The Global Mercury Observatory System (GMOS) is a 5-year project funded by the European Commission to establish a world-wide system for the measurement of atmospheric mercury in ambient air and precipitation samples. There are numerous “Partners” in GMOS from many countries. The coordination of the project is being done by the CNR Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research in Rome.

The GMOS program relies heavily on the Tekran 2537B Automated Mercury Monitor coupled with the Tekran 1130 and Tekran 1135 modules to measure air mercury speciation at ground based locations and during ocean cruises. In order to support GMOS, Tekran staff helped to organize and conduct a 3-day training session on the Tekran 2537-1130-1135 Atmospheric Mercury Speciation System at the CNR site in Rome. Tekran was joined by and worked side-by-side with Mark Olson of the North American Atmospheric Mercury Network (AMNet). There is a productive collaboration between AMNet and GMOS. There were 25 attendees in all from countries such as South Africa, Cape Verde, Argentina and Suriname to name a few.

Based on the successful Model 2537 platform, the completely updated and redesigned Tekran 2537X instrument provides secure network access for remote operation, control, data downloads and much more. The Tekran Model 2537 has been a workhorse for automated air measurements for over 15 years and we’re excited to offer our customers even more functionality, control and advanced features. Contact lab-air-info@tekran.com for availability

More mercury is deposited in the Arctic than anywhere else on the planet. NTNU researchers think one explanation for this may lie in the meteorological conditions in the Arctic spring and summer.

The concentration of mercury in humans and animals that live in polar regions is on the increase. Polar bears and humans that eat marine mammals are the most affected. 

But why is there more mercury in the Arctic than elsewhere? 



Scientists have been puzzling over this question since the beginning of the 1990s. Their first breakthrough came when it was discovered that under certain meteorological conditions, mercury from the air is deposited on the snow and ice in polar areas. The phenomenon occurs when the sun rises over the horizon in the spring, after a long polar night.

Now new research from NTNU PhD candidate Anne Steen Orderdalen and Professor Torunn Berg at the Department of Chemistry and the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) shows that this process also occurs in the summer as well as in the spring. In a series of publications, the researchers have documented the types of mercury found over the Arctic and are tracking its fate and transport. Essentially, far more mercury is deposited in the Arctic than initially thought, which may be due to the extended time period during which it can be transformed and deposited. 

Scientists still don’t know exactly why and how the process occurs. But sunlight appears to be an important factor. Read More