominantly in the gaseous elemental form. Because of its prolonged atmospheric residence time, elemental mercury vapor is distributed on a global scale. Recently, Canadian researchers have discovered that total gaseous mercury levels in the lower tropospheric boundary layer in the Canadian Arctic are often significantly depleted during the months after polar sunrise. A possible explanation may involve oxidation of elemental mercury, followed by adsorption and deposition of the oxidized form, leading to an increased input of atmospheric mercury into the Arctic ecosystem. Here we present the first continuous high-time-resolution measurements of total gaseous mercury in the Antarctic covering a 12-month period between January 2000 and January 2001 at the German Antarctic research station Neumayer (70degrees39' S, 8degrees15' W). We report that mercury depletion events also occur in the Antarctic after polar sunrise and Compare our measurements with a data set from Alert, Nunavut, Canada. We also present indications that BrO radicals and ozone play a key role in the boundary-layer chemistry during springtime mercury depletion events in the Antarctic troposphere.
引用
收藏
页码:1238 / 1244
页数:7
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