Modeling the Atmospheric Transport and Deposition of Mercury

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Modeling the Atmospheric Transportand Deposition
of Mercury
Dr. Mark Cohen NOAA Air Resources
Laboratory Silver Spring, Maryland
Mercury Workshop, Great Lakes Biennial Meeting,
Kingston, Ontario, Canada June 9, 2005
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• What do atmospheric mercury models need from us?

• Atmospheric mercury modeling

• Why do we need atmospheric mercury models?

• Some preliminary results for Lake Ontario

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• What do atmospheric mercury models need from us?

• Atmospheric mercury modeling

• Why do we need atmospheric mercury models?

• Some preliminary results for Lake Ontario

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Three forms of atmospheric mercury
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Atmospheric Mercury Fate Processes
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NOAA HYSPLIT MODEL
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0.1o x 0.1o subgrid for near-field analysis
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0.1o x 0.1o subgrid for near-field analysis
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Why is emissions speciation information critical?
Logarithmic
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Why is emissions speciation information critical?
Linear
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Why is emissions speciation information critical?
Logarithmic
Linear
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Geographic Distribution of Largest Anthropogenic
Mercury Emissions Sources in the U.S. (1999) and
Canada (2000)
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Emissions of Ionic Mercury (RGM) from Different
AnthropogenicSource Sectors in Great Lakes
States and Provinces (1999-2000)Total RGM
emissions 13.4 metric tons/year
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• What do atmospheric mercury models need from us?

• Atmospheric mercury modeling

• Why do we need atmospheric mercury models?

• Some preliminary results for Lake Ontario

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Why do we need atmospheric mercury models?

• to get comprehensive source attribution
  information ---
• we dont just want to know how much is
  depositing at any given location, we also want to
  know where it came from
• to estimate deposition over large regions,
• because deposition fields are highly spatially
  variable,
• and one cant measure everywhere all the time
• to estimate dry deposition
• to evaluate potential consequences of alternative
  future emissions scenarios

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• What do atmospheric mercury models need from us?

• Atmospheric mercury modeling

• Why do we need atmospheric mercury models?

• Some preliminary results for Lake Ontario

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What do atmospheric mercury models need?
Emissions Inventories
Meteorological Data
Scientific understanding of phase partitioning,
atmospheric chemistry, and deposition processes
Ambient data for comprehensive model evaluation
and improvement
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• What do atmospheric mercury models need from us?

• Atmospheric mercury modeling

• Why do we need atmospheric mercury models?

• Some preliminary results for Lake Ontario

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Sites with 1996 mercury wet deposition data in
the Great Lakes region
Seem to be getting reasonable results near Lake
Ontario, but need to do much more evaluation
Maybe we just got lucky!
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Where does the mercury come from thats deposited
directly onto Lake Ontario?
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Fraction of total Modeled deposition Contributed
by a Particular source
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Top 25 Contributors to Hg Deposition Directly to
Lake Ontario based on 1999-2000 U.S./Canadian
emissions
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Some Next Steps
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Conclusions