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Forests and the Global Biogeochemical Cycle of Mercury: The Importance of Understanding Air/Vegetation Exchange Processes

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Global and Regional Mercury Cycles: Sources, Fluxes and Mass Balances

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASEN2,volume 21))

Abstract

Atmospheric sources are recognized to be significant in the cycling of Hg in the biosphere, yet there are few reliable data on air/surface exchange rates of Hg in forests. We have developed a tower-based micrometeorological method for measuring gas-phase Hg fluxes over environmental surfaces, and have used this approach to measure Hg° fluxes over soils, vegetation, and water surfaces. These fluxes have been combined with modeling results based on measurements of atmospheric Hg concentrations and speciation to quantify the overall flux of Hg between the atmosphere and the ground. These results are compared with a study of the biogeochemical cycle of Hg in the temperate deciduous forest at Walker Branch Watershed in the southeastern United States. Our preliminary results suggest that the largest Hg fluxes in forests involve gas exchange at the air/vegetation interface. Given the magnitude of these fluxes and their level of uncertainty, this forest could act as a net source or sink for atmospheric Hg, indicating the importance of better understanding the role of Hg exchange at the vegetation surface.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, PO Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA

    S. E. Lindberg (Visiting Professor, Visiting Scientist)

  2. Dept. of Environmental and Energy Systems Studies, Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden

    S. E. Lindberg (Visiting Professor, Visiting Scientist)

  3. Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Göteborg, Sweden

    S. E. Lindberg (Visiting Professor, Visiting Scientist)

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  1. S. E. Lindberg
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Analytical Chemistry, Free University of Brussels, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Willy Baeyens

  2. GKSS Forschungszentrum Geesthacht Gmbh, Max Planckstaβe 1, 21502, Geesthacht, Germany

    Ralf Ebinghaus

  3. Institute for Water and Environmental Problems, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 105 Papaninsev Street, 65099, Barnaul, Russia

    Oleg Vasiliev

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© 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Lindberg, S.E. (1996). Forests and the Global Biogeochemical Cycle of Mercury: The Importance of Understanding Air/Vegetation Exchange Processes . In: Baeyens, W., Ebinghaus, R., Vasiliev, O. (eds) Global and Regional Mercury Cycles: Sources, Fluxes and Mass Balances. NATO ASI Series, vol 21. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1780-4_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1780-4_18

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7295-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-1780-4

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