An update of the mercury inventory and atmospheric mercury fluxes to and from Finland

Finland, the northern-most agricultural/industrial country in the world, has been for some time steadily improving environmental mercury (Hg) research. This paper focuses upon Hg recovery during zinc production, uses of Hg, updating of information on Hg emissions and atmospheric transport of Hg to and from Finland. The recovery of Hg as a by-product of zinc production began in 1970. The highest amount of recovered Hg was noted to be 160 t in 1989. Total uses of Hg in different sectors were about 7.4 t in 1992, which had decreased by 50% since the year 1987. In 1992, the estimated Hg emission to air was 2 t yr^?1, whereas to water and land the emission was about 0.20 and 3.67 t yr^?1, respectively. Natural Hg emission in Finland was estimated to be about 0.4 t yr^?1 (range: 0.3 to 0.5 t yr^?1). In addition, an initial attempt was made to estimate the atmospheric Hg flux to and from Finland; these values were noted to be 2.7 and 2.1 t yr^?1, respectively.