In the Polar Regions there are not many sources of emissions of mercury, but still much mercury deposits there because of the long distance transport of the metal in air and by oceanic currents. In air, mercury is transported from emission sources in industrial regions to the polar region in just a few days.
Only in the Arctic the deposition of mercury from the atmosphere is estimated to be between 80 och140 tons per year. Climate change is now a fact, but what this means for the global cycle of mercury and other heavy metal is not known. Our data is needed to influence international negotiations on emission reductions going on within the UN system's environmental agencies.
Docent Katarina Gårdfeldt