title: A synthesis of rates and controls on elemental mercury evasion in the Great Lakes Basin.
abstract: Rates of surface-air elemental mercury (Hg(0)) fluxes in the literature were synthesized for the Great Lakes Basin (GLB). For the majority of surfaces, fluxes were net positive (evasion). Digital land-cover data were combined with representative evasion rates and used to estimate annual Hg(0) evasion for the GLB (7.7 Mg/yr). This value is less than our estimate of total Hg deposition to the area (15.9 Mg/yr), suggesting the GLB is a net sink for atmospheric Hg. The greatest contributors to annual evasion for the basin are agricultural (∼55%) and forest (∼25%) land cover types, and the open water of the Great Lakes (∼15%). Areal evasion rates were similar across most land cover types (range: 7.0-21.0 μg/m(2)-yr), with higher rates associated with urban (12.6 μg/m(2)-yr) and agricultural (21.0 μg/m(2)-yr) lands. Uncertainty in these estimates could be partially remedied through a unified methodological approach to estimating Hg(0) fluxes.
authors: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 151 Link Hall, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA. jsdenken@syr.edu
authors: Joseph S
authors: JS
authors: Denkenberger
authors: Charles T
authors: CT
authors: Driscoll
authors: Brian A
authors: BA
authors: Branfireun
authors: Chris S
authors: CS
authors: Eckley
authors: Mark
authors: M
authors: Cohen
authors: Pranesh
authors: P
authors: Selvendiran
mesh_terms: D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006114:Great Lakes Region; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D009864:Ontario; D011792:Quebec
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D008628:Mercury