Global Mercury Emissions to the Atmosphere from Natural and Anthropogenic Sources

Pirrone, Nicola; Cinnirella, Sergio; Feng, Xinbin; Finkelman, Robert B.; Friedli, H.; Leaner, Joy; Mason, Robert P.; Mukherjee, Arun B.; Stracher, Glenn B.; Streets, David G.; Telmer, Kevin

doi:10.1007/978-0-387-93958-2_1

Cited by 102 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…Mercury (Hg) is a ubiquitous trace metal in the atmosphere and is emitted by both natural (Mason, 2009) and anthropogenic sources such as coal combustion, waste incineration and gold mining Pacyna et al, 2010;Pirrone et al, 2009). Anthropogenic emissions of Hg occur in the long-lived elemental form (Hg(0)), but also as shortlived oxidized mercury (Hg(II)) and particulate-bound mercury (Hg(P)).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nested-grid simulation of mercury over North America

et al. 2012

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Abstract. We have developed a new nested-grid mercury (Hg) simulation over North America with a 1/2 • latitude by 2/3 • longitude horizontal resolution employing the GEOSChem global chemical transport model. Emissions, chemistry, deposition, and meteorology are self-consistent between the global and nested domains. Compared to the global model (4 • latitude by 5 • longitude), the nested model shows improved skill at capturing the high spatial and temporal variability of Hg wet deposition over North America observed by the Mercury Deposition Network (MDN) in [2008][2009]. The nested simulation resolves features such as higher deposition due to orographic precipitation, land/ocean contrast and and predicts more efficient convective rain scavenging of Hg over the southeast United States. However, the nested model overestimates Hg wet deposition over the Ohio River Valley region (ORV) by 27 %. We modify anthropogenic emission speciation profiles in the US EPA National Emission Inventory (NEI) to account for the rapid inplume reduction of reactive to elemental Hg (IPR simulation). This leads to a decrease in the model bias to −2.3 % over the ORV region. Over the contiguous US, the correlation coefficient (r) between MDN observations and our IPR simulation increases from 0.60 to 0.78. The IPR nested simulation generally reproduces the seasonal cycle in surface concentrations of speciated Hg from the Atmospheric Mercury Network (AMNet) and Canadian Atmospheric Mercury Network (CAMNet). In the IPR simulation, annual mean gaseous and particulate-bound Hg(II) are within 140 % and 11 % of observations, respectively. In contrast, the simulation with unmodified anthropogenic Hg speciation profiles overestimates these observations by factors of 4 and 2 for gaseous and particulate-bound Hg(II), respectively. The nested model shows improved skill at capturing the horizontal variability of Hg observed over California during the ARCTAS aircraft campaign. The nested model suggests that North American anthropogenic emissions account for 10-22 % of Hg wet deposition flux over the US, depending on the anthropogenic emissions speciation profile assumed. The modeled percent contribution can be as high as 60 % near large point sources in ORV. Our results indicate that the North American anthropogenic contribution to dry deposition is 13-20 %.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nested-grid simulation of mercury over North America

et al. 2012

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“…An estimated~75-100 Mg yr −1 is released by quiescent degassing at volcanoes such as Mt Etna, Sicily (Bagnato et al, 2007) and Masaya, Nicaragua (Witt et al, 2008). Other natural sources of Hg to the atmosphere include evasion from soils, vegetation, agriculture and the oceans (Schroeder and Munthe, 1998), yielding a total natural Hg flux of~4400-5200 Mg yr −1 , much of which is recycled Hg from earlier anthropogenic emissions (Mason, 2009;Pirrone et al, 2009). The anthropogenic Hg flux is of the same order (2200-4000 Mg yr −1 ; Selin, 2009;Pirrone et al, 2009); the most significant of these flux sources is coal combustion, but metal production, waste incineration and artisanal gold mining are also important (Mason, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other natural sources of Hg to the atmosphere include evasion from soils, vegetation, agriculture and the oceans (Schroeder and Munthe, 1998), yielding a total natural Hg flux of~4400-5200 Mg yr −1 , much of which is recycled Hg from earlier anthropogenic emissions (Mason, 2009;Pirrone et al, 2009). The anthropogenic Hg flux is of the same order (2200-4000 Mg yr −1 ; Selin, 2009;Pirrone et al, 2009); the most significant of these flux sources is coal combustion, but metal production, waste incineration and artisanal gold mining are also important (Mason, 2009). The total atmospheric burden of Hg has more than doubled from~1600 to 1800 Mg in pre-anthropogenic times (Mason et al, 1994;Lamborg et al, 2002) to~5000 Mg at the present day (Selin et al, 2008) due to these industrial activities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid oxidation of mercury (Hg) at volcanic vents: Insights from high temperature thermodynamic models of Mt Etna's emissions

