Mercury accumulation by diatoms in the ice covered Partizanskaya River Estuary (Primorsky Territory, Russia) during the winter bloom

Abstract

The processes that occur with mercury under the ice covering different water areas are among the least studied ones in the global mercury cycle. In the winter of 2016, we measured total and dissolved mercury concentrations in water, total mercury levels in suspended particulate matter, determined phytoplankton species, and measured the main hydrological parameters (water temperature, salinity, chlorophyll a concentration) in the ice-covered Partizanskaya River Estuary (Primorsky Territory, Russia). The data obtained indicate the mercury accumulation by diatoms under the ice during the bloom. We assume that a similar process occurs in the Arctic Ocean, leading to the redistribution of mercury species in water and the accumulation of dissolved gaseous elemental mercury under the ice.