Arctic, Circumpolar: projects/activities

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Directory entires that have specified Arctic, Circumpolar as one of the geographic regions for the project/activity and are included in the AMAP, ENVINET, SAON and SEARCH directories. Note that the list of regions is not hierarchical, and there is no relation between regions (e.g. a record tagged with Nunavut may not be tagged with Canada). To see the full list of regions, see the regions list. To browse the catalog based on the originating country (leady party), see the list of countries.

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Displaying: 1 - 15 of 15
1. Deposition on high altitudes

The aim of this project is to measure the airborne deposition of acidifying and eutrophicating compounds (gaseous and particulate reduced and oxidised nitrogen and sulphur compounds) in air and precipitation over Sweden at high altitude. The results from this programme is used to calculate and model basic processes governing sources, atmospheric transport and sinks of atmospheric trace constituents. The observations are made at three stations. The measurements include particulate reduced and oxidised nitrogen and sulphur compounds in gaseous and particulate form in air and precipitation.

acidification air particles Arctic Atmosphere Contaminant transport deposition in forest deposition in the open fied Eutrophication Local pollution Long-range transport Mapping Modelling precipitation Spatial trends Temporal trends throughfall
2. Pollutants in air, daily values

 

This project is now part of the project : Acidifying and Eutrophifying Substances in Air and Precipitation

National Environmental Monitoring in Sweden. The project is included in a European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme network (EMEP). The subprogram main task is to check if international agreements as UN Convention on Long range Trans-boundary Air Pollution (CLTRAP) is followed. The measurements follow up the Swedish national generational goals "Natural Acidification Only", "A Non-Toxic Environment" and "Clean Air". The network comprises 10 stations, out of which three are in north Sweden, the two one are in AMAP area. Air chemistry is monitored by diffusion samplers. The following compounds are measured: SO2, SO4, tot-NH4, tot-NO3, soot, NO2. Precipitation quality is monitored following measured compounds: SO4-S, NO-N, Cl, NH4-N, Ca, Mg, Na, K, pH, EC. Metals in air and precipitation are analysed only at one north station (Bredkälen), and include: As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn, V, Hg, methyl-Hg.

acidification air pollution Arctic Atmosphere Contaminant transport Data management Dioxins/furans EMEP Eutrophication Long-range transport Mapping Modelling ozone precipitation Spatial trends Temporal trends
3. Continual monitoring of the ozone layer.

National Environmental Monitoring in Sweden in "Air" programme and sub-programme "the thickness of the ozon layer". The project follows changes in the thickness of the ozone layer in the atmosphere over Sweden.

Arctic Atmosphere Climate Data management Exposure Modelling national monitoring ozone UV radiation
4. 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
5. Quantifying and reducing uncertainty in model calculations of global pollution fate

The main objective of the project is to describe quantitatively with model calculations the global distribution behaviour of persistent organic contaminants, and to establish credibility in the results of these simulations.

Arctic Contaminant transport Exposure Long-range transport Modelling PCBs Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) Pesticides Pollution sources Spatial trends Temporal trends
6. INTERACTIONS

Important progress has been made in recent decades to describe and understand how arctic terrestrial vertebrate interact, especially concerning predator-prey interactions. Indirect interactions between different prey species modulated by shared predators (e.g. Arctic fox) are believed to have important impacts on the structure and/or dynamics of some communities. Yet, our understanding of these types of interactions is still fragmentary. To fill that gap, we will build on ongoing projects exploring related questions in Canada (Marie-Andrée Giroux, Nicolas Lecomte, Joël Bêty) and Greenland (Olivier Gilg, Niels M. Schmidt), while taking advantage of existing networks (ADSN in North America and “Interactions” program in Greenland and Eurasia). The aim of the project is to promote the implementation of several common protocols that will (1) improve each collaborator’s knowledge at the site level and, more importantly, that will (2) be merged across sites and years to improve our understanding of the functioning and the influence of indirect interactions on arctic vertebrate communities in general.

Five types of data have been identified (by the 5 initiators of the project already mentioned above) as being mandatories to answer questions related to this topic. These data sets will be collected using 5 specific protocols described in the following chapters:

  1. Monitor predation pressure using artificial nests
  2. Monitor real predation pressure on Calidris nests using Tiny Tags
  3. Observations of predators and lemmings (3b: fox scats DNA barcoding)
  4. Assessing lemming (or “rodent”) relative abundance using different methods
  5. Assessing “herbivores” (excl. rodents) relative abundance using “faeces transects”
Arctic Biodiversity Biological effects Biology Climate change Diet Ecosystems Environmental management Food webs Modelling Populations Reproduction Spatial trends Temporal trends Terrestrial mammals
7. LAPBIAT-Lapland Atmosphere-Biosphere facility

The main objective of the facility is to enhance the international scientific co-operation at the seven Finnish research stations and to offer a very attractive and unique place for multidisciplinary environmental and atmospheric research in the most arctic region of the European Union. Factors such as, arctic-subarctic and alpine-subalpine environment, northern populations, arctic winters with snow, changes in the Earth's electromagnetic environment due to external disturbances and exceptionally long series of observations of many ecological and atmospheric variables should interest new users.

