Biogeosciences, 17, 3083–3097, 2020 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-3083-2020 © Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. A revised pan-Arctic permafrost soil Hg pool based on Western Siberian peat Hg and carbon observations Artem G. Lim1, Martin Jiskra2, Jeroen E. Sonke3, Sergey V. Loiko1, Natalia Kosykh4, and Oleg S. Pokrovsky3,5 1BIO-GEO-CLIM Laboratory, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia 2University of Basel, Environmental Geosciences, Bernoullistrasse 30, 4056 Basel, Switzerland 3Geosciences and Environment Toulouse, UMR 5563 CNRS, 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France 4Lab Biogeocenol, Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Novosibirsk, Russia 5N. Laverov Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Arkhangelsk, Russia Correspondence: Oleg S. Pokrovsky (
[email protected]) Received: 8 December 2019 – Discussion started: 28 January 2020 Revised: 29 April 2020 – Accepted: 19 May 2020 – Published: 18 June 2020 Abstract. Natural and anthropogenic mercury (Hg) emis- the same RHgC approach, we revise the upper 30 cm of the sions are sequestered in terrestrial soils over short, annual global soil Hg pool to contain 1086 Gg of Hg (852–1265 Gg, to long, millennial timescales before Hg mobilization and IQR), of which 7 % (72 Gg) resides in northern permafrost run-off impact wetland and coastal ocean ecosystems. Re- soils. Additional soil and river studies in eastern and north- cent studies have used Hg-to-carbon (C) ratios (RHgC’s) mea- ern Siberia are needed to lower the uncertainty on these esti- sured in Alaskan permafrost mineral and peat soils together mates and assess the timing of Hg release to the atmosphere with a northern circumpolar permafrost soil carbon inventory and rivers.