Total mercury, bulk density, percent organic matter, and percent organic carbon measured in permafrost cores collected from 2004 through 2012 from the interior and northern slope of Alaska

Publication Date

2018-04-20

Start Date

2004

End Date

2012

Schuster, P.F., 2018, Total mercury, bulk density, percent organic matter, and percent organic carbon measured in permafrost cores from the interior and northern slope of Alaska and previously published studies: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7NC5Z9T.

Type: Related Primary Publication

Changing climate in northern regions is causing permafrost to thaw with major implications for the cycling of mercury in arctic and subarctic ecosystems. Permafrost occurs in nearly one quarter of the Earth’s northern land mass and an estimated 13 percent of Earth’s entire land surface. Large-scale thaw will release Hg currently frozen in permafrost, impacting aquatic resources and posing a serious threat to human health. We measured sediment total Hg concentration in 548 samples from 13 permafrost cores from the interior and the North Slope of Alaska. Based on these samples, here we estimate the mass of frozen mercury in northern hemisphere permafrost to be 793 ± 461 Gg (Gigatons), roughly equal to the total global mass of mercury in thawed soils. Projections indicate substantial permafrost thawing leading to peak annual mercury releases exceeding current total annual anthropogenic emissions of mercury. This data is available to stakeholders and resource managers to aid in policy-making decisions in regard to mercury contamination in the environment This published dataset supports our dataset and resulting publication. These data are available to stakeholders and resource managers to aid in policy-making decisions in regard to mercury contamination in the environment.

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