Methylmercury mass budgets and distribution characteristics in the Western Pacific Ocean.
Résumé
Methylmercury (MeHg) accumulation in marine organisms poses serious ecosystem and human health risk, yet the sources of MeHg in the surface and subsurface ocean remain uncertain. Here, we report the first MeHg mass budget for the Western Pacific Ocean estimated based on cruise observations. We found the major net source of MeHg in surface water to be vertical diffusion from the subsurface layer (1.8 to 12 nmol m-2 yr-1). A higher upward diffusion in the North Pacific (12 nmol m-2 yr-1) than in the Equatorial Pacific (1.8-5.7 nmol m-2 yr-1) caused elevated surface MeHg concentrations observed in the North Pacific. We furthermore found that the slope of the linear regression line for MeHg versus apparent oxygen utilization was about twofold higher in the Equatorial Pacific than the North Pacific. We suggest this could be explained by redistribution of surface water in the tropical convergence-divergence zone, supporting active organic carbon decomposition in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean. Base on this study, we predict oceanic regions with high organic carbon remineralization to have enhanced MeHg concentrations in both surface and subsurface waters.