Articles | Volume 25, issue 17
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-9645-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-9645-2025
Research article
 | 
01 Sep 2025
Research article |  | 01 Sep 2025

Constraining elemental mercury air–sea exchange using long-term ground-based observations

Koketso M. Molepo, Johannes Bieser, Alkuin M. Koenig, Ian M. Hedgecock, Ralf Ebinghaus, Aurélien Dommergue, Olivier Magand, Hélène Angot, Oleg Travnikov, Lynwill Martin, Casper Labuschagne, Katie Read, and Yann Bertrand

Data sets

Continuous measurements of atmospheric mercury at Amsterdam Island (L2) O. Magand and A. Dommergue https://doi.org/10.25326/168

All 222Rn data contributed to WDCGG by GAW stations and mobiles by 2022-07-11 A. Williams et al. https://doi.org/10.50849/WDCGG_222RN_ALL_2022

Download
Short summary
Mercury exchange between the ocean and atmosphere is poorly understood due to limited in situ data. Here, using atmospheric mercury observations from ground-based monitoring stations along with air mass trajectories, we found that atmospheric Hg levels increase with air mass ocean exposure time, matching predictions for ocean Hg emissions. This finding indicates that ocean emissions directly influence atmospheric Hg levels and enables us to estimate these emissions on a global scale.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint