Atmospheric Mercury

Dear Colleagues,

Mercury is a serious environmental toxin that is distributed globally by large-scale atmospheric circulations. Atmospheric chemists have only been studying mercury in earnest for approximately the past 10 years. In the troposphere elemental mercury (Hg^o) is observed ubiquitously with contemporary mixing ratios at the parts per quadrillion by volume (ppqv; 1 ng m⁻³ = 112 ppqv) level. The distributions of gaseous oxidized mercury (GOM) and particulate mercury (Hg^P) are not well documented at this time. In fact, the chemical composition of GOM is presently highly uncertain. At most mid-latitude locations, Hgo exhibits seasonality with the lowest mixing ratios in the fall and the greatest in late winter/early spring. It is highly desirable to conduct measurements of a variety of trace gases along with atmospheric mercury to facilitate source identification, but few studies have done so to date. A serious drawback in modeling atmospheric mercury is a lack of reliable rigorous emission inventories. Consequently, much work is needed to identify mercury sources and to quantify emission strengths.

There are few published papers on measurements of atmospheric mercury from aircraft. Initial work has shown that there is little to no Hg^o above the tropopause and that Hg^P is elevated there. The chemical cycling and transformations in the tropopause region are essentially unstudied. Both measurements and modeling are required to ascertain the important processes affecting atmospheric mercury in the tropopause region.

Manuscripts on all aspects of atmospheric mercury are welcome for this special issue.

Prof. Dr. Robert W. Talbot
Guest Editor

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