The role of the global cryosphere in the fate of organic contaminants

The cryosphere is an important component of global organic contaminant cycles. Snow is an efficient scavenger of atmospheric organic pollutants while a seasonal snowpack, sea ice, glaciers and ice caps are contaminant reservoirs on time scales ranging from days to millennia. Important physical and chemical processes occurring in the various cryospheric compartments impact contaminant cycling and fate. A variety of interactions and feedbacks also occur within the cryospheric system, most of which are susceptible to perturbations due to climate change. In this article, we review the current state of knowledge regarding the transport and processing of organic contaminants in the global cryosphere with an emphasis on the role of a changing climate. Given the complexity of contaminant interactions with the cryosphere and limitations on resources and research capacity, interdisciplinary research and extended collaborations are essential to close identified knowledge gaps and to improve our understanding of contaminant fate under a changing climate

Changing sources and environmental factors reduce the rates of decline of organochlorine pesticides in the Arctic Atmosphere.

An extensive database of organochlorine (OC) pesticide concentrations measured at the Norwegian Arctic Monitoring Station was analysed to assess longer-term trends in the Arctic atmosphere. Dynamic Harmonic Regression (DHR) is employed to investigate the seasonal and cyclical behaviour of chlordanes, DDTs and hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and to isolate underlying inter-annual trends. Although a simple comparison of annual mean concentrations (1994–2005) suggest a decline for all of the OCs investigated, the longer-term trends identified by DHR only show a significant decline for p,p'-DDT. Indeed, HCB shows an increase from 2003–2005. This is thought to be due to changes in source types and the presence of impurities in current use pesticides, together with retreating sea ice affecting air-water exchange. Changes in source types were revealed by using isomeric ratios for the chlordanes and DDTs. Declining trends in ratios of trans-chlordane/cis-chlordane (TC/CC) indicate a shift from primary sources, to more ''weathered'' secondary sources, whereas an increasing trend in o,p'-DDT/p,p'-DDT ratios indicate a shift from use of technical DDT to dicofol. Continued monitoring of these OC pesticides is required to fully understand the influence of a changing climate on the behaviour and environmental cycling of these chemicals in the Arctic as well as possible impacts from ''new'' sources

Volatile and persistent emissions from traffic and power production on Svalbard. VETAPOS.

Volatile organic compounds (VOC) including Benzene-Toluene-Xylene (BTX) related compounds were monitored in ambient air samples during Spring (April-Mai) and Autumn (October) 2010 as a follow-up of an earlier BTX ambient air monitoring program in 2007 (Reimann et al 2007) at the Research park in Longyearbyen (Forskningsparken). In addition, BTX related compounds were measured in 18 ¿headspace¿ samples above collected surface soil along snowmobile tracks in Longyeardalen, Adventdalen, Todalen as well as Sassendalen (Fredheim). In addition, during the 2010 VETAPOS in a parallel surface soil sampling campaign 18 samples were analysed for 15 priority PAH compounds

VETAPOS. Faglig sammendrag.

I flere rapporter og publikasjoner er det påpekt at lokal utslipp av forurensning har potensial for betydelige miljøpåvirkninger på Svalbard. Et fagarbeid rundt utslipp i sterkt trafikkerte områder i Longyearbyen påviser store mengder av flyktige forurensinger fra bil- og snøscootereksos med mulig effekt på mennesker og natur (Reimann et al. 2009). Polysykliske aromatiske hydrokarboner (PAH) er tjærestoffer som slippes ut gjennom forbrenningsprosesser av fossil brensel. Disse stoffene finnes også i geologiske formasjoner med høy andel av organisk materiale (som kull, petroleum etc.). Å undersøke fordeling av disse stoffene i miljøprøver (jord, sediment) kan avsløre om PAH er av naturlig opprinnelse (petrogen) eller stammer fra utslipp fra motorer (bensin, diesel) eller annet fossilt brensel (pyrogen). Sammen med VOC-forbindelser, som raskt nedbrytes i miljøet er PAH en velegnet stoffgruppe for å identifisere og karakterisere uslipp fra fossilt brensel til miljøet