ACP Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ACP 1680-7324 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acp-13-1535-2013 Ten-year trends of atmospheric mercury in the high Arctic compared to Canadian sub-Arctic and mid-latitude sites Cole A. S. 1 Steffen A. 1 Pfaffhuber K. A. 2 Berg T. 3 Pilote M. 4 Poissant L. 4 Tordon R. 5 Hung H. 1 Air Quality Research Division, Science and Technology Branch, Environment Canada, 4905 Dufferin St., Toronto, ON, Canada Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Instituttveien 20, 2027 Kjeller, Norway Dept. of Chemistry, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway Aquatic Contaminants Research Division, Science and Technology Branch, Environment Canada, 105 McGill Street, 7th floor, Montréal, QC, Canada Meteorological Service of Canada, Environment Canada, 45 Alderney Drive, 16th floor, Dartmouth, NS, Canada 07 02 2013 13 3 1535 1545 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/13/1535/2013/acp-13-1535-2013.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/13/1535/2013/acp-13-1535-2013.pdf

Global emissions of mercury continue to change at the same time as the Arctic is experiencing ongoing climatic changes. Continuous monitoring of atmospheric mercury provides important information about long-term trends in the balance between transport, chemistry, and deposition of this pollutant in the Arctic atmosphere. Ten-year records of total gaseous mercury (TGM) from 2000 to 2009 were analyzed from two high Arctic sites at Alert (Nunavut, Canada) and Zeppelin Station (Svalbard, Norway); one sub-Arctic site at Kuujjuarapik (Nunavik, Québec, Canada); and three temperate Canadian sites at St. Anicet (Québec), Kejimkujik (Nova Scotia) and Egbert (Ontario). Five of the six sites examined showed a decreasing trend over this time period. Overall trend estimates at high latitude sites were: −0.9% yr<sup>−1</sup> (95% confidence limits: −1.4, 0) at Alert and no trend (−0.5, +0.7) at Zeppelin Station. Faster decreases were observed at the remainder of the sites: −2.1% yr<sup>−1</sup> (−3.1, −1.1) at Kuujjuarapik, −1.9% yr<sup>−1</sup> (−2.1, −1.8) at St. Anicet, −1.6% yr<sup>−1</sup> (−2.4, −1.0) at Kejimkujik and −2.2% yr<sup>−1</sup> (−2.8, −1.7) at Egbert. Trends at the sub-Arctic and mid-latitude sites agree with reported decreases in background TGM concentration since 1996 at Mace Head, Ireland, and Cape Point, South Africa, but conflict with estimates showing an increase in global anthropogenic emissions over a similar period. Trends in TGM at the two high Arctic sites were not only less negative (or neutral) overall but much more variable by season. Possible reasons for differences in seasonal and overall trends at the Arctic sites compared to those at lower latitudes are discussed, as well as implications for the Arctic mercury cycle. The first calculations of multi-year trends in reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) and total particulate mercury (TPM) at Alert were also performed, indicating increases from 2002 to 2009 in both RGM and TPM in the spring when concentrations are highest.

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