Mercury photochemistry in snow and implications for Arctic ecosystems

Abstract

Mercury is a toxic and bioaccumulative environmental contaminant, which may be transported to remote regions around the world, such as the Arctic. Snowmelt is a major source of mercury to many surface water environments, but the amount of mercury in snow varies considerably. This variation is due to the balance of mercury retention and losses from snow, which is largely controlled by photochemical mechanisms controlling speciation. As such, quantifying these photochemical reaction rates and the factors affecting them will allow for the prediction of mercury speciation and movement into receiving water bodies. This will consequently improve our ability to predict exposure of aquatic organisms to mercury. This review highlights knowledge gaps in the quantification of mercury photochemical kinetics and the specific research required to advance the science of mercury photochemistry in snow, while examining the physical and chemical snowpack variables that influence snowpack mercury reactions. At present, our lack of mechanistic and kinetic knowledge of mercury reactions in snow is one of the greatest gaps preventing accurate predictions of mercury fate in regions containing seasonal snowpacks.