Sergio Cinnirella

Global Mercury Emissions to the Atmosphere from Natural and Anthropogenic Sources

This chapter provides an up-to-date overview of global mercury emissions from natural and anthropogenic sources at country and regional/continental scale. The information reported in Chapters 2–8 is the basis of the assessment reported in this chapter, however, emissions data related to sources and regions not reported in chapters 2–8 have been derived, to the extent possible, from the most recent peer-reviewed literature and from official technical reports. Natural sources, which include the contribution from oceans and other surface waters, rocks, top soils and vegetation, volcanoes and other geothermal activities and biomass burning are estimated to release annually about 5207 Mg of mercury, part of which represent previously deposited anthropogenic and natural mercury from the atmosphere to ecosystem-receptors due to historic releases and part is a new contribution from natural reservoirs. Current anthropogenic sources, which include a large number of industrial point sources are estimated to release about 2917 Mg of mercury on an annual basis, the major contribution is from fossil fuel-fired power plants (1422 Mg yr-1), artisanal small scale gold mining (400 Mg yr-1), waste disposal (187 Mg yr-1), non-ferrous metals manufacturing (310 Mg yr-1) and cement production (236 Mg yr-1). Our current estimate of global emissions suggest that summing up the contribution from natural and anthropogenic sources nearly 8124 Mg of mercury is released annually to the global atmosphere. The evaluation of global emissions presented in this report differs from previous published assessments because in the past, emissions from several sources, i.e., forest fires and coal-bed fires have not been accounted for, and also because of improved knowledge of some anthropogenic and natural sources (i.e., emissions from oceans, vegetation) as suggested by the most up-to-date literature.

Contribution of contaminated sites to the global mercury budget

Global mercury emission inventories include anthropogenic emissions, contributing via current use or presence of mercury in a variety of products and processes, as well as natural source emissions. These inventories neglect the contribution of areas contaminated with mercury from historical accumulation, which surround mines or production plants associated with mercury production or use. Although recent studies have shown that releases of mercury from these historical sites can be significant, a database of the global distribution of mercury contaminated sites does not exist, nor are there means of scaling up such releases to estimate fluxes on a regional and global basis. Therefore, here we estimated for the first time the contribution of mercury releases from contaminated sites to the global mercury budget. A geo-referenced database was built, comprising over 3000 mercury contaminated sites associated with mercury mining, precious metal processing, non-ferrous metal production and various polluted industrial sites. In the assessment, mercury releases from these sites to both the atmosphere as well as the hydrosphere were considered based on data available for selected case studies, their number, the reported extent of contamination and geographical location. Annual average global emissions of mercury from identified contaminated sites amount to 198 (137-260) Mgyr(-1). Of that, 82 (70-95)Mgyr(-1) contribute to atmospheric releases, while 116 (67-165) Mgyr(-1) is estimated to be transported away from these sites by hydrological processes. Although these estimates are associated with large uncertainties, our current understanding of mercury releases from contaminated sites indicates that these releases can also be of paramount importance on the global perspective. This is especially important as it is known that these sites represent a long-term source of releases if not managed properly. Therefore, the information presented here is needed by governments and NGOs in order to re-focus resources in making decisions regarding mitigation and remediation strategies on a global level.

Atmospheric mercury footprints of nations.

The Minamata Convention was established to protect humans and the natural environment from the adverse effects of mercury emissions. A cogent assessment of mercury emissions is required to help implement the Minamata Convention. Here, we use an environmentally extended multi-regional input-output model to calculate atmospheric mercury footprints of nations based on upstream production (meaning direct emissions from the production activities of a nation), downstream production (meaning both direct and indirect emissions caused by the production activities of a nation), and consumption (meaning both direct and indirect emissions caused by final consumption of goods and services in a nation). Results show that nations function differently within global supply chains. Developed nations usually have larger consumption-based emissions than up- and downstream production-based emissions. India, South Korea, and Taiwan have larger downstream production-based emissions than their upstream production- and consumption-based emissions. Developed nations (e.g., United States, Japan, and Germany) are in part responsible for mercury emissions of developing nations (e.g., China, India, and Indonesia). Our findings indicate that global mercury abatement should focus on multiple stages of global supply chains. We propose three initiatives for global mercury abatement, comprising the establishment of mercury control technologies of upstream producers, productivity improvement of downstream producers, and behavior optimization of final consumers.

