China News Service, Beijing, May 25 (Reporter Sun Zifa) A new research paper published in the professional academic journal "Nature-Earth Science" under Springer Nature stated that researchers have discovered that the southwestern end of the Greenland ice sheet is a large mercury source , The dissolved mercury content in the meltwater rivers of its glacier basin is very high.
The researchers pointed out that this mercury source has not yet been included in the global mercury budget, or has a significant impact on the local Arctic and coastal ecological environment.
Because mercury is a highly toxic element, mercury pollution has become a global concern.
It was previously discovered that there are high levels of mercury in Arctic organisms.
However, whether the Greenland ice sheet is a source of mercury and its impact on the lower Arctic region has been unknown.
The need for this type of information is very urgent, because the Greenland ice sheet is melting faster as the climate warms.
The corresponding author of the paper, Florida State University Jon Hawkings (Jon Hawkings) and his colleagues measured the mercury concentration in the melt water of three glacier basins at the southwestern end of the Greenland ice sheet during the summer melting period and found that the southwestern end of Greenland would export a large amount of mercury downstream Fjord.
Dissolved mercury exported from this region accounts for a significant proportion of the global total, with a maximum of about 42 tons per year, which is equivalent to about 10% of the total output of global rivers to the ocean.
The study found that the concentration of dissolved mercury in the meltwater of the glaciers in the southwest of the Greenland Ice Sheet is among the highest in natural water bodies.
In addition, high concentrations of mercury have always been present in the downstream fjords, leading to the potential risk of bioaccumulation in the coastal food web.
The author of the paper believes that considering that human and ecosystem exposure to mercury may increase, it is necessary to carry out further studies to understand the mercury dynamics of ice sheet runoff in the entire Greenland region.
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