The permanent ice in the Arctic has been
rapidly declining over the last decade. Toxic mercury deposits may be to blame for
some of this rapid melting. A NASA led study has found that the thick perennial ice was being replaced by a saltier and thinner
ice that releases bromine into the air when it interacts with the cold and
sunlight. This triggers a chemical reaction, bromine explosion, which turns mercury
(in its gas form) that is in the
atmosphere into a toxic pollutant that falls on snow, land and ice and can also
be found in fish! Nghiem, the lead author of the study, said scientists were still
trying to figure out why the Arctic had lost one million square kilometers of
perennial ice over the last 10 years. They say it could be due to a change in
wind patterns over that time period.
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