Mercury concentrations in the Canadian Arctic marine ecosystem

This dataset contains 2005 concentrations of total mercury (THg), gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), methylated mercury, dimethyl mercury (DMHg) in the water column of the Canadian Arctic.


Mercury in the Arctic is an important environmental and human health issue. The reliance of Northern peoples on traditional foods, such as marine mammals, for subsistence means that they are particularly at risk from mercury exposure. Mercury concentrations on biological organisms have increased since the onset of the industrial age and are controlled by a combination of abiotic factors, food web dynamics and structure, as well as animal behavior.


The Arctic Ocean including its coastal seas has many features differentiating it from the rest of the worlds marine ecosystem that can affect the fate of mercury (Hg) an how issues surrounding mercury contamination are viewed. Due to its remote location all anthropogenic mercury inputs to the Arctic Ocean originate from long range transport rather than point source emissions, making source attribution more challenging. Atmospheric process are unique to polar region and play an important role in controlling the deposition of atmospheric mercury.

Basic view

Metadata Record Information

File Identifier
4b3f1916-a5ae-41db-b365-129c0d214f6c XML
Date Stamp
2022-11-09T17:00:50
Metadata language

eng; CAN
Character set
UTF8
Hierarchy Level
Series
Point of contact
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Science and Technology Branch / Water Science and Technology / Aquatic Contaminants Research Division - ACRD Data Management Team
867 Lakeshore Rd. , Burlington , Ontario , L7S 1A1 , Canada
 

Data identification

Date (Publication)
2018-08-28
Date (Creation)
2005-08-16
Status
On going
Metadata language

eng; CAN
Character set
UTF8
Topic category
  • Oceans
  • Environment
  • Biota
Maintenance and Update Frequency
As needed
Spatial representation type
Text, table
Principal investigator
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Science and Technology Branch / Water Science and Technology / Aquatic Contaminants Research Division - Dr. Jane Kirk ( Research scientist )
867 Lakeshore Rd. , Burlington , Ontario , L7S 1A1 , Canada
Originator
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Science and Technology Branch / Water Science and Technology / Aquatic Contaminants Research Division - Dr. Derek Muir ( Research scientist, emeritus )
867 Lakeshore Rd. , Burlington , Ontario , L7S 1A1 , Canada

Keywords

Place

  • Arctic

  • Northwest Passage

  • North Open Polynya

  • Hudson Strait

  • Hudson Bay
Theme

  • Observation/Measurement

  • Mercury

  • Northern Contaminants Program (NCP)

  • Contaminants

  • Marine Food Web

  • Total mercury

  • Gaseous elemental mercury

  • Methylated mercury

  • Dimethyl mercury

Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus

  • Arctic ecosystems

  • Mercury

ECCC Information Category EN

  • Nature and Biodiversity - Contaminants

Business Functions

  • Assess Toxicity, Manage and Monitor for Environmental Presence of Hazardous Substances and Waste

  • Monitor / Assess Substance and Waste Levels in Air, Water, Soil, Biota

Geography

  • National (CA)

Branch

  • Science and Technology Branch

Directorate

  • Water Science and Technology

Program (PAA)

  • 1.2.1. Water Quality and Aquatic Ecosystems Health

GC Security Level

  • Unclassified
 
Use Limitation

Open Government Licence - Canada ( http://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada )

Access Constraints
License
Use Constraints
License
Begin Date
2005-08-16
End Date
2005-10-13

Extent

N
S
E
W
thumbnail


 
 

Ref. system Reference Systems

Reference system identifier
http://www.epsg-registry.org / EPSG:4326 /
 

Distribution

Distribution Formats

Distribution format
  • CSV ( 1 )

 
Distributor
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada - Public inquiries centre
Fontaine Building 12th floor, 200 Sacré-Coeur Blvd. , Gatineau , Quebec , K1A 0H3 , Canada
1-800-668-6767
https://www.canada.ca
 
 

Overviews

N
S
E
W
thumbnail


Keywords

Arctic Contaminants Dimethyl mercury Gaseous elemental mercury Hudson Bay Hudson Strait Marine Food Web Mercury Methylated mercury North Open Polynya Northern Contaminants Program (NCP) Northwest Passage Observation/Measurement Total mercury
Branch
Science and Technology Branch
Business Functions
Assess Toxicity, Manage and Monitor for Environmental Presence of Hazardous Substances and Waste Monitor / Assess Substance and Waste Levels in Air, Water, Soil, Biota
Directorate
Water Science and Technology
ECCC Information Category EN
Nature and Biodiversity - Contaminants
GC Security Level
Unclassified
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus
Arctic ecosystems Mercury
Program (PAA)
1.2.1. Water Quality and Aquatic Ecosystems Health

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