Premium
Transport of Hg from Atmospheric mercury depletion events to the mainland of Norway and its possible influence on Hg deposition
Author(s) -
Berg Torunn,
Aspmo Katrine,
Steinnes Eiliv
Publication year - 2008
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 - 10.1029/2008gl033586
Subject(s) - mercury (programming language) , moss , arctic , the arctic , environmental science , environmental chemistry , elemental mercury , deposition (geology) , atmospheric sciences , oceanography , geology , chemistry , ecology , geomorphology , organic chemistry , sediment , flue gas , computer science , biology , programming language
The Norwegian nationwide moss surveys have demonstrated elevated concentrations of mercury in moss growing at the Arctic coast. Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) was measured during one year at the sub Arctic location Andøya, to see whether the high concentrations of mercury in moss were associated with Arctic Mercury Depletion Events (AMDE). AMDEs were observed at Andøya, but they were less pronounced than at the high Arctic station Zeppelin, located at Ny‐Ålesund, Svalbard. E.g. a 50‐hour AMDE observed at Zeppelin in April 2005 was recorded a couple of days later as a much smaller event at Andøya (GEM decreased from 1.6 to 1.0 ng/m 3 ). The lowest concentration measured at Andøya was 0.5 ng/m 3 . The results indicate that AMDE may contribute to the elevated concentrations observed in moss and hence to increased deposition of mercury at the northern coast of Norway.