As Alaska’s permafrost melts, it has revealed high levels of mercury that could threaten Alaska Natives.
That’s according to a new study released earlier this month by the University of Southern California that analyzed melted permafrost sediments from Alaska’s Yukon River.
Researchers already knew that Arctic permafrost was releasing some mercury, but scientists weren’t sure how much. A new study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters suggests that things aren’t looking good. As the river flows west, melting permafrost is depositing large amounts of mercury on its banks, confirming scientists’ worst-case estimates and highlighting a potential threat to the environment and indigenous people.
Mercury is a naturally occurring substance, but it can also be made artificially. If ingested, the silvery metal can cause serious damage to the nervous system. Pregnant women and children are particularly at risk, which is one reason why many governments have issued health restrictions on the types of fish that people should eat during pregnancy.
Previously, researchers thought that thawing permafrost releases at least 40 kilograms of mercury per square kilometer, or as much as 150 kilograms per square kilometer, a huge range that left a lot of room for uncertainty. The new study suggests that the minimum release is actually twice as high, ranging from about 86 kilograms per square kilometer to as much as 131 kilograms per square kilometer, and a method of testing the soil to determine this could give scientists more confidence in their assessment.
Josh West, a professor of earth science and environmental studies at USC and one of the study’s co-authors, said the impending mercury exposure is “very concerning.”
“Permafrost soils contain more mercury than all the other soils on Earth, all the oceans, and the atmosphere,” he said. “So there’s a tremendous amount of mercury in these frozen soils where climate change is happening faster than anywhere else in the world.
“It felt like a bomb was going to go off,” he added.
Scientists analyzed sandbars and riverbank sediments near Beaver and Husleya, two villages in the northern Yukon Village Basin. The research team included USC and university partners, as well as the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council, a Native nonprofit organization representing dozens of First Nations and tribal nations dedicated to protecting the Yukon River basin.
West cautions that much is still unknown about the situation. Researchers are continuing to investigate whether the released mercury is turning into methylmercury, a toxic substance that can cause brain damage if ingested. They are also investigating whether melting permafrost into the Yukon River is carrying mercury to fish eaten by nearby residents, including First Nations. It is unclear whether this is actually happening, and more data is needed, he emphasizes.
But what we do know is that the Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the planet, and some communities are already being forced to migrate as permafrost thaws.
For Alaska Natives, water is life, and melting permafrost poses a number of challenges. “Beaver, Alaska native Darcy Peter, who works on climate adaptation, said: Woodwell Climate Research Center. Declining salmon runs are already a problem in the Yukon, partly due to warmer ocean waters caused by climate change. Peter says his people haven’t seen salmon in years. “The last thing we want to worry about when we’re fishing is high mercury levels.”
Mercury poisoning among indigenous peoples is already a global problem.
In Canada, Aboriginal peoples suffer from the following detrimental impacts: Mercury poisoning in fishPollution has been linked to higher rates of suicide attempts among youth in the Grassy Narrows First Nation, the largest indigenous tribe in the Amazon. Mercury levels were high Because of the illegal gold mining nearby, the problem is so well documented that there is ongoing international advocacy to secure more indigenous representation in the UN’s annual mercury agreement.
Unfortunately, Alaska is no exception. A 2022 study found that “Arctic natives Among the most exposed humans Regarding foodborne mercury, Emphasized the importance of cooperation Research with indigenous people.
Mercury contamination not only poses health risks and threatens to disrupt indigenous fishing practices, but it is also another way that climate change threatens traditional cultural practices that indigenous people have followed for thousands of years. It is a threat not only to the health and physical existence of indigenous people, but also to their cultural identity.
“Where I live in Beaver, there are no grocery stores. We build our own cabins, pump our own water, hunt our own food,” Peter said. “We definitely feel it physically, emotionally, financially. There’s the salmon decline and the mercury in the Yukon.”
