Atmospheric mercury in Norway: Contributions from different sources

The environmental loadings of national Norwegian mercury emissions compared to the loadings of atmospheric long range transported mercury have been estimated using national emission data and EMEP model data. The results indicate that atmospheric long-range transport to Norway is somewhat larger than the national Norwegian emissions of mercury. Atmospheric deposition of mercury has been studied using data from Norwegian monitoring programs on mercury in precipitation, mosses, natural surface soils, and lake sediments. Precipitation data show no significant time trend during 1990-2002, whereas moss samples show similar concentrations from 1985 to 1995, but a 30% decrease from 1995 to 2000. Concentrations of mercury in peat cores and reference sediments indicate that the current mercury levels measured in surface sediments, surface soils and mosses at background sites in Norway are substantially affected by long-range atmospheric transport.