Articles | Volume 25, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-12233-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-12233-2025
Review article
 | 
08 Oct 2025
Review article |  | 08 Oct 2025

Atmospheric mercury: recent advances in theoretical, computational, experimental, observational, and isotopic understanding to decipher its redox transformations in the upper and lower atmosphere and interactions with Earth surface reservoirs

Jonas O. Sommar, Xinyu Shi, Xueling Tang, Guangyi Sun, Che-Jen Lin, and Xinbin Feng

Related authors

A consolidated database of mercury observations for permafrost regions
Christine L. Olson, Kevin Schaefer, Alyssa Azaroff, Hélène Angot, Sasiri Bandara, Thomas A. Douglas, Bo Elberling, Maria Florencia Fahnestock, Xinbin Feng, Charlotte Haugk, Gustaf Hugelius, Erfan Jahangir, Sofi Jonsson, Shichang Kang, Adam Kirkwood, Jennifer Korosi, Igor Lehnherr, Artem Lim, Rinat Manasypov, Dmitriy Moskovchenko, Mina Nasr, Daniel Obrist, David Olefeldt, Connor Olson, Oleg Pokrovsky, Laura Sereni, Sarah Shakil, M. Isabel Smith, Jens Søndergaard, Jeroen Sonke, Kasia Staniszewska, Jens Strauss, Kyra St. Pierre, Lauren Thompson, Andrey Yurtaev, Yanxu Zhang, and Scott Zolkos
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 4509–4522, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-4509-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-4509-2026, 2026
Short summary
The Multi-Compartment Hg Modeling and Analysis Project (MCHgMAP): mercury modeling to support international environmental policy
Ashu Dastoor, Hélène Angot, Johannes Bieser, Flora Brocza, Brock Edwards, Aryeh Feinberg, Xinbin Feng, Benjamin Geyman, Charikleia Gournia, Yipeng He, Ian M. Hedgecock, Ilia Ilyin, Jane Kirk, Che-Jen Lin, Igor Lehnherr, Robert Mason, David McLagan, Marilena Muntean, Peter Rafaj, Eric M. Roy, Andrei Ryjkov, Noelle E. Selin, Francesco De Simone, Anne L. Soerensen, Frits Steenhuisen, Oleg Travnikov, Shuxiao Wang, Xun Wang, Simon Wilson, Rosa Wu, Qingru Wu, Yanxu Zhang, Jun Zhou, Wei Zhu, and Scott Zolkos
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 2747–2860, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-2747-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-2747-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Ababneh, F. A., Scott, S. L., Al-Reasi, H. A., and Lean, D. R. S.: Photochemical reduction and reoxidation of aqueous mercuric chloride in the presence of ferrioxalate and air, Sci. Total Environ., 367, 831–839, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2006.02.018, 2006. 
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, 507–520, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b04013, 2016. 
Ai, Y., Wang, C., Videen, G., and Pan, Y.-L.: Optically levitated, single-particle reactor for the study of surface and heterogeneous chemistry-reactions of particulate-bound mercury with ozone in air, Chem. Phys. Lett., 817, 140428, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2023.140428, 2023. 
Akagi, H., Fujita, Y., and Tkabatake, E.: Photochemical methylation of inorganic mercuric compounds in aqueous acetic acid solutions, Nippon Kagaku Kaishi, 1974, 1180–1184, https://doi.org/10.1246/nikkashi.1974.1180, 1974. 
Download
Short summary
A more thorough understanding of the complex processes involved in the atmospheric Hg cycle has been achieved. The dynamics of the cycle are influenced by a rapid redox chemistry with several oxidation states and effects of multiphase interactions. This review provides a detailed analysis of the atmospheric chemistry of Hg in both the lower and the upper atmosphere, together with a synthesis of the latest kinetic, thermochemical, photochemical, and isotopic fractionation data.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint