AMAP Project Directory

AMAP Project Directory

The AMAP Project Directory (AMAP PD) is a catalog of projects and activities that contribute to assessment and monitoring in the Arctic. The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), is a working group under the Arctic Council, tasked with monitoring and asessing pollution, climate change, human health and to provide scientific advice as a basis for policy making.

The directory, which is continously updated, documents national and international projects and programmes that contribute to the overall AMAP programme, and provides information on data access as well as a gateway for the AMAP Thematic Data Centres.

Other catalogs through this service are ENVINET, SAON and SEARCH, or refer to the full list of projects/activities.

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Displaying: 1 - 14 of 14
1. DiskoBasis -Ecosystem monitoring at Arctic Station

In 2013 a new ecosystem monitoring programme “DiskoBasis” was initiated at Arctic Station on Disko Island, Greenland. The project is partly funded by the Danish Energy Agency. The primary objective of DiskoBasis is to establish baseline knowledge on the dynamics of fundamental physical parameters within the environment/ecosystem around Arctic Station. This initiative extends and complements the existing monitoring carried out at Arctic Station by including several new activities –especially within the terrestrial and hydrological/fluvial field. DiskoBasis include collection of data in the following sub-topics; • Gas flux, meteorology and energy balance • Snow, ice and permafrost • Soil and soil water chemistry • Vegetation phenology • Hydrology -River water discharge and chemistry • Limnology -Lake water chemistry • Marine -Sea water chemistry

Arctic Catchment studies Climate Climate change Climate variability CO2-flux measurements Discharges Ecosystems Geochemistry Geophysics Hydrography Ice Limnology Permafrost Sea ice Soils
2. Throughfall Monitoring Network in Sweden

National Monitoring Programme in Sweden. The purpose is to quantify deposition (mainly of sulphur and nitrogen), and to illustrate effects in the soil, for example possible acidification. The aim of the network is to describe the current situation, regional differences, trends over time, and the effects of acid deposition. The atmospheric deposition of sulphur and nitrogen are the main causes of current acidification of ecosystems. Acidification results in substantial pH reduction in soil, groundwater, lakes and water courses. Deposition is investigated as precipitation studies in open field areas (bulk precipitation) and by throughfall studies in nearby forest stands. For sulphur and chloride, throughfall monitoring is useful for determination of total deposition. In areas, or during periods with low sulphur deposition, internal circulation in vegetation might influence results from throughfall measurements significantly. For nitrogen and base cations (mainly potassium and manganese) canopy interaction is important. Air concentrations of sulphur and nitrogen dioxide, ammonia, and ozone are measured at some locations. The observations made are: (i) air chemistry (SO2, NO2, NH3, O3); (ii) soil water chemistry (pH, Alk, SO4-S, Cl, NO3-N, NH4-N, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Mn, Fe, ooAl, oAl, Al-tot, total organic carbon); (iii) deposition in open field (precipitation, H+, SO4-S, Cl, NO3-N, NH4-N, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Mn); (iv) deposition in forest (throughfall, H+, SO4-S, Cl, NO3-N, NH4-N, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Mn). For nitrogen and base cations (mainly potassium and manganese) canopy interaction is important. Soil solution chemistry in the forest stands is used as indicator of soil conditions.

acidification acidity alkalinity Atmospheric processes Ca Cl condictivity Contaminant transport Data management Dioxins/furans Eutrophication Geochemistry K Local pollution Long-range transport Mg Na NH4 NO3 pH precipitation SO4 Spatial trends Temporal trends
3. National Survey of Forest Soils and Vegetation

 

This project has been divided into two new projects: The Swedish Forest Soil Inventory and the Swedish National Forest Inventory.

The Swedish National Forest Inventory has the task of describing the state and changes in Sweden's forests. The inventory gathers basic information on forests, soils and vegetation. It includes most aspects concerning soils, for example: soil types, soil chemistry including organic matter, water conditions and content of stones and boulders. Acidification, nitrogen deposition and the contribution by soils to climate change are some of the current issues dealt with. Regularly reported variables are: forest state, injuries, and growth, logging operations, new forest stand, and environmental assessment. Invented variables on permanent sampling plots include: position in the landscape, field vegetation, site conditions, soil sampling, assesment of soil characteristics, chemical analysis of soil in O-, B-, BC- and C-horizons.

acidification Biodiversity Biological effects Contaminant transport Data management Ecosystems Environmental management forest Forest damage Geochemistry Geology GIS Long-range transport Mapping Modelling Pathways Soils Spatial trends Temporal trends vegetation
4. The Swedish Forest Soil Inventory

 

This project was previously a part of the project: National Survey of Forest Soils and Vegetation.

