Skip to main content
Log in

Atmospheric mercury measurements in the northern hemisphere from 56° to 82.5° N latitude

  • Published:
Water, Air, and Soil Pollution Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Sampling of total gaseous mercury (TGM) in air was initiated at Alert, Northwest Territories, Canada (82.5°N;62.3°W) by Atmospheric Environment Service (AES) staff during August 1992 on an exploratory basis for a year. TGM was pre-concentrated onto traps (2 in series) containing Au-coated quartz sand for sampling periods of 1 (or more) week(s) at flow-rates of 30 – 50 mL/min. During the first winter cruise of the RV “POLARSTERN” from Germany (56°N) to the Nordic Seas, and at an ice-camp (81°N;5°E) in the Arctic, simultaneous samples of TGM and aerosol black carbon (“soot”) were collected, from February to April 1993, by the GKSS group. The analytical methods for TGM determinations (2-stage gold amalgamation/thermal desorption, followed by cold-vapor atomic fluorescence spectroscopy) were essentially the same for both studies. Experimental details, results, and conclusions are presented and discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barrie, L.A.: 1993,Polar Sunrise Experiment 1992. The Right Atmosphere. Canadian Institute for Research in Atmospheric Chemistry, York University, North York, Ontario. #8: 3–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brosset, C. and Iverfeldt, A.: 1989,Water, Air, Soil Pollut. 43, 147–168.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Mora, S.J., Patterson, J.E. and Bibby, D.M.: 1993,Antarctic Sci. 5, 323–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dick, A.L., Sheppard, D.S. and Patterson, J.E.: 1990,Atmos. Environ. 24A, 973–978.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, R.D.: 1986,Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 15, 505–512.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzgerald, W.F.: 1993,The World and I. Oct., 192–199

  • Fitzgerald, W.F. and Gill, G.A.: 1979,Anal. Chem. 51, 1714–1720.

    Google Scholar 

  • International Conference on Hg as a Global Pollutant, 1994. Whistler, B.C., July 10–14.

  • Jensen, A. and Jensen, A.: 1991,Water, Air, Soil Pollut. 56, 769–777.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindqvist, O. and Rodhe, H.: 1985,Tellus 37B, 136–159.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindqvist, O. and Schroeder, W.H.: 1989,In: Control and Fate of Atmospheric Trace Metals, J.M. Pacyna and B. Ottar, Eds., Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mackay, D., Wania, F. and Schroeder, W.H.: This volume,Prospects for modeling the behavior and fate of mercury, globally and in aquatic systems.

  • NAS: 1978,An Assessment of Mercury in the Environment. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, U.S.A.

    Google Scholar 

  • NRCC: 1979,Mercury in the Canadian Environment. National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nriagu, J.O. and Pacyna, J.M.: 1988,Nature 333, 134–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, G., Iverfeldt, A. and Munthe, J.: 1994,Atmospheric mercury species over central and northern Europe. Model calculations and comparison with observations from the Nordic air and precipitation network for 1987 and 1988. Atmos. Environ. (In press).

  • Pheiffer-Madsen P.: 1981,Nature 293, 127–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schroeder, W.H., Munthe, J. and Lindqvist, O.: 1989,Water, Air, Soil Pollut. 48, 337–347.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schroeder, W.H.: 1994,Atmospheric mercury measurements at a rural site in southern Ontario, Canada.In: Mercury as a Global Pollutant, C. Watras and J. Huckabee, Eds., Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL. (In Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Schroeder, W.H. and Markes, J.: 1994,J.Great Lakes Res. 20, 240–259.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slemr, F., Schuster, G. and Seiler, W.: 1985,J. Atmos. Chem. 3, 407–434.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slemr, F. and Langer, E.: 1992,Nature 355, 434–437.

    Google Scholar 

  • SNV: 1984,Mercury in the Swedish Environment: Global and Local Sources. National Swedish Environmental Protection Board, Solna, Sweden.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swain, E.B., Engstrom, D.R., Brigham, M.E., Henning, T.A. and Brezonik, P.L.: 1992,Science 257, 784–787.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verta, M., Tolonen, K. and Simola, H.: 1989,Sci. Total Environ. 87/88, 1–18.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schroeder, W.H., Ebinghaus, R., Shoeib, M. et al. Atmospheric mercury measurements in the northern hemisphere from 56° to 82.5° N latitude. Water Air Soil Pollut 80, 1227–1236 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01189786

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01189786

Keywords

Navigation