Harmonising Environmental Research and Monitoring of Priority Pollutants and Impurities in the Svalbard Atmosphere (HERMOSA)

• Main Authors: Koziol, Krystyna, Kallenborn, Roland, Xie, Zhiyong, Larose, Catherine, Spolaor, Andrea, Barbaro, Elena, Kavan, Jan, Kępski, Daniel, Nikulina, Anna, Zawierucha, Krzysztof, Pearce, David, Cockerton, Luke, Nawrot, Adam, Pawlak, Filip, Pakszys, Paulina, Cappelletti, David
• Other Authors: University of Gdańsk (UG), The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Ampère, Département Bioingénierie (BioIng), Ampère (AMPERE), École Centrale de Lyon (ECL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon (INSA Lyon), Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-École Centrale de Lyon (ECL), Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Institute of Polar Sciences Venezia-Mestre (CNR-ISP), National Research Council of Italy, University of Ca’ Foscari Venice, Italy, State of Environmental Science in Svalbard (SESS) report 2022
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: aerosol atmospheric pollution monitoring coordination aerobiology dust deposition contaminants of emerging Arctic concern (CEACs); aerosol; atmospheric pollution; monitoring coordination; aerobiology; dust deposition; contaminants of emerging Arctic concern (CEACs); [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Arctic; Global warming; Hornsund; Ny Ålesund; Ny-Ålesund; Svalbard
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04291496; https://hal.science/hal-04291496/document; https://hal.science/hal-04291496/file/SESS%20Report%20HERMOSA_reviewed_no%20fields.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7406841

This is chapter 4 of the State of Environmental Science in Svalbard (SESS) report 2022. Many characteristics of atmospheric air are measured in Svalbard, including levels of chemical pollution, dark dust connected to soot, and living organisms, but most of these studies happen in Ny-Ålesund. Air monitoring was initiated as early as the 1970s, and multiple atmospheric components have been added to the monitoring over time (especially since 2010; in the early 2000s a few parameters measured at Hornsund joined the regular programme). New types of contaminants are being discovered and measured in Svalbard. Methods for detecting simpler substances and particles have been established for a long time, while certain complex chemicals and small living organisms are more difficult to capture and study. Laboratory and field equipment upgrades help improve understanding of the Svalbard environment. In this chapter, we find that collecting information on many characteristics of the air at the same time helps solve long-standing scientific questions in Svalbard, such as the origins of pollution in the Arctic air and the future of the Arctic atmosphere in a changing world. This is especially important since the Arctic is changing fast, both due to global warming and to the shift in local people’s activity from mining to services, e.g. tourism.