18.11.2012 Views

FATE OF MERCURY IN THE ARCTIC Michael Evan ... - COGCI

FATE OF MERCURY IN THE ARCTIC Michael Evan ... - COGCI

FATE OF MERCURY IN THE ARCTIC Michael Evan ... - COGCI

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

Fate of Mercury in the Arctic 12<br />

1.1 The aim of this work<br />

The purpose of this work is to better understand the temporal, and spatial patterns of mercury<br />

deposition and accumulation in the Arctic, gaining an understanding of the chemical and<br />

depositional processes so that they might be applied to models of atmospheric transport and<br />

deposition and eventually policy decisions. To meet this aim, specific scientific questions were<br />

addressed. These specified questions contained implied questions or tasks that must be answered or<br />

addressed in order to investigate the specification.<br />

The specified and implied questions addressed in this Ph.D. work are as follows:<br />

Specified 1. What is the deposition of reactive gaseous mercury to the Arctic following a<br />

mercury depletion incident, and what is the depositional velocity of RGM?<br />

Implied 1.1. Reactive gaseous mercury, RGM, flux must be measured concurrently with total<br />

concentration of RGM.<br />

Implied 1.2. A method to measure RGM flux for the Arctic must be developed.<br />

Specified 2. What is a plausible reaction mechanism for the oxidation of gaseous elemental<br />

mercury to reactive gaseous mercury?<br />

Implied 2.1. Since the measurement technique applied for RGM concentration measurement,<br />

KCl coated annular denuders, does not allow for the subsequent chemical determination of RGM,<br />

HgXY, post field study analysis must be applied using relative rate theory studies and known<br />

reaction kinetics and thermodynamics.<br />

Specified 3. What are the pre and post-industrial values of Hg in the Arctic?<br />

Implied 3.1. A suitable environmental archive must be chosen; in this case peat.<br />

Implied 3.1.2 Arctic peat must be found and shown to provide a faithful record of atmospheric<br />

mercury deposition.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!