Previously unaccounted atmospheric mercury deposition in a midlatitude deciduous forest.

ABSTRACT: Mercury is toxic to wildlife and humans, and forests are thought to be a globally important sink for gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) deposition from the atmosphere. Yet there are currently no annual GEM deposition measurements over rural forests. Here we present measurements of ecosystem-atmosphere GEM exchange using tower-based micrometeorological methods in a midlatitude hardwood forest. We measured an annual GEM deposition of 25.1 µg ⋅ m^-2 (95% CI: 23.2 to 26.7 1 µg ⋅ m^-2), which is five times larger than wet deposition of mercury from the atmosphere. Our observed annual GEM deposition accounts for 76% of total atmospheric mercury deposition and also is three times greater than litterfall mercury deposition, which has previously been used as a proxy measure for GEM

SUBMITTER: Obrist D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8307844 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature