Humans Have Tripled Mercury Levels in the Ocean
By Anne Casselman and Nature magazine
August 6, 2014
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/humans-have-tripled-mercury-levels-in-the-ocean/
Summary
Mercury levels in the upper ocean have tripled since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and humans are to blame, however, this information was only recently discovered. “Researchers collected thousands of water samples during eight research cruises to the North and South Atlantic and Pacific oceans between 2006 and 2011. To determine how mercury levels had changed over time, they compared samples of seawater from depths down to 5 kilometers with water closer to the surface, which had been more recently exposed to mercury pollution from land and air.” The researcher have discovered that the drastic rise in mercury levels are mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels and mining. A temporary solution currently is to just let the ocean circulation patterns curb the effects of the rise in mercury. However, the deep water’s ability to sequester mercury will soon be exhausted as we are overwhelming it with 150 years of mercury in only 50 years. This study lets us know that reducing mercury pollution could work because not the oceans aren’t uniformly contaminated.
Mercury levels in the upper ocean have tripled since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and humans are to blame, however, this information was only recently discovered. “Researchers collected thousands of water samples during eight research cruises to the North and South Atlantic and Pacific oceans between 2006 and 2011. To determine how mercury levels had changed over time, they compared samples of seawater from depths down to 5 kilometers with water closer to the surface, which had been more recently exposed to mercury pollution from land and air.” The researcher have discovered that the drastic rise in mercury levels are mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels and mining. A temporary solution currently is to just let the ocean circulation patterns curb the effects of the rise in mercury. However, the deep water’s ability to sequester mercury will soon be exhausted as we are overwhelming it with 150 years of mercury in only 50 years. This study lets us know that reducing mercury pollution could work because not the oceans aren’t uniformly contaminated.
Reflection
I chose this article because I have heard about mercury levels increasing in the oceans before. I heard that the increase in mercury is contaminating the fishes that live there and so when we ingest the fishes in large amounts we can get mercury poisoning. Not only that, the effects of mercury are deadly, so things won't end with a simple stomach ache. Also, we aren't suppose to eat fish raw (sushi) anymore because of the high levels of mercury contamination in the fishes. After reading this article and finding out that the mercury levels in the ocean are so drastically high, I don't think I will be eating any kind of fishes anymore. Not only that, I noticed that the article didn't mention any solution to the mercury problem. Since making a solution, putting it in place, and getting positive results will take decades, I'm assuming that the mercury level decreases won't be actually happening until I'm in my 80s or so.
I chose this article because I have heard about mercury levels increasing in the oceans before. I heard that the increase in mercury is contaminating the fishes that live there and so when we ingest the fishes in large amounts we can get mercury poisoning. Not only that, the effects of mercury are deadly, so things won't end with a simple stomach ache. Also, we aren't suppose to eat fish raw (sushi) anymore because of the high levels of mercury contamination in the fishes. After reading this article and finding out that the mercury levels in the ocean are so drastically high, I don't think I will be eating any kind of fishes anymore. Not only that, I noticed that the article didn't mention any solution to the mercury problem. Since making a solution, putting it in place, and getting positive results will take decades, I'm assuming that the mercury level decreases won't be actually happening until I'm in my 80s or so.
Next Steps
In the article, there was no mention of next steps to fix the mercury issue in the ocean. It simply said that the efforts to reduce mercury within the ocean will be effective as the oceans don't distribute mercury uniformly so the efforts to curb mercury levels in the ocean won't be for naught. Scientists already have a plan in place to fix the mercury levels in the ocean so the scientist are probably just continue using their solution they already have in place currently. However, the article made no mention on what exactly the solution is.
In the article, there was no mention of next steps to fix the mercury issue in the ocean. It simply said that the efforts to reduce mercury within the ocean will be effective as the oceans don't distribute mercury uniformly so the efforts to curb mercury levels in the ocean won't be for naught. Scientists already have a plan in place to fix the mercury levels in the ocean so the scientist are probably just continue using their solution they already have in place currently. However, the article made no mention on what exactly the solution is.