Spatial and temporal distributions of mercury emissions from forest fires in Mediterranean region and Russian federation

Abstract

Mercury emissions from forest fires in Europe and in North African countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea were estimated on the basis of ground-based forest fires data, forests phytomass and measured emission factors. Satellite observations were used to assess mercury emissions in Russian Federation through the assessment of spatial and temporal distributions of forest phytomass content and forest burnt areas. Annual mercury emissions in Europe were in the range of 0.9–3.6 Mg yr −1, Italy and Portugal have the highest emissions with an average of 821 and 459 kg yr −1 respectively, followed by Spain (394 kg yr −1), France (247 kg yr −1) and Poland (191 kg yr −1). On regional scale, Hg emissions from this particular source in the Mediterranean region is 2.3 Mg yr −1 (in the range 0.4–4.0 Mg yr −1) on average, while emissions from African and Middle East countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea are not significant. Mercury emissions in the Russian Federation are in the range of 3.4–24.8 Mg yr −1 (16 Mg yr −1 on average).