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Significant reductions in mercury emissions will be necessary just to stabilize current levels of the toxic element in the environment, according to new research from a team led by Harvard University.
Surface reservoirs, such as soil, air and water, hold an enormous amount of mercury from past pollution going back thousands of years. Scientists believe it will continue to persist in the ocean and accumulate in
fish for decades to centuries.
"It's easier said than done, but we're advocating for aggressive reductions, and sooner rather than later," says
Helen Amos, a PhD candidate in Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The findings of this study were published in a recent issue of
Global Biogeochemical Cycles.
Amos worked with a team of researchers from the the Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling Group at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) to collect historical data concerning mercury emissions as far back as 2,000 BC. The team has also been building environmental models of mercury cycling that captures the interactions between the atmosphere, oceans and land.
Most of the mercury emitted to the environment ends up in the ocean within a few decades, the model reveals. The mercury remains in the ocean from centuries to millennia. Currently, emissions of mercury are mainly from coal-fired power plants and artisanal gold mining. The mercury is thrown into the air, rained down into lakes, absorbed by the soil and carried by rivers, eventually finding its way to the sea. Once there, aquatic microbes convert it to methylmercury, the organic compound that accumulates in fish, finds its way to our dinner plates, and has been associated with neurological and cardiovascular damage.
Comment: No need for hints when Nature itself spells it out quite clearly:
Global Cooling: Sudden European temperature plunge over the last decade... Are we on the brink of a Little Ice Age?
Ice Age Cometh: Russian Academy of Sciences experts warn of imminent cold period: "Global warming is a marketing trick"
Scientist predicts Earth is heading for another Ice Age - next year!
Has Atlanta ever seen so much rain?
Southern Ontario under flood watch as storms bring month's worth of rain in a day
'Cursed spring' of relentless rain: Italy just went through its wettest spring in at least 150 years
Ice Age Cometh! Parts of UK hit by several inches of snow and 'one month' of rain during mid-May storm
The Ice Age is upon us, including the very real threat from space, but Nobel Laureates are busy with "mental masturbation" instead of using their supposedly brilliant minds and "high status" to do real science for a change, including exposing the Psychopaths in Power.