The Swedish Forest Soil Inventory (SFSI) is part of the national environmental monitoring programme Forests and collects information about soil conditions and chemistry from around 23 500 permanent plots throughout Sweden. One tenth of these sampling plots are re-visited each year. The inventory is commissioned by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and is carried out by the Department of Soil and Environment at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

The inventory gathers basic information on soils and vegetation on predominantly forest land, but also semi-natural grassland and wetland below the alpine forest limit. It includes most aspects concerning soils, for example: soil types, soil chemistry including organic matter, water conditions and content of stones and boulders. Acidification, nitrogen deposition and the contribution by soils to climate change are some of the current issues dealt with. There is a close collaboration between the SFSI and the National Forest Inventory (NFI), and the inventoried plots are a subset of the NFI plots. .

acidification Biodiversity Data management forest Geochemistry Geology Soils Spatial trends Temporal trends vegetation
5. Ecogeochemical mapping of the eastern Barents Region (Barents Ecogeochemistry)

Geochemical mapping project based on multimaterial and -elemental method covering the NW Russia and adjacent areas of Finland and Norway. NW-Russia is of strategic importance not only for Europe but also for the sosio-economic development of the whole Russia for its richness in natural resources. Their use must be based on environmentally acceptable principles. In addition, within the area exist numerous industrial centres whose environmental impacts are unknown. The information produced by the project is significant for the future development of the area and remedial measures of the environment. The project lead by the applicant, will be carried out in 1999-2003 in cooperation with Russian and Norwegian partners.

Geology PCBs Soils Catchment studies Mapping Heavy metals Radioactivity PAHs Long-range transport Acidification Pollution sources Contaminant transport Mining Radionuclides Arctic Local pollution GIS Geochemistry Dioxins/furans Data management Sediments
6. Ground water and soil monitoring

Monitoring of groundwater quality (geochemistry)

Heavy metals Acidification Geochemistry
7. ZERO-database

The ZERO database contains all validated data from the Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations Basic Programmes (ClimateBasis, GeoBasis, BioBasis and MarinBasis). The purpose of the project is to run and update the database with new validated data after each succesfull field season. Data will be available for the public through the Zackenberg homepage linking to the NERI database. The yearly update is dependent on that each Basis programme delivers validated data in the proscribed format.

Biological effects Hydrography Geophysics Climate Polar bear GIS Sediments Marine mammals Biology Populations Soils UV radiation Fish Discharges Sea ice Climate change Terrestrial mammals Ice Biodiversity River ice Arctic Seabirds Geochemistry Reproduction Permafrost Ecosystems
8. Paleeoecology and (periglacial) eolian sediment transfer in the ice-sheet marginal zone of southwestern Greenland (Kangerlussuaq region)

The project aims at reconstructing the environmental history in the interior Kangerlussuaq region since deglaciation. Focus is placed on the lacustrine and eolian sediments to decipher climate evolution in terms of temperature, evaporation- precipitation balance and phases of high- wind speed events. The overall objectives are to build a high-resolution (decadal-to-century scale) chronostratigraphic framework for past climate variability from the analysis of organic-rich lake sediments and peat filled basins using a variety of sediment analysis techniques (magnetostratigraphy, grainsize, sedimentfractionation techniques, AMS 14C dating, diatom-, pollen- and macrofossil analysis) and sedimentology. Research activities diatom analysis, pollen analysis, magnetic susceptibility, automated correlation techniques, grainsize, organic chemistry, sediment fractionation techniques, AMS radiocarbon dating, sedimentology, mapping, sediment transport and erosion measurements/monitoring, micro-meteorology, vegetation mapping, pollen rain studies, diatom salinity training sets, limnology

Glaciers Geology eolian Climate variability Climate sedimentology Climate change Quaternary geology Ice sheets Geochemistry Sediments paleeoecology geomorphology periglacial paleolimnology
9. Tundra

Overall objective is to obtain net fluxes for carbon and freshwater water from an Arctic catchment under base-case and global change scenarios. Objective of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is to study the temporal and patial variability in floodplain sediment balance over the last 2000 years. Research activities: Selected areas in the Usa basin will be studied in detail, both in the zones of continuous and discontiunous permafrost. Fieldwork was and will be conducted in the summers of 1998 and 1999. At selected field sites, the present day processes of river erosion and deposition will be evaluated and the natural evolution and variation of amount and rate of erosion and deposition will be determined for the last 2000 years.

Pathways erosion sediment balance Soils Hydrography Catchment studies carbon flux Climate variability freshwater flux Discharges Spatial trends Climate change Geochemistry Sediments Temporal trends
10. Arctic Nearshore Impact Monitoring in the Development Area (ANIMIDA)

1. Sediment study for heavy metals and selected organic contaminants. 2. Analysis of benthic organisms for heavy metals and selected organic contaminants. 3. Study of suspended sediment distribution, composition and sources. 4. Determination of partitioning of heavy metals between dissolved and particulate phases.

