Graduate profile: Josh Benmergui
If you think Ontario winters are bitterly cold, just ask Waterloo graduate student Joshua Benmergui what a typical day is like in Alert, Nunavut, the world’s most northern settlement.
When I arrived in August, the temperature hovered at around 0 degrees Celsius,” Josh says. “In the peak of the winter dark season, it can dip to as low as minus 45."
So, how did Josh end up spending time braving the cold in the arctic? As it turns out, it was all in support of his passion for science.
In 1995 scientists from Environment Canada working in Alert discovered a unique arctic phenomenon that deposits mercury from the atmosphere into the snow. The deposited Mercury can be hazardous to human health, as it can cause developmental problems in children and nerve damage in adults.
Mercury is produced by human activities such as coal burning, mining and waste incineration, but it also occurs naturally in the environment, where it undergoes a complex chemical cycle.
Halogen species like bromine and chlorine are emitted from refreezing cracks in sea ice, and are then transformed through reactions driven by the sunlight” Josh explains. “The halogens can then quickly react with mercury vapour in the lower atmosphere, and the products will then deposit onto the snow. There are still a lot of questions to be answered on the arctic mercury cycle."
Josh is taking the data that he helped to collect and using it for mathematical modelling during his Master’s degree studies with John Lin, professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
We're using a computer program to calculate the contact that incoming air masses have with sea ice of varying properties,” Josh says. “When we compare this to observed measurements of mercury vapour, we might be able to learn something new about the arctic mercury cycle."
John Lin has been impressed with the work completed to date by his future graduate student.
Josh is a bright, motivated student who has combined the opportunities of his co-op terms with rigorous academic training to make positive contributions to science.”
