Antarctica Turns Mercury Source as Peninsula Export Jumps 400%

3 articles · Updated · Noticias Ambientales · Aug 15

A PNAS study found Antarctica is no longer trapping mercury but releasing it, with mercury export from the Antarctic Peninsula to the open ocean up 400%.
Warming-driven melting and erosion are mobilizing mercury stored in ice and land, while expanding open water boosts atmospheric uptake; together they have raised air-sea exchange 350% and terrestrial release 5.5 times.
The peninsula now accumulates mercury at 93 ± 58 micrograms per square meter per year—about double the global continental-shelf average—and that rate has climbed 160% since the 19th century.
Researchers warn bacteria in sea ice can convert mercury into methylmercury, a neurotoxin that builds through the Southern Ocean food chain, threatening species from krill to Patagonian toothfish and fisheries more broadly.
The findings suggest Antarctic warming is creating a feedback loop that can spread legacy pollution across the Southern Ocean, adding urgency to cuts in mercury emissions, fossil-fuel burning and industrial pollution.