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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 33, L16403, doi:10.1029/2005GL025595, 2006

Wildfires threaten mercury stocks in northern soils

Merritt R. Turetsky

U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, USA


Jennifer W. Harden

U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, USA


Hans R. Friedli

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA


Mike Flannigan

Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Sault St. Marie, Ontario, Canada


Nicholas Payne

Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Sault St. Marie, Ontario, Canada


James Crock

U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado, USA


Lawrence Radke

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA


Abstract

With climate change rapidly affecting northern forests and wetlands, mercury reserves once protected in cold, wet soils are being exposed to burning, likely triggering large releases of mercury to the atmosphere. We quantify organic soil mercury stocks and burn areas across western, boreal Canada for use in fire emission models that explore controls of burn area, consumption severity, and fuel loading on atmospheric mercury emissions. Though renowned as hotspots for the accumulation of mercury and its transformation to the toxic methylmercury, boreal wetlands might soon transition to hotspots for atmospheric mercury emissions. Estimates of circumboreal mercury emissions from this study are 15-fold greater than estimates that do not account for mercury stored in peat soils. Ongoing and projected increases in boreal wildfire activity due to climate change will increase atmospheric mercury emissions, contributing to the anthropogenic alteration of the global mercury cycle and exacerbating mercury toxicities for northern food chains.

Received 21 February 2006; accepted 5 June 2006; published 19 August 2006.

Index Terms: 0428 Biogeosciences: Carbon cycling (4806); 1030 Geochemistry: Geochemical cycles (0330); 9315 Geographic Location: Arctic region (0718, 4207).

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Citation: Turetsky, M. R., J. W. Harden, H. R. Friedli, M. Flannigan, N. Payne, J. Crock, and L. Radke (2006), Wildfires threaten mercury stocks in northern soils, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L16403, doi:10.1029/2005GL025595.