May 14: Mercury
With firn air, we are collecting a lot of samples in canisters that we will analyze back home, but some measurements are made “in-situ”, which means right here, right now, as we pump the air out of the snow. One of these measurements is gaseous elemental mercury. Mercury is transported to the Arctic from various natural and anthropogenic sources, and accumulates in the environment, which creates issues.
You can read about mercury in the Arctic here: https://science.gc.ca/site/science/en/blogs/science-behind-scenes/global-problem-mercury-arctic
Feiyue Wang from the University of Manitoba is here to measure mercury in air and snow.
When the reading is stable, we integrate the measurement for 5 min to get a good data point. Bluee is ready to switch the intake line between outside air and air from the snow.
