Global modeling of mercury in the atmosphere, ocean, and land
Event details
| Date | 10.05.2010 |
| Hour | 16:15 |
| Speaker | Jaeglé, Lyatt (visiting professor University of Washington, USA) |
| Location |
GR B3 30
|
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Human activities such as coal combustion and metal extraction have profoundly impacted the biogeochemical cycling of mercury (Hg). Once released in the atmosphere, Hg is transported globally before being deposited to the Earth's surface, where it can bioaccumulate in aquatic food chains. Exposure to Hg through fish consumption can severely affect human health. After deposition to land and aquatic surfaces, Hg can be re-emitted to the atmosphere. Thus, anthropogenic Hg cycles on multiple timescales in the environment, ranging from years to centuries. In this talk, I will present a new global chemical transport model for understanding this cycling: the GEOS-Chem atmosphere-ocean-land Hg simulation. I will describe how we have applied this model to constrain a number of questions in the global budget of Hg: the role of ocean emissions, the long-range transport of Asian anthropogenic Hg emissions, and the impact of historical gold and silver mining.
Practical information
- General public
- Free