Air–surface exchange of gaseous mercury over permafrost soil: an investigation at a high-altitude (4700 m a.s.l.) and remote site in the central Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Abstract. The pattern of air–surface gaseous mercury (mainly Hg(0)) exchange in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) may be unique because this region is characterized by low temperature, great temperature variation, intensive solar radiation, and pronounced freeze–thaw process of permafrost soils. However, the air–surface Hg(0) flux in the QTP is poorly investigated. In this study, we performed field measurements and controlled field experiments with dynamic flux chambers technique to examine the flux, temporal variation and influencing factors of air–surface Hg(0) exchange at a high-altitude (4700 m a.s.l.) and remote site in the central QTP. The results of field measurements showed that surface soils were the net emission source of Hg(0) in the entire study (2.86 ng m⁻² h⁻¹ or 25.05 µg m⁻² yr⁻¹). Hg(0) flux showed remarkable seasonality with net high emission in the warm campaigns (June 2014: 4.95 ng m⁻² h⁻¹; September 2014: 5.16 ng m⁻² h⁻¹; and May–June 2015: 1.95 ng m⁻² h⁻¹) and net low deposition in the winter campaign (December 2014: −0.62 ng m⁻² h⁻¹) and also showed a diurnal pattern with emission in the daytime and deposition in nighttime, especially on days without precipitation. Rainfall events on the dry soils induced a large and immediate increase in Hg(0) emission. Snowfall events did not induce the pulse of Hg(0) emission, but snowmelt resulted in the immediate increase in Hg(0) emission. Daily Hg(0) fluxes on rainy or snowy days were higher than those of days without precipitation. Controlled field experiments suggested that water addition to dry soils significantly increased Hg(0) emission both on short (minutes) and relatively long (hours) timescales, and they also showed that UV radiation was primarily attributed to Hg(0) emission in the daytime. Our findings imply that a warm climate and environmental change could facilitate Hg release from the permafrost terrestrial ecosystem in the QTP.