Polar Shipboard Atmospheric Mercury Measurements from 2012

Five-minute interval measurements of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) were collected from a protected inlet on the research vessel Aurora Australis during the 2012 SIPEX II Antarctic voyage. The dataset includes raw instrument outputs from a Tekran 2537 analyzer and scanned logbooks with meteorological observations and maintenance notes. Data was collected and is provided by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal trends in GEM concentration using the five-minute interval measurement data.
• Correlate mercury levels with wind speed and direction from the co-located anemometer data.
• Investigate the impact of instrument recalibration events, noted in headers and logbooks, on data continuity.
• Study the influence of ship-based sampling line adjustments, documented in logs, on anemometer readings.
• Model atmospheric mercury behavior in the Southern Ocean using time-series data from a mobile polar platform.

Strengths

• High temporal resolution with measurements recorded at five-minute intervals.
• Includes ancillary meteorological data from a co-located 2D anemometer.
• Instrument calibration was performed approximately every 24-48 hours using an internal Hg permeation source.

Limitations

• Data is from a single, short-term voyage in 2012, limiting temporal and spatial generalizability.
• Raw files contain headers interspersed within data streams, complicating automated parsing.
• Sample size and total row count are unknown from the provided metadata.

Provenance

Source

Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AU_AADC).

Collection Method

GEM was measured by a Tekran 2537 analyzer sampling from a weather-protected inlet on the ship, with parallel gold trap collection and atomic fluorescence spectrometry detection.

Time Range

2012 (specific voyage dates not provided).

Freshness

null

Geography

Southern Ocean, sampled from the research vessel Aurora Australis during the SIPEX II voyage.