Present century record of mercury species pollution in high altitude alpine snow and ice

Mercury speciation analysis has been performed in an ice/snow core drilled at an altitude of 4250 m in the Col du Dôme glacier on the Mont Blanc, France. The study provides the first time series for mercury speciation analysis in the Alpine snow/ice for the last century. Measured concentrations range from 0.25 to 3.96 pg g$^{-1}$ for MeHg$^+$ and 0.20 to 1.80 pg g$^{-1}$ for Hg$^{2+}$. Since the beginning of 20$^{\rm th}$ century, a clear increase in total mercury concentration is observed with a maximum for 1965 with an approximately 5-fold increase compared to 1885. A drop in both methylmercury and total mercury concentrations was observed after 1965 and might be linked with the reduction in the mercury emissions from anthropogenic activities