Melting Glaciers Release 6.5 Tons of Mercury... Is the Disaster Just Beginning?

Chinese researchers have analyzed that as glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula melt due to global warming, 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 announced in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that continuous warming is transforming the Antarctic Peninsula's cryosphere from a long-term mercury "storage" into a mercury "source."

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 global warming have jointly accelerated the mercury cycle in the Antarctic Peninsula since the industrial era.

The Antarctic Peninsula, which extends northward from the Antarctic continent, is one of the regions experiencing the fastest warming and glacial retreat in Antarctica, with a warming rate about six times the global average, the team explained.

In particular, the amount of mercury released from land due to glacial melting has increased by 550% compared to pre-industrial levels, the research team claimed.

They also added that approximately 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.

Recently, large-scale glacier-related disasters in the border region between China and Nepal have heightened interest in the impacts of climate change on high-altitude cryospheres.

The researchers suggested that this disaster shows how sensitive the high-altitude cryosphere is to temperature changes, calling for an integrated system 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 Hae-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.