Mercury in the Southern Hemisphere and Tropics

Over the last two decades, the cycle of mercury between the atmosphere, terrestrial and aquatic systems has received abundant attention in the Northern Hemisphere. In contrast, our understanding of the biogeochemical cycle of mercury in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) and tropics is very poor.

In order to overcome this knowledge gap on mercury in the SH and tropics, Mercury Australia (www.mercury-australia.com.au) is organising a Special Forum in the scientific peer-reviewed journal ‘Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene’. This Special Forum aims to combine research efforts, forge new collaborations and, crucially, increase the visibility and impact of mercury research in the SH and tropics. Elementa provides an interdisciplinary platform open to all academics, and its public open access model will allow peer-reviewed papers to reach practicing managers, consultants, government officials, researchers and others interested in current and emerging issues on mercury.

This Forum is especially timely given the upcoming International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant (ICMGP) 2021 will take place in Cape Town, South Africa, imparting a SH focus to the meeting. We expect to advertise this special issue at the upcoming ICMGP 2019.

Contributing papers may address one or more of the following topics:

  • Present-day mercury sources, emissions and deposition.
  • Historical sources, emission and deposition of mercury into the environment.
  • Atmospheric transport and chemical transformation.
  • Ecotoxicology.
  • Regulation and policy related to mercury emission.
  • Regulation, science, and policy related to the Minamata Convention.
  • Analytical analyses and methods for mercury measurement.
  • Advances in mercury modelling.
  • Environmental processes related to mercury.

Submission Instructions

We invite applicants to submit an abstract of no more than 500 words to Larissa Schneider ([email protected]) or Jenny Fisher ([email protected]) by 30th July 2019. Our first proposed deadline for the full paper is the 30th November 2019.

Instructions for submission are detailed on https://www.elementascience.org/about/submissions/. This special issue will be published as a ‘Forum’ https://collections.elementascience.org/.

If you have any questions, please write to Larissa.Schneider @anu.edu.au.