current mercury monitoring approaches in tribal country

D. Gay, Schmeltz, Sharac, Nat. Tribal Conf. for Env. Management, Billings, MT, June 26, 2008, Slide 1

Current Mercury Monitoring Approaches in Tribal Country

David Gay

NADP Program Office, dgay@uiuc.edu, http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu, (217) 244-0462

D. Gay, Schmeltz, Sharac, Nat. Tribal Conf. for Env. Management, Billings, MT, June 26, 2008, Slide 2

What Can Be Measured?

Mercury Cycle

D. Gay, Schmeltz, Sharac, Nat. Tribal Conf. for Env. Management, Billings, MT, June 26, 2008, Slide 3

Deposition is a very good starting point!

• It is the starting place of Hg moving into the biosphere;

• It is rather simple,• Straightforward• Inexpensive

• Little training or experience needed.

Bioaccumulation of Methyl Mercury

Bacterial action(water and sediment)

Zooplankton Small fish predatory fish

Water Body/pore water

Me-Mercury

Concentration

Dry DepositionWet Deposition Geologic Sources

(soil, rock, base flow etc.)

Methylation

Hg Hg Hg

Through Fall(wet+dry)

Litter Fall

How Mercury is Wet Deposited?

Hgo

RGMHgp

Hgp

RGM

HgoHgp

RGM

rainout

washout

Oxidation (long lifetime)

Wet depositio

n Mercury sample

D. Gay, Schmeltz, Sharac, Nat. Tribal Conf. for Env. Management, Billings, MT, June 26, 2008, Slide 7

Tribal Lands and Mercury Sources

What is theNADP?

• A Cooperative Research Program (Un. Of Illinois)– Measure wet deposition, dry deposition &

litterfall concentrations of mercury

– North America• Taiwan, Mexico, South America

– Owned and operated by our members– Decisions made by our members– Started in 1978, 35th year

– Over 400,000 precipitation samples

drywet

D. Gay, Schmeltz, Sharac, Nat. Tribal Conf. for Env. Management, Billings, MT, June 26, 2008, Slide 11

Wet Deposition

Mercury Deposition Network (MDN)

Collects one-week precipitation-only sampleswith MDN wet-dry collector

Measures precipitation with gage

AnalysesTotal MercuryMethyl MercuryOther options

Typical Wet Deposition Site (MDN)

Wet Deposition Collection

Mercury Deposition Network

Brief Look at Frontier Geosciences, Analytical

Laboratory

Dry Deposition

drywet

Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS)

Atmospheric Mercury Network (AMNet)

Atmospheric Mercury, Cape Hedo, Okinawa, 2004

0

1

2

3

4

5

84 88 92 96 100 104 108 112 116 120

Julian Day, UTC, 2004

Elem

enta

l Hg

(ng/

m3 ) a

nd C

O

(ppb

/100

)

0

10

20

30

40

50

PHg

and

RG

M (p

g/m

3 )

Hg(0) PHg RGM CO

• A New NADP Network

• Measure:– Hg species (Tekran system)– meteorology and land cover

variables

• Elemental mercury (Hg0)• Gaseous oxidized mercury (GOM)• Particulate bound mercury (PBM)

• Estimate Dry Deposition

Coming Soon: Dry Deposition Estimates

• flux (F ) = air concentration x dry deposition velocity (Vd)

F= Vdeposition * Concentrationair

where:

• Ra as aerodynamic resistance, Rb as quasi-laminar resistance, and Rc as canopy resistance

cba

d

RRR1 V

Product

• Weekly estimates of dry deposition of – GOM– PBM2.5

• To align with weekly wet deposition values – (wet + dry ~ total)

• Downward dry deposition of GEM– Working & coming soon– No evasion estimate (re-emission)– Not net deposition

Mercury Deposition Network

New Trial Network, Litterfall Mercury

ResultsAnd what can be done with this information

D. Gay, Schmeltz, Sharac, Nat. Tribal Conf. for Env. Management, Billings, MT, June 26, 2008, Slide 30

D. Gay, Schmeltz, Sharac, Nat. Tribal Conf. for Env. Management, Billings, MT, June 26, 2008, Slide 31

D. Gay, Schmeltz, Sharac, Nat. Tribal Conf. for Env. Management, Billings, MT, June 26, 2008, Slide 32

D. Gay, Schmeltz, Sharac, Nat. Tribal Conf. for Env. Management, Billings, MT, June 26, 2008, Slide 33

D. Gay, Schmeltz, Sharac, Nat. Tribal Conf. for Env. Management, Billings, MT, June 26, 2008, Slide 34

Mercury Deposition Network

New NADP Trial Network: Mercury Litterfall

• Started in 2012

• In cooperation with USGSand USGS Mercury Research Lab

• 14 stations (w/MDN)

• Monthly observations (May to Nov)

Network Cost

What Are People Doings with Our

data?

• What factors are affecting fish concentrations of Hg?– Water pH– Total dissolved solids– Dissolved sulfate

• Hg is overwhelmingly deposition

• Overwhelmingly anthropogenic

Wiener et al., 2006Environmental Science and Technology Vol 40 p 6261.

Mercury in Human Hair, By Region

Mercury Deposition Higher in Urban Areas

Gold Mining Locations important to Western Sites

Typical Mercury Concentrations in Fish

Trends In Precipitation Concentration

Questions and Answers

Current Mercury Monitoring Approaches in Tribal Country

David Gay

NADP Program Office, dgay@uiuc.edu, http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu, (217) 244-

0462