@article{THESIS,
      recid = {3930},
      author = {Derry, Eleanor},
      title = {Analysis of Episodic Atmospheric Mercury Oxidation in a  Remote Continental Atmosphere},
      number = {THESIS},
      pages = {59},
      month = {Apr},
      year = {2023},
      abstract = {Mercury is a global pollutant and neurotoxin that  bioaccumulates within food chains and can cause adverse  health effects with exposure. Although elemental mercury  can persist in the atmosphere for months, it can also  undergo oxidation chemistry to a more water soluble form  that is readily removed from the atmosphere and introduced  into ecosystems. However, the chemical mechanisms for  mercury oxidation are not well understood. During the  spring and summer seasons of 2021 and 2022, continuous  measurements of oxidized and elemental mercury,  meteorology, trace gases, and aerosol properties were  collected at the high elevation Storm Peak Laboratory in  Steamboat Springs, Colorado to investigate the origins of  atmospheric oxidized mercury and the conditions under which  oxidation occurs in a continental environment. We examined  this dataset for multi-day periods in which oxidized  mercury was at least one standard deviation above the  seasonal mean for spring and summer. We generated  descriptive statistics and correlation coefficients of  meteorological and chemical tracers to examine these  multi-day events for air mass composition. We also ran  HYSPLIT 10-day back trajectories every six hours using GDAS  input meteorological data at 1000 m AGL to examine air mass  origins. We then categorized the events based on  similarities in composition and transport into three types:  Clean Air Events, Elevated Ozone Events, and Combustion  Tracer Influenced Events. During the identified episodes,  hourly-averaged oxidized mercury concentrations ranged from  121 ± 25 pg/m3 to 198 ± 26 pg/m3. Across most events,  oxidized mercury was significantly anticorrelated with  elemental mercury and relative humidity, and relative  humidity remained below 40%, suggesting the occurrence of  in-situ oxidation in dry air masses potentially of free  tropospheric origin. These results validate and expand upon  earlier work at SPL and will be used to further study the  underlying chemistry for atmospheric mercury oxidation.},
      url = {http://digitalcc.coloradocollege.edu/record/3930},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.52295/dcc.3930},
}