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| B09: | Mercury Cycling in a Changing Environment |
| Sponsor: |
Biogeosciences
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| CoSponsor: |
Canadian Geophysical Union Hydrology |
| Convener: |
Brian A. Branfireun University of Toronto, Mississauga CAN brian.branfireun@utoronto.ca Charles Driscoll Syracuse University CAN ctdrisco@syr.edu |
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0409 0414 0426 0489 0496 .
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| Description: |
From atmospheric speciation and global circulation to methylation processes in freshwater lakes, the scientific community has made significant advances in our understanding of the mercury cycle. These advances have not only shed light on the biogeochemical processes that affect mercury fate and transport, but have also informed policy and environmental decision-making. However, a changing future environment is often not considered in the formulation of our current scientific hypotheses. For example, changing atmospheric temperature and circulation patterns may influence the performance of our current source attribution models. Increasing surface water temperatures may influence microbial metabolism, community consortia, and mercury methylation processes. Changing precipitation regimes or land-use may affect hydrological processes that govern the export of mercury from watersheds. We invite submissions for this session that explore the fundamental controls on the processes that affect mercury fate and transport, and link these processes to environmental change with the intent to reduce future uncertainty. |