Melting Permafrost Could Release Large Amounts of Mercury in Alaska by evaristo lara / huella zero
The health of five million people living in the region may be at risk if they are exposed to the highly toxic element.
One study concluded that, due to climate change, the Arctic is warming four times faster than the global average destabilizing permafrost soils, which have remained frozen for centuries.
When the ice melts, water forms streams that, as they increase their flow in search of an outlet, erode the permafrost until they reach mercury deposits. This metal, when released gradually, poses a serious risk to human life in regions such as Alaska.
The research, published in the scientific journal Environmental Research Letters under the title Mercury Reserves in Discontinuous Permafrost and Its Mobilization by River Migration in the Yukon River Basin, warns that, if temperatures in the far north of the planet continue to rise at the current rate, permafrost could disappear completely by 2050.
The study led by Isabel Smith, a doctoral candidate at USC Dornsife, included Yutian Ke, Emily C. Geyman, Jocelyn N. Reahl, Madison M. Douglas, Emily A. Seelen, John S. Magyar, Kieran B.J. Dunne, Edda A. Mutter, Woodward W. Fischer, Michael P. Lamb and A. Joshua West.
“Decades of exposure, especially with increasing levels as more mercury is released, could have an enormous impact on the environment and the health of those living in these areas,” Smith said.
Another problem is that mercury, in addition to being exposed, can be carried by the current of rivers to populated regions, where its toxicity affects the health of children and adults.
In a statement, Joshua West, a professor of Earth Sciences and Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California and a co-author of the study, warned of the impact of melting ice on human life.
“There could be a giant mercury bomb in the Arctic waiting to explode. Permafrost has accumulated so much mercury that it could eclipse the amount present in the oceans, soils, atmosphere, and biosphere combined,” he said.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers dug deep into the sediments of riverbanks and sandbanks. The massive presence of exposed mercury worries the scientific community, since species such as fish could absorb it, contaminating the food chain and directly affecting humans.
