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Mercury fluxes and reductive processes in the Alps
Third-party funded project
Project title Mercury fluxes and reductive processes in the Alps
Principal Investigator(s) Alewell, Christine
Co-Investigator(s) Fritsche, Johannes
Organisation / Research unit Departement Umweltwissenschaften / Umweltgeowissenschaften (Alewell)
Project start 01.11.2006
Probable end 31.10.2008
Status Completed
Abstract

Mercury emitted to the atmosphere is a topical issue as it poses a threat to human health and the environment. Recent studies have demonstrated that elemental mercury (Hg0) can be emit-ted in significant amounts not only from anthropogenic sources but also from vegetated terres-trial ecosystems, suggesting that natural sources of mercury are highly underestimated. Other than that, soils are considered effective sinks for atmospheric mercury mainly due to deposition of oxidised mercury species.
Studies with terrestrial soils have indicated that geogenic or depos-ited mercury can be (re-)emitted to the atmosphere mainly in its elemental form. However, due to the lack of direct measurements the importance of mercury emissions from vegetated soil surfaces is still controversial.
Our gradient measurements of the last five months at Zugerberg indicate slight nocturnal depo-sition of Hg0. The same was observed during another campaign at the Seebodenalp. However, our incubation studies with bare soil from Zugerberg revealed contrasting results. When amended with glucose or dried and rewetted, the incubated soil samples responded with veri-table Hg0 emission boosts. Although this reaction could be largely ascribed to microbiological activity, the role of plants growing on the soil surface is still unclear. We therefore need to in-vestigate how and to which extent Hg0 exchange between soils and the atmosphere is governed by vegetation. We intend to tackle this question with a combined approach of controlled labora-tory experiments with vegetated soil samples and Hg0 gradient measurements at Zugerberg, Oensingen (SO) and the Stubai Valley in Austria. These studies will enable us to describe and quantify the long-term dynamic of Hg0 exchange in uncontaminated terrestrial ecosystems.

Keywords ecosystem fluxes, elemental mercury emissions, reductive processes, soil chemistry, mercury, alpine grasslands, mercury pollution, stable isotopes, plant emission, emission, Swiss Alps
Financed by Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)

Published results ()

  ID Autor(en) Titel ISSN / ISBN Erschienen in Art der Publikation
42143  Fritsche, J.; Obrist, D.; Zeeman, M. J.; Conen, F.; Eugster, W.; Alewell, C.  Elemental mercury fluxes over a sub-alpine grassland determined with two micrometeorological methods  1352-2310  ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT  Publication: JournalArticle (Originalarbeit in einer wissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift) 
52634  Obrist, D; Gustin, MS; Arnone, JA; Johnson, DW; Schorran, DE; Verburg, PSJ  Measurements of gaseous elemental mercury fluxes over intact tallgrass prairie monoliths during one full year  1352-2310  ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT  Publication: JournalArticle (Originalarbeit in einer wissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift) 
86876  Fritsche, J; Wohlfahrt, G; Ammann, C; Zeeman, M; Hammerle, A; Obrist, D; Alewell, C  Summertime elemental mercury exchange of temperate grasslands on an ecosystem-scale  1680-7316  Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics  Publication: JournalArticle (Originalarbeit in einer wissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift) 
86877  Fritsche, J.; Obrist, D.; Zeeman, M. J.; Conen, F.; Eugster, W.; Alewell, C.  Elemental mercury fluxes over a sub-alpine grassland determined with two micrometeorological methods  1352-2310  Atmospheric environment  Publication: JournalArticle (Originalarbeit in einer wissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift) 
95903  Fritsche, Johannes; Obrist, Daniel; Zeeman, Matthias; Conen, Franz; Eugster, Werner; Alewell, Christine  Elemental mercury fluxes over a sub-alpine grassland determined with two micrometeorological methods  1352-2310  Atmospheric environment  Publication: JournalArticle (Originalarbeit in einer wissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift) 
95904  Fritsche, Johannes; Wohlfahrt, Georg; Ammann, Christof; Zeeman, Matthias; Hammerle, A; Obrist, Daniel; Alewell, Christine  Summertime elemental mercury exchange of temperate grasslands on an ecosystem scale  1680-7316  Atmospheric chemistry and physics  Publication: JournalArticle (Originalarbeit in einer wissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift) 
95919  Johannes Fritsche  Air–Surface exchange of elemental mercury in uncontaminated grasslands      Publication: Thesis (Dissertationen, Habilitationen) 

Cooperations ()

  ID Kreditinhaber Kooperationspartner Institution Laufzeit - von Laufzeit - bis
411056  Fritsche, Johannes  Kevin Bishop  Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet  01.01.2010  31.12.2012 
411057  Fritsche, Johannes  Mats Nilsson  Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet  01.01.2010  31.12.2012 
   

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