Pollution Arctic

Arctic Pollution Issues a State of the Arctic Environment Report. Oslo Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, 1997. 188 pp. 

Norstrom, R.J., S.E. Belikov, E.W. Born, G.W. Garner, B. Malone, S. Olpinski, M.A. Ramsay, S. Schliebe, I. Stirling, M.S. Stishov, M.K. Taylor, and O. Wiig. 1998. Chlorinated hydrocarbon contaminants in polar bears from eastern Russia, North America, Greenland, and Svalbard biomonitoring of Arctic pollution. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 35 354-367. 

AMAP (1998) Arctic pollution issues a state of the arctic environment report. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, Oslo... 

Hansen, J.C., 1998. Pollution and human health. In Wilson, S.J., Murray, J.L., Huntington, H.P. (Eds.), AMAP Assessment Report Arctic Pollution Issues. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP). Oslo, Norway, pp. 775-837. 

Arctic Pollution, Persistent Organic Pollutants, Heavy Metals, Radioactivity, Human Health, Changing Pathways, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, 2002. http //amap.no/documents. 

Editors, Arctic Pollution POP goes the Theory , The Economist, June 9, 2001, Page 83... 

AMAP Arctic Pollution (2011) Arctic monitoring and assessment programme (AMAP), Oslo... 

Cesium, strontium and plutonium have been detected in sediments of Ob and Enisey downstream as far as the mouths of the rivers and in Enisey floodlands. In some places contamination was higher than that from global fallout. Although nuclear military facilities in Siberia could be potential contributors to the radioactive contamination of the Arctic, global fallout onto the land seems predominant. Some part of radionuclides is washed into the rivers and ultimately transported to the Kara Sea. As the catchment area of the river Enisey is smaller than that of Ob , its contribution into the radioactive contmnination of the Arctic would be smaller [OTA, p. 45]. Potential contributions of the weapons complex to Arctic pollution depends on many factors, and permanent monitoring of the weapons production sites is necessary. 

Barrie, L. A. (1986). Arctic air pollution an overview of current knowledge, Atmos. Environ. 20, 643-663. 

Borga, K., Hop, H., and Skaare, J.U. et al. (2007). Selective bioaccumulation of chlorinated pesticides and metabohtes in Arctic seabirds. Environmental Pollution 145, 545-553. 

O Hara TM, Woshner V, Bratton G. 2003. Inorganic pollutants in Arctic marine mammals. In Vos JG, Bossart GD, Fournier M, O Shea TJ, editors. Toxicology of marine mammals. London (UK) Taylor Francis, p. 206-246. 

Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) (2004) AMAP assessment 2002 persistent organic pollutants in the Arctic. AMAP, P.O. Box 8100 Dep, N-0032 Oslo, Norway, www.amap.no... 

Sum Chi Lee received her B.A.Sc. and M.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto. She has conducted environmental research at various government organizations and the University of Toronto. Her research activities have included establishing the physical-chemical properties of organochlorines and understanding the sources, trends, and behavior of persistent organic pollutants in the atmosphere of the Canadian Arctic. 

Bohn, A. 1979. Trace metals in fucoid algae and purple sea urchins near a high Arctic lead/zinc ore deposit. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 10 325-327. 

Pacyna, J.M. and G.J. Keeler. 1995. Sources of mercury in the Arctic. Water Air Soil Pollut. 80 621-632. 

Skaare, J.U., E. Degre, P.E. Aspholm, and K.I. Ugland. 1994. Mercury and selenium in Arctic and coastal seals off the coast of Norway. Environ. Pollut. 85 153-160. 

Stephens, G.R. 1995. Mercury concentrations in fish in a remote Canadian arctic lake. Water Air Soil Pollut. 

Bustnes, J.O., et al., Immune function and organochlorine pollutants in Arctic breeding glaucous gulls, Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 47, 530, 2004. 

Pollutant Exposure and Chemical Composition of Plants Let us consider the influence of various exposure factors on the chemical composition of plant species in the arctic islands. It seems the most influential factor is the distance from the ocean shore. For example, in arctic willow growing a few meters from the tide line, the content of Zn, Cu, Pb, and Ni was higher than that of the same plant... 

There are no effective boundaries when it comes to pollutants. Studies have shown that toxic insecticides that have been banned in many countries are riding the wind from countries where they remain legal. Compounds such as DDT and toxaphene have been found in remote places like the Yukon and other Arctic regions. 

Proposals for the EU to press for nine hazardous substances to be banned or severely restricted under two international treaties on persistent organic pollutants were issued by the European Commission in August. The substances include polychlorinated naphthalenes and the flame retardant pentabromodiphenyl ether, concentrations of which were recently found to be rising in the Arctic environment and wildlife. 

On a worldwide basis, toxic concentrations of the heavy metals have thus far been limited to industrialized harbors. The only metals that appear to have accumulated to toxic levels on a regional scale are mercury, cadmium, and lead in the Arctic Ocean. This concentration of mercury and lead has been fecilitated by a natural process, called the grasshopper effect, which acts to transport volatile compoimds poleward. This transport plays a major role in redistributing the volatile organic pollutants, such as the PCBs, and, hence, is discussed at further length in Chapter 26.7. The process responsible for the cadmium enrichment in the Arctic appears to involve low-altitude transport of the fine particles that compose Arctic haze. 

P. Stringer, R. (1999) The Tip of the Iceberg State of Knowledge on Persistent Organic Pollutants In Europe and the Arctic. Publ. Greenpeace International, August 1999, ISBN 90-73361-53-2 76 pp. 

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