Toxic Mercury Pollution May Rise with Arctic Meltdown
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/toxic-mercury-pollution-may-rise-with-arctic-meltdown/
By: Christa Marshall
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Environmental Science: Mercury
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Environmental Science: Mercury
Summary: In this article studies had shown that cracks in sea ice are funneling mercury to the Arctic surface, raising concerns about the toxic element seeping into the food chain of the delicate ecosystem.When converted to a toxic form, mercury can enter the food chain, threatening the food supplies of native Arctic peoples dependent on marine animals and wildlife. It has been discovered that the increased mercury levels in the air off the coast of Barrow, Alaska. This causes the mercury in the atmosphere to be pumped closer to the surface. When the ice and snow melt, the toxic mercury will flow into the water. When this happens, it disrupts the food chain. Mercury levels only jump when air masses moved over the ice leads. Because open water is much warmer than the air above it, heat from ice cracks stirs up the atmosphere. Mercury in the atmosphere comes from natural sources like volcanoes, as well as human activities like coal burning. One theory is that sea ice is preventing the breakdown of mercury by blocking sunlight.
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Reflection: After reading this article It was shocking to hear that in the Arctic, the amount of mercury there has increased. The fact that this disrupts the food chain also is even worse. What was also surprising was that this discovery was an accident. Since we did a mercury activity in class using paperclips as an example of fish shows that the amount of mercury in each fish can increase every time a bigger fish eats it. Since us humans eat fish were able to get mercury transferred into our bodies also, which is very frightening. What should be happening now is having people educated about the situation of mercury in the arctic. With more people aware then it'll persuade them to reduce polluting the air. With less pollution in the world, our environmental problems with reduce also, such as mercury affecting the food chain, carbon dioxide being released and so on. Since this discovery has just been found out not too long ago, we should start now on trying to stop it.
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