Atmospheric mercury concentrations observed at ground-based monitoring sites globally distributed in the framework of the GMOS network

Long-term monitoring of data of ambient mercury (Hg) on a global scale to assess its emission, transport, atmospheric chemistry, and deposition processes is vital to understanding the impact of Hg pollution on the environment. The Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS) project was funded by the European Commission (http://www.gmos.eu) and started in November 2010 with the overall goal to develop a coordinated global observing system to monitor Hg on a global scale, including a large network of ground-based monitoring stations, ad hoc periodic oceanographic cruises and measurement flights in the lower and upper troposphere as well as in the lower stratosphere. To date, more than 40 ground-based monitoring sites constitute the global network covering many regions where little to no observational data were available before GMOS. This work presents atmospheric Hg concentrations recorded worldwide in the framework of the GMOS project (2010-2015), analyzing Hg measurement results in terms of temporal trends, seasonality and comparability within the network. Major findings highlighted in this paper include a clear gradient of Hg concentrations between the Northern and Southern hemispheres, confirming that the gradient observed is mostly driven by local and regional sources, which can be anthropogenic, natural or a combination of both.

Steps toward a shared governance response for achieving Good Environmental Status in the Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean region is of fundamental importance to Europe given its strategic position. The responsibility for its overall ecosystem integrity is shared by European Union Member States (EU-MS) and other Mediterranean countries. A juxtaposition of overlapping governance instruments occurred recently in the region, with the implementation of both the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) for EU-MS and the Ecosystem Approach Strategy (ECAP) for all Mediterranean countries, including EU-MS. Both MSFD and ECAP are structured around vision-driven processes to achieve Good Environmental Status and a Healthy Environment, respectively. These processes have clear ecosystem-based, integrated policy objectives to guarantee the preservation and integrity of Mediterranean marine ecosystem goods and services. However, adoption of these instruments, especially those related to the new EUMS directives on marine policy, could result in a governance gap in addition to the well-known economic gap between the EU and the non-EU political blocs. We identify two complementary requirements for effective implementation of both MSFD and ECAP that could work together to reduce this gap, to ensure a better alignment between MSFD and ECAP and better planning for stakeholder engagement. These are key issues for the future success of these instruments in a Mediterranean region where discrepancies between societal and ecological objectives may pose a challenge to these processes.

Model study of global mercury deposition from biomass burning

Mercury emissions from biomass burning are not well characterized and can differ significantly from year to year. This study utilizes three recent biomass burning inventories (FINNv1.0, GFEDv3.1, and GFASv1.0) and the global Hg chemistry model, ECHMERIT, to investigate the annual variation of Hg emissions, and the geographical distribution and magnitude of the resulting Hg deposition fluxes. The roles of the Hg/CO enhancement ratio, the emission plume injection height, the Hg(g)0 oxidation mechanism and lifetime, the inventory chosen, and the uncertainties with each were considered. The greatest uncertainties in the total Hg deposition were found to be associated with the Hg/CO enhancement ratio and the emission inventory employed. Deposition flux distributions proved to be more sensitive to the emission inventory and the oxidation mechanism chosen, than all the other model parametrizations. Over 75% of Hg emitted from biomass burning is deposited to the world’s oceans, with the highest fluxes predicted i...

Mercury emissions from global biomass burning: spatialand temporal distribution

This chapter represents a new addition to the UNEP global mercury budget: the mercury emissions from biomass burning, here defined as emissions from wildfires and prescribed burns, and excluding contributions from bio-fuel consumption and charcoal production and use. The results cover the 1997-2006 timeframe. The average annual global mercury emission estimate from biomass burning for 1997-2006 is 675 ± 240 Mg yr-1. This accounts for 8% of all current anthropogenic and natural emissions. The largest Hg emissions are from tropical and boreal Asia, followed by Africa and South America. They do not coincide with the largest carbon biomass burning emissions, which originate from Africa. Our methodology for budget estimation is based on a satellite-constrained bottom-up global carbon fire emission database (GFED version 2), which divides the globe into regions with similar ecosystems and burn behaviour. To estimate mercury emissions, the carbon model output is paired with regional emission factors for Hg, EF(Hg). There are large uncertainties in the budget estimation associated with burned area, fuel mass, and combustion completeness. The discrepancy between the model and traditional ground based assessments (e.g. FRA, 2000) is unacceptably large at this time. Of great urgency is the development and validation of a model for mercury cycling in forests, accounting for the biogeochemistry for each region. This would provide an understanding of the source/sink relationship and thus mercury accumulation or loss in ecosystems. Limiting the burning of tropical and boreal forests would have two beneficial effects: reducing the source of mercury releases to the atmosphere from burning, and maintaining a sink for atmospheric mercury. Restricting the global release mercury would reduce the vegetation/soil pools, and the potential Hg release in case of fire.

