Permafrost Stores a Globally Significant Amount of Mercury
Creators
- Schuster, Paul F.1
- Schaefer, Kevin M.2
- Antweiler, Ronald C.1
- Dewild, John F.3
- Gryziec, Joshua D.4
- Gusmeroli, Alessio5
- Hugelius, Gustaf6
- Jafarov, Elchin7
- Krabbenhoft, David P.3
- Liu, Lin8
- Herman-Mercer, Nicole1
- Mu, Ciuciu9
- Roth, David A.10
- Schaefer, Tim11
- Striegl, Robert G.1
- Wickland, Kimberly P.1
- Zhang, Tingjun9
- 1. U.S. Geological Survey, National Research Program, Boulder, CO, USA,
- 2. National Snow and Ice Data Center, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
- 3. U.S. Geological Survey, Wisconsin Water Science Center, Mercury Research Laboratory, Middleton, WI, USA,
- 4. Environmental Service Lab, Broomfield, CO, USA,
- 5. International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, USA,
- 6. Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
- 7. Computational Earth Sciences, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA
- 8. Earth System Science Programme, Faculty of Science, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- 9. Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems (MOE), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
- 10. U.S. Geological Survey, National Research Program, Boulder, CO, USA
- 11. Galmont Consulting, Chicago, IL, USA
Description
Abstract Changing climate in northern regions is causing permafrost to thaw with major implications for
the global mercury (Hg) cycle. We estimated Hg in permafrost regions based on in situ measurements of
sediment total mercury (STHg), soil organic carbon (SOC), and the Hg to carbon ratio (RHgC) combined
with maps of soil carbon. We measured a median STHg of 43 ± 30 ng Hg g soil1 and a median RHgC of
1.6 ± 0.9 μg Hg g C1, consistent with published results of STHg for tundra soils and 11,000 measurements
from 4,926 temperate, nonpermafrost sites in North America and Eurasia. We estimate that the Northern
Hemisphere permafrost regions contain 1,656 ± 962 Gg Hg, of which 793 ± 461 Gg Hg is frozen in permafrost.
Permafrost soils store nearly twice as much Hg as all other soils, the ocean, and the atmosphere
combined, and this Hg is vulnerable to release as permafrost thaws over the next century. Existing estimates
greatly underestimate Hg in permafrost soils, indicating a need to reevaluate the role of the Arctic regions
in the global Hg cycle.
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