Oxidation of mercury by bromine in the subtropical Pacific free troposphere
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Gratz_et_al-2015-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf
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Author(s)
Gratz, L. E.
Ambrose, J. L.
Jaffe, D. A.
Shah, V.
Jaeglé, L.
Stutz, J.
Festa, J.
Spolaor, M.
Tsai, C.
Zhou, X.
Date Issued
November 2015
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Citation
Gratz, L. E. et al. “Oxidation of Mercury by Bromine in the Subtropical Pacific Free Troposphere” Geophysical Research Letters 42.23 (2015): 10,494-10,502. CrossRef. Web. © 2016 American Geophysical Union
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Mercury is a global toxin that can be introduced to ecosystems through atmospheric deposition. Mercury oxidation is thought to occur in the free troposphere by bromine radicals, but direct observational evidence for this process is currently unavailable. During the 2013 Nitrogen, Oxidants, Mercury and Aerosol Distributions, Sources and Sinks campaign, we measured enhanced oxidized mercury and bromine monoxide in a free tropospheric air mass over Texas. We use trace gas measurements, air mass back trajectories, and a chemical box model to confirm the origin and chemical history of the sampled air mass. We find the presence of elevated oxidized mercury to be consistent with oxidation of elemental mercury by bromine atoms in this subsiding upper tropospheric air mass within the subtropical Pacific High, where dry atmospheric conditions are conducive to oxidized mercury accumulation. Our results support the role of bromine as the dominant oxidant of mercury in the upper troposphere
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1002/2015gl066645
