Antarctica Is Releasing Mercury Faster Than Ever Because of Climate Change

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By Grace van Deelen.Eos/AGU. 

Excerpt: Antarctica is 600 miles (about 1,000 kilometers) from any major city, almost entirely uninhabited, and surrounded by a cold and inhospitable ocean. It might seem like the last place to expect anthropogenic pollution. But the continent’s freezing temperatures trap airborne and marine pollutants, a situation that has historically made it a sink for contaminants such as mercury, a heavy metal that can harm human and wildlife health. According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, mercury is accumulating in Antarctica much faster thanks to increasing anthropogenic mercury emissions. Additionally, the study found the continent’s ice cap is releasing mercury faster than ever before as Antarctic ice melts in a warming climate and frees up long-stored mercury that then flows into the surrounding ocean. Together, these processes are turning Antarctica into an active source of mercury pollution rather than a long-term storage area, the authors write.... 

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