Author(s)

F. Ferrara, B. Mazzolai, E. Lanzillotta, E. Nucaro and N. Pirrone

Abstract

Preliminary Results on Atmospheric Mercury Emissions from Surface Waters of the Mediterranean Sea A contribution to subproject MEPOP F Ferrara\ B Mazzolai\ E Lanzillotta\ E Nucaro^ and N. Pirrone^ *CNR-Institute of Biophysics, Via S. Lorenzo 26, 56100 Pisa, Italy ^CNR-Institute for Atmospheric Pollution, c/o: University of Calabria, Introduction A number of recent studies on the emission (or re-emission) of gaseous mercury to the atmosphere from terrestrial and water surfaces suggests that the magnitude of emission rates may be comparable to that of industrial sources (Schroeder et al, 1992; Fitzgerald et aL, 1994; Ferrara et al., 1997). In particular oceanic evasion accounts for about 30 % of the total budget of atmospheric mercury on a global scale (Nriagu 1989). In the water system the reduction of mercury to its elemental form is a function of biotic and abiotic

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