Odds and ends of atmospheric mercury in Europe and over northern Atlantic Ocean: Temporal trends of 25 years of measurements

The Global Monitoring Plan of the Minamata Convention on Mercury was established to generate long-term data necessary for evaluating the effectiveness of regulatory measures at a global scale. After 25 years monitoring (since 1995), Mace Head is one of the atmospheric monitoring stations with the longest mercury record, and has produced sufficient data for the analysis of temporal trends of Total Gaseous Mercury (TGM) in Europe and the Northern Atlantic. Using concentration-weighted trajectories for atmospheric mercury measured at Mace Head as well as other five locations in Europe, Amderma, Andøya, Villum, Waldhof and Zeppelin we identify the regional probabilistic source contribution factor and its changes for the period of 1996 to 2019. Temporal trends indicate that concentrations of mercury in the atmosphere in Europe and the Northern Atlantic have declined significantly over the past 25 years, at a non-monotonic rate averaging of 0.03 ng m-3 year-1. Concentrations of TGM at remote marine sites were shown to be affected by continental long-range transport, and evaluation of reanalysis back-trajectories display a significant decrease of TGM in continental air masses from Europe in the last two decades. In addition, using the relationship between mercury and other atmospheric trace gases that could serve as a source signature, we perform factorization regression analysis, based on positive rotatable factorization of non-singular matrix to solve probabilistic mass function. We reconstructed atmospheric mercury concentration and accessed the contribution of the major natural and anthropogenic sources. The positive matrix factorization (PMF) reveals that the downward trend is mainly associated with a factor with a high load of long-lived anthropogenic species.

Mercury and Methylmercury Contamination of Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems

In 2017, 128 countries signed the Minamata Convention on Mercury (Hg) to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury [...]

When toxic chemicals refuse to die—An examination of the prolonged mercury pesticide use in Australia

Mercury, even in low concentrations, is known to cause severe adverse human health effects. In the early 1900s, mercury became a popular fungicide ingredient, leading to multiple poisoning incidents that forced much of the world to act upon phasing out mercury use in agriculture. These incidents spurred the advancement of mercury science and the implementation of international policies and regulations to control mercury pollution worldwide. Despite these developments internationally, Australia continued using methoxyethyl mercury chloride as a fungicide to treat sugarcane against the fungi Ceratocystis paradoxa (pineapple disease). At the request of the manufacturer and following pressure from Australian researchers and the Minamata Convention on Mercury, Australian authorities announced a ban on mercury-containing pesticide in May 2020. Australia’s unique reluctance to act on controlling this hazardous pollutant makes it an interesting case study for policy inaction that runs counter to global policy trends and evidence-based decision making. As such, it can provide insights into the challenges of achieving multilateral agreement on difficult environmental issues such as global warming. In this review, I discuss the scientific development and policy decisions related to mercury fates and exposure of wildlife and humans in Australia to mercury used in pesticide. The historical uses of mercury pesticide and poisoning incidents worldwide are described to contextualize Australia’s delayed action on banning and controlling this chemical product compared to other nations. Regulations on mercury use in Australia, which has not ratified the Minamata Convention on mercury, are compared to those of major sugarcane and pesticide producer nations (Brazil, China, Japan, India, Thailand, and United States) which have ratified the Convention and replaced mercury pesticides with alternative products. I discuss how mercury regulations have the potential to protect the environment, decrease human exposure to mercury, and safeguard the ban on mercury products. Ratifying the Minamata Convention would give Australia equal footing with its international counterparts in global efforts to control global mercury pollution.

Decontamination of mercury- containing waste using ozone

Technologies and equipment for the disposal of mercury containing lamps related to class 1 waste sold in industry are considered (vacuum distillation of waste with cryogenic condensation of mercury vapor, thermal vacuum technology most suitable for “clean” waste, reagent demercurization. Their advantages and disadvantages are analyzed. A cold technology is proposed for decontamination of mercury-containing materials - treatment of the battle of fluorescent lamps using ozone. Recommended equipment for the implementation of this technology. Cold technology using ozone will allow for the management of mercury-containing wastes in accordance with the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

Atmospheric mercury in the Southern Hemisphere – Part 1: Trend and inter-annual variations in atmospheric mercury at Cape Point, South Africa, in 2007–2017, and on Amsterdam Island in 2012–2017

The Minamata Convention on Mercury (Hg) entered into force in 2017, committing its 116 parties (as of January 2019) to curb anthropogenic emissions. Monitoring of atmospheric concentrations and trends is an important part of the effectiveness evaluation of the convention. A few years ago (in 2017) we reported an increasing trend in atmospheric Hg concentrations at the Cape Point Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) station in South Africa (34.3535∘ S, 18.4897∘ E) for the 2007–2015 period. With 2 more years of measurements at Cape Point and the 2012–2017 data from Amsterdam Island (37.7983∘ S, 77.5378∘ E) in the remote southern Indian Ocean, a more complex picture emerges: at Cape Point the upward trend for the 2007–2017 period is still significant, but no trend or a slightly downward trend was detected for the period 2012–2017 at both Cape Point and Amsterdam Island. The upward trend at Cape Point is driven mainly by the Hg concentration minimum in 2009 and maxima in 2014 and 2012. Using ancillary data on 222Rn, CO, O3, CO2, and CH4 from Cape Point and Amsterdam Island, the possible reasons for the trend and its change are investigated. In a companion paper this analysis is extended for the Cape Point station by calculations of source and sink regions using backward-trajectory analysis.