The Minamata Knowledge Hub: From data to knowledge supporting Minamata Convention on Mercury

Abstract

Atmospheric mercury (Hg) emissions are a significant component of the global Hg cycle. As the Minamata Convention on Mercury comes into effect, controlling atmospheric mercury emissions has become a compulsory goal. Decision-maker initiatives process the scientific data and information within a milieu encompassing many economic, political, social, and cultural concerns. A knowledge platform oriented to support decisors aims to answer questions on how will change the Hg deposition fluxes over one/some/all of the receptor regions following the alteration of Hg anthropogenic emissions, and which is the impact on the marine food. In this paper we present the knowledge platform in order to support Minamata Convention and stakeholders to take better decisions from data. The process to learn from data are discussed and presented from an user point of view, proposing features and tools to be included in a knowledge platform oriented to earth observation.