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Worldwide trend of atmospheric mercury since 1977
Author(s) -
Slemr Franz,
Brunke ErnstGünther,
Ebinghaus Ralf,
Temme Christian,
Munthe John,
Wängberg Ingvar,
Schroeder William,
Steffen Alexandra,
Berg Torunn
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2003gl016954
Subject(s) - mercury (programming language) , environmental science , atmospheric emissions , atmospheric sciences , climatology , geology , computer science , programming language
The inventories of global anthropogenic emissions of mercury for years from 1979/1980 to 1995 suggest a substantial reduction in the 1980s and almost constant emissions afterwards. In contrast to emission inventories, measurements of atmospheric mercury suggest a concentration increase in the 1980s and a decrease in the 1990s. Here we present a first attempt to reconstruct the worldwide trend of atmospheric mercury concentrations from direct measurements since the late 1970s. In combination, long term measurements at 6 sites in the northern, 2 sites in the southern hemispheres, during 8 ship cruises over the Atlantic Ocean (1977–2000) provide a consistent picture, suggesting that atmospheric mercury concentrations increased in the late 1970s to a peak in the 1980s, then decreased to a minimum at about 1996, and have been nearly constant since. The observed trend is not consistent with the published inventories of anthropogenic emissions and the assumed ratios of anthropogenic/natural emissions, and suggests the need to improve the mercury emission inventories and to re‐evaluate the contribution of natural sources.