The GMOS cyber(e)-infrastructure: advanced services for supporting science and policy

The need for coordinated, systematized and catalogued databases on mercury in the environment is of paramount importance as improved information can help the assessment of the effectiveness of measures established to phase out and ban mercury. Long-term monitoring sites have been established in a number of regions and countries for the measurement of mercury in ambient air and wet deposition. Long term measurements of mercury concentration in biota also produced a huge amount of information, but such initiatives are far from being within a global, systematic and interoperable approach. To address these weaknesses the on-going Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS) project (www.gmos.eu) established a coordinated global observation system for mercury as well it retrieved historical data (www.gmos.eu/sdi). To manage such large amount of information a technological infrastructure was planned. This high-performance back-end resource associated with sophisticated client applications enables data storage, computing services, telecommunications networks and all services necessary to support the activity. This paper reports the architecture definition of the GMOS Cyber(e)-Infrastructure and the services developed to support science and policy, including the United Nation Environmental Program. It finally describes new possibilities in data analysis and data management through client applications.

ICT Methodologies and Spatial Data Infrastructure for Air Quality Information Management

Applications for atmospheric pollution monitoring and modelling are fundamental tools to develop environmental policies oriented to control and possibly reduce the impact of pollution on ecosystems and human health. However, differences among monitoring systems and data availability are an important limitation in environmental management. In order to standardize protocols and procedures, the EU directives (e.g., INSPIRE, Air Quality Directive) and international programs (i.e., GEOSS) have oriented the community towards developing interoperable standardized systems that assure real time data analysis and dissemination. To coordinate national earth and cross-disciplinary systems for promoting GEOSS and to support the INSPIRE implementation, the GIIDA (Integrated and Interoperable Management of Environmental Data) project was launched. Within GIIDA the working group on air quality was instructed to develop an interoperable system for air quality information management. The system is based on open-source tools compliant with standards and designed to develop a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), which will contain information collected at ground-based as well as at off-shore monitoring sites. This infrastructure aims to store, mine and visualize information. The SDI will support modelling activities and environmental assessments for different scenarios in order to evaluate the impact of atmospheric pollution ecosystems and human health. In this paper we discuss the application of the IT framework and methodologies for the SDI development, which was built on open-source components: Postgis for data storage, Geoserver to export services and GeoNetwork for metadata generation. Finally, we describe the ICT pluggable framework GeoInt, which was developed to simplify the SDI components complexity for end users by supporting data input from different sources, as well as metadata management.

Particulate-phase mercury emissions from biomass burning and impact on resulting deposition: a modelling assessment

Mercury (Hg) emissions from biomass burning (BB) are an important source of atmospheric Hg and a major factor driving the interannual variation of Hg concentrations in the troposphere. The greatest fraction of Hg from BB is released in the form of elemental Hg(Hg(g)0). However, little is known about the fraction of Hg bound to particulate matter (HgP) released from BB, and the factors controlling this fraction are also uncertain. In light of the aims of the Minamata Convention to reduce intentional Hg use and emissions from anthropogenic activities, the relative importance of Hg emissions from BB will have an increasing impact on Hg deposition fluxes. Hg speciation is one of the most important factors determining the redistribution of Hg in the atmosphere and the geographical distribution of Hg deposition. Using the latest version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFEDv4.1s) and the global Hg chemistry transport model, ECHMERIT, the impact of Hg speciation in BB emissions, and the factors which influence speciation, on Hg deposition have been investigated for the year 2013. The role of other uncertainties related to physical and chemical atmospheric processes involving Hg and the influence of model parametrisations were also investigated, since their interactions with Hg speciation are complex. The comparison with atmospheric HgP concentrations observed at two remote sites, Amsterdam Island (AMD) and Manaus (MAN), in the Amazon showed a significant improvement when considering a fraction of HgP from BB. The set of sensitivity runs also showed how the quantity and geographical distribution of HgP emitted from BB has a limited impact on a global scale, although the inclusion of increasing fractions HgP does limit Hg(g)0 availability to the global atmospheric pool. This reduces the fraction of Hg from BB which deposits to the world’s oceans from 71 to 62 %. The impact locally is, however, significant on northern boreal and tropical forests, where fires are frequent, uncontrolled and lead to notable Hg inputs to local ecosystems. In the light of ongoing climatic changes this effect could be potentially be exacerbated in the future.