Heavy metals PAHs Pollution sources Contaminant transport Petroleum hydrocarbons Local pollution Geochemistry Sediments
11. Radioecological Investigation of Kola Fjord

To investigate the impacts of Russia's military and civilian nuclear activities in the Kola Bay and adjacent areas of the northwest Arctic coast of Russia.

Sources Organochlorines PCBs Heavy metals Fish Radioactivity Discharges Spatial trends Pollution sources Contaminant transport Radionuclides Modelling Exposure Arctic Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) Local pollution Geochemistry Food webs Sediments Pesticides Ecosystems
12. Temporal assessment of Arctic pollution of mercury and persistent organic pollutants using lake sediments

The general objective is to assess time trends and deposition loads of mercury and persistent organic pollutants from long-range atmospheric transport in Arctic environments (Greenland and north Swedish mountains) using lake sediments. The specific aims are: 1. Mercury - Study pre-industrial and industrial temporal changes in Hg concentrations in sediment records of remote lakes in Greenland and north Swedish mountains. - Address the hypothesis of 'cold condensation' (the progressive re-volatilization in relatively warm locations and subsequent condensation and deposition in cooler environments) of mercury, using a series of lake sediment cores along climate gradients: in Greenland from the inland ice sheet towards the coast and in the Swedish mountains from high altitudes down to the boreal forest. 2. POPs - Make a screening to establish which persistent organic pollutants are present in recent lake sediments in remote sites in Greenland and the north Swedish mountains. Besides PCBs, HCH, DDT and other pesticides, there are new environmental threats such as brominated flame retardants, such as PDBEs, which are of particular interest. The increasing use of PBDE and other brominated compounds may lead to increasing concentrations in the Arctic environment. However, very little is known about the levels of PBDEs as well as other POPs in sediments from the Arctic. - Analyse test series of selected POPs using a lake sediment core to assess temporal trends and a number of surface sediment samples from different lakes to assess spatial variability in concentrations and cumulative fluxes of POPs in Greenland and Swedish mountain lakes. - The main purpose of this pilot study of POPs is to determine the concentrations of selected POPs in sediments from Greenland and the northern Swedish mountains and to assess how useful lake sediments are for studying temporal and spatial pollution loads of POPs in Arctic environments.

Heavy metals Long-range transport Spatial trends Pollution sources Contaminant transport Arctic Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) Geochemistry Temporal trends
13. The Seasonal Cycle of Organochlorine Concentrations in the Canadian Basin

In September 1997, the CCGS Des Groseillers was frozen into the permanent ice-pack and started a year-long science program drifting across the southern Canada Basin. This program provided a unique opportunity to carry out a "vertical" food-chain study in a seasonal context to learn how the physical and biological systems couple to produce contaminant entry into the food web (Figure 1). "Vertical" components included the water and ice, particles, algae, zooplankton (sorted by trophic level), fish and seal.. The interpretation of contaminant data collected during SHEBA will provide information about the relationship between seasonal ice formation and melt, seasonal atmospheric transport and water column organochlorine concentrations in the Canada Basin. In addition our contaminant sampling program was integrated within a larger science plan where other SHEBA researchers studied the physical and biological properties of the water column. This means that contaminant distributions can be interpreted and modeled within the full context of physical, chemical and biological processes, and of atmospheric and oceanic transport mechanisms.

Pathways Organochlorines PCBs Long-range transport Spatial trends Sea ice Contaminant transport Climate change Oceanography Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) Geochemistry Food webs Temporal trends
14. The high latitude oceans in the climate system, with special emphasis on their role in the global carbon cycle

The scientific objectives of this project is to add information that helps elucidate the role of the Arctic Mediterranean Seas (Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas) in the climatic system of the Northern Europe. More specifically it has the following aims: - To assess the heat and carbon dioxide fluxes over the air-sea interface in the Barents Sea and elucidate the effect this has on the formation of Arctic Ocean intermediate waters and associated carbon fluxes. - To assess the temporal variability of the fresh water distribution in the Arctic Ocean, both river runoff and sea ice melt, and the affect this has on the outflow of fresh water to the regions of open ocean deep water formation (the Greenland, Iceland and Labrador Seas). - To assess the mixing of upper and intermediate waters along the East Greenland Current that gives the properties of the overflow into the North Atlantic Ocean and thus add to the driving of the thermohaline circulation. This also contributes to the sequestering of anthropogenic carbon dioxide.

Shelf seas Hydrography Climate change Oceanography Arctic Geochemistry