Antarctica Is Releasing Mercury Faster Than Ever Because of Climate Change

Per Eos, new research shows Antarctica is facing a mercury problem from two directions at once. Human emissions are depositing mercury from coal plants and mining operations into the continent's ice and surrounding ocean—but that's only half the story. As Antarctic ice melts from warming temperatures, it's releasing mercury that's been locked in the ice for centuries. A study analyzing sediment cores from the Antarctic Peninsula found mercury accumulation has increased about 160 percent since industrialization, with an even steeper acceleration since the 1950s. Glacier melt alone is responsible for a 550 percent increase in mercury releases to the ocean since industrialization. Once in the water, mercury can transform into methylmercury, a more toxic form that concentrates in marine food webs, from plankton to krill to fish to seabirds and marine mammals. Some of that fish makes it into commercial fisheries and potentially onto human tables. The troubling part: even if we cut human mercury emissions tomorrow, the stored mercury already locked in Antarctica's ice will keep leaking out as temperatures rise.

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