Alaska’s Yukon River may be shuttling much more than just water as it traverses the state and empties into the Bering Sea.
A California-led research team has now found evidence that climate change-induced permafrost melting is unleashing long-sequestered mercury deposits into this critical freshwater artery.
The release of the metal, which has been stored in the permafrost for millennia, now poses an environmental and public health hazard to about 5 million people living in the Arctic zone, according to the study, published on Thursday in Environmental Research Letters.
