Arctic mercury flux increased through the Last Glacial Termination with a warming climate
Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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Arctic mercury flux increased through the Last Glacial Termination with a warming climate. / Segato, Delia; Saiz-Lopez, Alfonso; Mahajan, Anoop Sharad; Wang, Feiyue; Corella, Juan Pablo; Cuevas, Carlos Alberto; Erhardt, Tobias; Jensen, Camilla Marie; Zeppenfeld, Chantal; Kjaer, Helle Astrid; Turetta, Clara; Cairns, Warren Raymond Lee; Barbante, Carlo; Spolaor, Andrea.
I: Nature Geoscience, Bind 16, 04.05.2023, s. 439-445.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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T1 - Arctic mercury flux increased through the Last Glacial Termination with a warming climate
AU - Segato, Delia
AU - Saiz-Lopez, Alfonso
AU - Mahajan, Anoop Sharad
AU - Wang, Feiyue
AU - Corella, Juan Pablo
AU - Cuevas, Carlos Alberto
AU - Erhardt, Tobias
AU - Jensen, Camilla Marie
AU - Zeppenfeld, Chantal
AU - Kjaer, Helle Astrid
AU - Turetta, Clara
AU - Cairns, Warren Raymond Lee
AU - Barbante, Carlo
AU - Spolaor, Andrea
PY - 2023/5/4
Y1 - 2023/5/4
N2 - Mercury deposition onto the Greenland Ice Sheet increased from the Last Glacial Termination to early Holocene as the North Atlantic warmed and sea ice retreated, according to an ice-core mercury record and atmospheric chemistry modelling.Mercury is a pollutant of global concern, especially in the Arctic, where high levels are found in biota despite its remote location. Mercury is transported to the Arctic via atmospheric, oceanic and riverine long-range pathways, where it accumulates in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. While present-day mercury deposition in the Arctic from natural and anthropogenic emissions is extensively studied, the control of past climate changes on natural mercury variability remains unknown. Here we present an Arctic mercury record covering the Last Glacial Termination to the early Holocene epoch (15.7-9.0 thousand years before 2000 ce), collected as part of the East Greenland Ice-Core Project. We find a threefold increase in mercury depositional fluxes from the Last Glacial Termination into the early Holocene, which coincided with abrupt regional climate warming. Atmospheric chemistry modelling, combined with available sea-ice proxies, indicates that oceanic mercury evaporation and atmospheric bromine drove the increase in mercury flux during this climatic transition. Our results suggest that environmental changes associated with climate warming may contribute to increasing mercury levels in Arctic ecosystems.
AB - Mercury deposition onto the Greenland Ice Sheet increased from the Last Glacial Termination to early Holocene as the North Atlantic warmed and sea ice retreated, according to an ice-core mercury record and atmospheric chemistry modelling.Mercury is a pollutant of global concern, especially in the Arctic, where high levels are found in biota despite its remote location. Mercury is transported to the Arctic via atmospheric, oceanic and riverine long-range pathways, where it accumulates in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. While present-day mercury deposition in the Arctic from natural and anthropogenic emissions is extensively studied, the control of past climate changes on natural mercury variability remains unknown. Here we present an Arctic mercury record covering the Last Glacial Termination to the early Holocene epoch (15.7-9.0 thousand years before 2000 ce), collected as part of the East Greenland Ice-Core Project. We find a threefold increase in mercury depositional fluxes from the Last Glacial Termination into the early Holocene, which coincided with abrupt regional climate warming. Atmospheric chemistry modelling, combined with available sea-ice proxies, indicates that oceanic mercury evaporation and atmospheric bromine drove the increase in mercury flux during this climatic transition. Our results suggest that environmental changes associated with climate warming may contribute to increasing mercury levels in Arctic ecosystems.
KW - HIGH-RESOLUTION RECORD
KW - SEA-ICE
KW - ATMOSPHERIC MERCURY
KW - FRAM STRAIT
KW - HOLOCENE
KW - GREENLAND
KW - PEAT
KW - ACCUMULATION
KW - DEPOSITION
KW - CHEMISTRY
U2 - 10.1038/s41561-023-01172-9
DO - 10.1038/s41561-023-01172-9
M3 - Journal article
VL - 16
SP - 439
EP - 445
JO - Nature Geoscience
JF - Nature Geoscience
SN - 1752-0894
ER -
ID: 347790678