As global warming melts glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula, a team of Chinese researchers has analyzed that large amounts of mercury long trapped within the ice are being released.
A research team from the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences at Peking University recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that continuous warming is transforming the cryosphere of the Antarctic Peninsula from a long-term mercury "reservoir" into a "source" of mercury emissions.
The cryosphere refers collectively to the regions on Earth where water is in solid form, including glaciers, snow, and sea ice.
The research team stated that human-induced mercury emissions and climate warming have jointly accelerated the mercury cycle in the Antarctic Peninsula since the industrial era.
Stretching northward from the Antarctic continent, the Antarctic Peninsula is one of the regions experiencing the fastest warming and glacier retreat in Antarctica, with a warming rate about six times the global average, the team explained.
In particular, land-based mercury emissions resulting from glacier melting have surged by 550% compared to pre-industrial levels, according to the researchers.
They added that currently, about 6.5 tons of mercury are flowing into the ocean every year through melted glacier water and sediments, a level comparable to the amount of mercury deposited from the atmosphere over the same area.
The researchers pointed out that similar phenomena are likely to occur in high-altitude cryosphere regions, including the Himalayas.
With recent large-scale glacier-related disasters occurring in the border region between China and Nepal, interest in the impacts of climate change on high-altitude cryospheres is also growing.
The research team suggested that this disaster demonstrates how sensitive high-altitude cryospheres are to temperature changes, highlighting the need for an integrated framework that addresses disasters, pollution, and ecology and health in future risk management.
Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Kim Min-ji | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
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