Interview with Lars-Éric Heimbürger-Boavida, MIO-CEM, in Le Parisien: "High concentrations of mercury in Arctic animals and their human consumers".

The presence of mercury in the oceans, and one of its most harmful forms for living creatures, is a major focus of the research carried out by this scientist, who took part in an expedition to the Arctic.

What role has the Axa Research Fund played in your work?

Thanks to this funding, I spent four months in the Arctic Ocean in the summer of 2015. I took part in a research expedition on the German icebreaker Polarstern. It was not only the experience of a lifetime, but also led to considerable scientific advances on mercury, sea ice and marine sediments. As part of the follow-up to the fellowship, in 2017 I organised a photo exhibition of the Arctic expeditions, gave public seminars and measured mercury levels in participants' hair, to inform them of their individual exposure.

Why are you interested in the different types of mercury present in water?

Mercury is a natural element found everywhere in the earth's crust, in forest fires and volcanic emissions. But there is ten times more in the atmosphere as a result of human activity. However, we still don't know where the mercury we find in the ocean comes from or how it is transformed into its most dangerous form, methylmercury, which can affect our health. When ingested, it concentrates in some of the fish we eat.

What are the initial results of your research?

According to my work in the Arctic Ocean, methylmercury is produced at a depth of 100 m, compared with 1,000 m in the Atlantic Ocean. We have also been able to show that the loss of the old multi-year sea ice due to global warming is leading to globally higher levels of methylmercury in the cryosphere (all the parts of the Earth where water is present in a solid state). Both phenomena contribute to high mercury concentrations in Arctic animals and their human consumers.

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