Abstract
Severe mercury contamination (30 times ambient levels) was observed in open ocean seawater samples collected at depth using a tested polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sampler in a classical hydrographic manner. Consistently smaller Hg concentrations (0.4 to 2.0 ng l −1) were obtained with an improvised technique using synthetic line suspended below the metal hydrographic cable; results agreed favorably with collections of the mixed layer obtained by hand and with samples collected at depth using the Schaule-Patterson sampler. These observations and additional tests with a synthetic hydrowire indicate that reactive Hg concentrations in the open ocean are, for the most part, considerably less than previously reported. While Hg distributions in the open ocean display no distinctive water column features, higher concentrations were observed in the northwest Atlantic Ocean (∼1.0 ng l −1) compared to the North Pacific (∼0.35 ng l −1). First-order geochemical modelling predicts a short (∼500 y) oceanic residence time for Hg, indicating that it may follow pathways in the oceans analogous to other very reactive elements, such as lead and manganese.
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