Anthropogenic short-lived halogens increase human exposure to mercury contamination due to enhanced mercury oxidation over continents.

Autor: Fu X; Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China., Sun X; Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China., Travnikov O; Department of Environmental Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia., Li Q; Department of Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate, Institute of Physical Chemistry Blas Cabrera, Spanish National Research Council, Madrid 28006, Spain.; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China.; Environment Research Institute, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China., Qin C; Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China., Cuevas CA; Department of Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate, Institute of Physical Chemistry Blas Cabrera, Spanish National Research Council, Madrid 28006, Spain., Fernandez RP; Institute for Interdisciplinary Science, National Research Council, School of Natural Sciences, National University of Cuyo, Mendoza M5502JMA, Argentina., Mahajan AS; Centre for Climate Change Research, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Pashan, Pune 411008, India., Wang S; State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China., Wang T; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China., Saiz-Lopez A; Department of Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate, Institute of Physical Chemistry Blas Cabrera, Spanish National Research Council, Madrid 28006, Spain.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America [Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A] 2024 Mar 19; Vol. 121 (12), pp. e2315058121. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Mar 11.
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2315058121
Abstrakt: Mercury (Hg) is a contaminant of global concern, and an accurate understanding of its atmospheric fate is needed to assess its risks to humans and ecosystem health. Atmospheric oxidation of Hg is key to the deposition of this toxic metal to the Earth's surface. Short-lived halogens (SLHs) can provide halogen radicals to directly oxidize Hg and perturb the budget of other Hg oxidants (e.g., OH and O 3 ). In addition to known ocean emissions of halogens, recent observational evidence has revealed abundant anthropogenic emissions of SLHs over continental areas. However, the impacts of anthropogenic SLHs emissions on the atmospheric fate of Hg and human exposure to Hg contamination remain unknown. Here, we show that the inclusion of anthropogenic SLHs substantially increased local Hg oxidation and, consequently, deposition in/near Hg continental source regions by up to 20%, thereby decreasing Hg export from source regions to clean environments. Our modeling results indicated that the inclusion of anthropogenic SLHs can lead to higher Hg exposure in/near Hg source regions than estimated in previous assessments, e.g., with increases of 8.7% and 7.5% in China and India, respectively, consequently leading to higher Hg-related human health risks. These results highlight the urgent need for policymakers to reduce local Hg and SLHs emissions. We conclude that the substantial impacts of anthropogenic SLHs emissions should be included in model assessments of the Hg budget and associated health risks at local and global scales.
Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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