et al. 2011

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A major uncertainty regarding the environmental impacts of volcanic Hg is the extent to which Hg is deposited locally or transported globally. An important control on dispersion and deposition is the oxidation state of Hg compounds: Hg(0) is an inert, insoluble gas, while Hg(II) occurs as reactive gases or in particles, which deposit rapidly and proximally, near the volcanic vent. Using a new high temperature thermodynamic model, we show that although Hg in Etna's magmatic gases is almost entirely Hg(0) (i.e., gaseous elemental mercury), significant quantities of Hg(II) are likely formed at Etna's vents as gaseous HgCl 2 , when magmatic gases are cooled and oxidised by atmospheric gases. These results contrast with an earlier model study and allow us to explain recent measurements of Hg speciation at the crater rim of Etna without invoking rapid (b 1 min) low temperature oxidation processes. We further model Hg speciation for a series of additional magmatic gas compositions. Compared to Etna, Hg(II) production (i.e., Hg(II)/Hg tot ) is enhanced in more HCl-rich magmatic gases, but is independent of the Hg, HBr and HI content of the magmatic gases. Hg(II) production is not strongly influenced by the initial oxidation state of magmatic gases above NNO, although production is hindered in more reduced magmatic gases. The model and results are widely applicable to other open-vent volcanoes and may be used to improve the accuracy of chemical kinetic models for low temperature Hg speciation in volcanic plumes.

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“…The book prepared thanks to the contribution of over than 70 scientists from leading universities and research institutions, highlights major issues related to the interactions of mercury with terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and evaluates the relative contribution of anthropogenic and natural sources to the global atmospheric mercury budget (Pirrone et al, 2009) The definition of a global, coordinated network of measurements for assessing levels of mercury and its species in the atmosphere and water, improving the comparability among measurements and observations. The major current and future activities of the UNEP F&T Partnership Area are:…”

Section: -P2mentioning

confidence: 99%

The UNEP Fate And Transport Partnership Area: an overview of seven years activity and future plans

Fino

Strincone

Pirrone

2013

E3S Web of Conferences

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Abstract. The United Nations Environment Programme Mercury Air Transport and Fate ResearchPartnership Area (UNEP F&T) started its activity in 2005 and since then have provided a valuable contribution to the UNEP Mercury Programme and established a close cooperation with other international programs (i.e., GEO Task HE-09-02d / GEOSS) and conventions (UNECE-Task Force on Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution). The UNEP F&T aims to improve the global understanding of international mercury emission sources, fate and transport and to encourage collaborative research activities on different aspects of atmospheric mercury cycling at local, hemispheric and global scales. This paper provides an overview of major recent and future activities carried out by the Mercury Air Transport and Fate Research Partnership Area in the framework of the UNEP Mercury Programme and the ongoing negotiation process for developing a global legally binding instrument on mercury.

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Global Mercury Emissions to the Atmosphere from Natural and Anthropogenic Sources

Cited by 102 publications

References 83 publications

Nested-grid simulation of mercury over North America

Nested-grid simulation of mercury over North America

Rapid oxidation of mercury (Hg) at volcanic vents: Insights from high temperature thermodynamic models of Mt Etna's emissions

The UNEP Fate And Transport Partnership Area: an overview of seven years activity and future plans

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