Articles | Volume 23, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1309-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1309-2023
Research article
 | 
24 Jan 2023
Research article |  | 24 Jan 2023

Mercury in the free troposphere and bidirectional atmosphere–vegetation exchanges – insights from Maïdo mountain observatory in the Southern Hemisphere tropics

Alkuin M. Koenig, Olivier Magand, Bert Verreyken, Jerome Brioude, Crist Amelynck, Niels Schoon, Aurélie Colomb, Beatriz Ferreira Araujo, Michel Ramonet, Mahesh K. Sha, Jean-Pierre Cammas, Jeroen E. Sonke, and Aurélien Dommergue

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Cited articles

Agnan, Y., Le Dantec, T., Moore, C. W., Edwards, G. C., and Obrist, D.: New Constraints on Terrestrial Surface–Atmosphere Fluxes of Gaseous Elemental Mercury Using a Global Database, Environ. Sci. Technol., 50, 507–524, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b04013, 2016. 
Aliaga, D., Sinclair, V. A., Andrade, M., Artaxo, P., Carbone, S., Kadantsev, E., Laj, P., Wiedensohler, A., Krejci, R., and Bianchi, F.: Identifying source regions of air masses sampled at the tropical high-altitude site of Chacaltaya using WRF-FLEXPART and cluster analysis, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16453–16477, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16453-2021, 2021. 
Almeida, M. D., Marins, R. V., Paraquetti, H. H. M., Bastos, W. R., and Lacerda, L. D.: Mercury degassing from forested and open field soils in Rondônia, Western Amazon, Brazil, Chemosphere, 77, 60–66, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2009.05.018, 2009. 
Amelynck, C., Schoon, N., and Verreyken, B.: Long-term in situ (O)VOC measurements at the Maïdo Observatory (Reunion Island), Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB) [data set], https://doi.org/10.18758/71021061, 2021 
Angot, H., Barret, M., Magand, O., Ramonet, M., and Dommergue, A.: A 2-year record of atmospheric mercury species at a background Southern Hemisphere station on Amsterdam Island, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 11461–11473, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-11461-2014, 2014. 
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Short summary
The global distribution of mercury, a potent neurotoxin, depends on atmospheric transport, chemistry, and interactions between the Earth’s surface and the air. Our understanding of these processes is still hampered by insufficient observations. Here, we present new data from a mountain observatory in the Southern Hemisphere. We give insights into mercury concentrations in air masses coming from aloft, and we show that tropical mountain vegetation may be a daytime source of mercury to the air.
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