Mercury is a globally dispersed pollutant, as many industrial processes discharge mercury into the atmosphere, where air currents help it travel to every corner of the world. It has been known to cause problems in the Great Lakes for about 50 years, but has been understudied in the past, in part because sample collection and analysis of mercury in anything but fish is extremely difficult to do without contaminating the sample.

AUTHOR

Christina Dierkes, Ohio Sea Grant