Contamination of U.S. Arctic Ecosystems by Long-Range Transport of Atmospheric Contaminants

Various kinds of atmospheric pollutants are found in Arctic environments, including organic contaminants, radionuclides, and pollutants associated with fossil fuel combustion, smelting, and industrial development. While some of these contaminants originate in the Arctic itself, most are likely a res...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ford, Jesse, Landers, Dixon H.
Other Authors: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY CORVALLIS OR ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LAB
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 1992
Subjects:
Meteorology
Air Pollution and Control
Ecology
*CONTAMINATION
*ECOSYSTEMS
*ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
*POLAR REGIONS
*POLLUTANTS
*TRANSPORT
ACCUMULATION
ATMOSPHERICS
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
COMBUSTION
CONTAMINANTS
DISTRIBUTION
ENVIRONMENTS
FOOD CHAINS
FOSSIL FUELS
GLOBAL
HIGH LATITUDES
INTERNATIONAL
SMELTING
*Global climate change
Component Reports
Arctic
Canada
Fairbanks
Climate change
Alaska
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADP007273
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADP007273
Description
Summary:Various kinds of atmospheric pollutants are found in Arctic environments, including organic contaminants, radionuclides, and pollutants associated with fossil fuel combustion, smelting, and industrial development. While some of these contaminants originate in the Arctic itself, most are likely a result of long-range transport from lower latitudes. Recent studies suggest that at least some atmospheric contaminants may be susceptible to poleward redistribution, sequestration, and accumulation as a result of their physical and chemical properties. Thus, contamination of the Arctic may be exacerbated by the tendency of selected contaminants produced at lower latitudes to be transported to polar regions and incorporated into high-latitude food chains. Although awareness of exotic contaminants in high-latitude food chains is not new, international and regional baseline data are needed to document the magnitude, distribution, and ecosystem effects of this potentially serious global (hemispheric) problem. The United States has given little attention to Arctic studies relative to several other circumpolar nations (e.g., Canada, Sweden). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is currently designing regional-scale studies to complement existing site-specific studies and reduce this information gap in the U.S. This article is from 'Proceedings of the International Conference on the Role of the Polar Regions in Global Change Held in Fairbanks, Alaska on 11-15 June 1990. Volume 1', AD-A253 027, p102-105.

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