Melting Arctic Permafrost Could Release Tons of Toxic Mercury (we're all gonna die alert!)

National Geographic ^ | February 6, 2018 | Craig Welch

[Zakeet]

Scientists have uncovered another hidden threat buried in the icy frozen north—massive natural reserves of mercury, a toxic heavy metal that in some forms can build up in fish and other animals and cause serious health problems in humans.

A study published Monday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters reports that the amount of natural mercury bound up in Arctic permafrost may be 10 times greater than all the mercury humans have pumped into the atmosphere from coal-burning and other pollution sources over the last 30 years. As climate change warms the land, this thawing permafrost could release significant quantities of mercury back into the environment, potentially allowing far more of the pollutant to build up in the atmosphere and the food web.

[Snip]

Put another way, says lead author Paul Schuster, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist, "This is a complete game-changer for mercury. It's a natural source, but some of it will be released through what we're doing with climate change."

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 2/7/2018. Thanks Zakeet.

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