Arctic Atmosphere Atmospheric processes Biodiversity Biological effects Biology Climate Climate change Climate variability Data management Ecosystems Emissions Environmental management Exposure Geophysics Human health Local pollution Long-range transport Modelling ozone Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) Populations Reindeer Spatial trends Temporal trends UV radiation
8. ISACCO(Ionospheric Scintillations Arctic Campaign Coordinated Observations)

The polar ionosphere is sensible to the enhancement of the electromagnetic radiation and energetic particles coming from the Sun expecially around a maximum of solar activity . Some typical phenomena can occur such as, among the others, geomagnetic storms, sub-storms and ionospheric irregularities. In this frame the high latitude ionosphere may become highly turbulent showing the presence of small-scale (from centimetres to meters) structures or irregularities imbedded in the large-scale (tens of kilometers) ambient ionosphere. These irregularities produce short term phase and amplitude fluctuations in the carrier of the radio waves which pass through them. These effects are commonly called Amplitude and Phase Ionospheric Scintillations that can affect the reliability of GPS navigational systems and satellite communications. The goal of this proposal is to contribute to the understanding of the physical mechanisms responsible of the ionospheric scintillations as well as to data collecting for nowcasting/forecasting purposes at high latitude. As the scarceness of polar observations, the specific site near Ny-Ålesund is of particular experimental interest.

Mapping Geophysics Modelling Arctic Atmosphere ionospheric scintillation and TEC (Total Electron Content) monitoring.
9. EuroClim

Mapping and monitoring of the snow cover with use of satellitte born optical instruments for (1) direct use of observations of climate change and (2) use of observations in climate modelling. Measurements of the snows spectral reflectance and other physical properties.

Mapping Climate variability Climate Environmental management Climate change Modelling
10. Millimetre wave radiometer for stratospheric trace gas measurements

A millimeter wave radiometer is started operation at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna, Sweden. The location of the instrument (67.8 N, 20.4 E) allows continuous observation of the evolution of ozone and ozone related trace gases in the Arctic polar stratosphere. It is designed for measurements of thermal emission lines around 204 Ghz. At this frequency observations include of ozone, chlorine monoxide, nitrous oxide, and nitric acid.

Ozone Geophysics Climate Modelling Arctic Atmosphere Temporal trends
11. Differential Optical Absorption Spectrometer

The DOAS instrument consists of grating spectrometer covering the visible and near ultraviolet spectral region. Zenith-scattered sunlight is collected by simple one-lens telescopes and fed via optical fiber bundles into the spectrometers, where atmospheric absorption spectra are obtained. The instrument runs automatically. Total column densities of the stratospheric trace species ozone, NO2, BrO, and OClO are retrieved from the spectra using the DOAS algorithm. These are species that play a major role in ozone chemistry, either by themselves in ozone destruction (BrO) or as indicators of chlorine activation/deactivation (OClO). The chemistry and dynamics of ozone destruction is investigated, e.g. with respect to the location of the polar vortex during the winter. The instrument is also useful for detection of polar stratospheric clouds using the zenith-sky colour index method.

Ozone Geophysics Modelling Arctic Atmosphere Temporal trends
12. Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectrometry

FT-IR spectrometers are capable to quantifiy the total column amounts of many important trace gases in the troposphere and stratosphere. At present the following species are retrieved from the Kiruna data: O3 (ozone), ClONO2, HNO3, HCl, CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-22, NO2, N2O, NO, HF, C2H2, C2H4, C2H6, CH4, CO, COF2, H2O, HCN, HO2NO2, NH3, N2, and OCS Selected research topics and activities: chemical ozone depletion by observation of key species (O3, ClONO2, HNO3, HCl, ..) details of the ozone formation process by isotopic studies in ozone profile retrieval to detect dynamical changes transport studies of chemical tracers and tropospheric pollutants satellite validation

Atmospheric processes Ozone Organochlorines Geophysics chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) Modelling Emissions Arctic Atmosphere Temporal trends
13. Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectrometry

FT-IR spectrometers are capable to quantifiy the total column amounts of many important trace gases in the troposphere and stratosphere. At present the following species are retrieved from the Kiruna data: O3 (ozone), ClONO2, HNO3, HCl, CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-22, NO2, N2O, NO, HF, C2H2, C2H4, C2H6, CH4, CO, COF2, H2O, HCN, HO2NO2, NH3, N2, and OCS Selected research topics and activities: chemical ozone depletion by observation of key species (O3, ClONO2, HNO3, HCl, ..) details of the ozone formation process by isotopic studies in ozone profile retrieval to detect dynamical changes transport studies of chemical tracers and tropospheric pollutants satellite validation

Atmospheric processes Ozone Organochlorines Geophysics chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) Modelling Emissions Arctic Atmosphere Temporal trends
14. Lake Myvatn and the River Laxá

The aim is to monitor the Lake Myvatn and the river Laxá ecosystem for (1) detecting trends, (2) detecting background variability in the system, (3) assess the efficiency of management measures, (4) observe perturbations in order to generate hypotheses about causal relationships.

Biological effects Biology Populations Catchment studies Fish Spatial trends Environmental management Mining Waterbirds Modelling Biodiversity Arctic Local pollution Food webs Sediments Diet Temporal trends Ecosystems
15. Environmental Protection from Ionising Contaminants in the Arctic (EPIC)

(1) Collate information relating to the environmental transfer and fate of selected radionuclides through aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in the Arctic. (2) Identify reference Arctic biota that can be used to evaluate potential dose rates to biota in different terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments (3) Model the uptake of a suite of radionuclides, both natural and anthropogenic to reference Arctic biota (4) Develop a reference set of dose models for reference Arctic biota (5) Compile data on dose-effects relationships and assessments of potential radiological consequences for reference Arctic biota (6) Integrate assessments of environmental impact from radionuclides with those for other contaminants.

Pathways Biological effects Radioactivity Radionuclides Modelling Arctic