Contaminants in the Arctic and the Antarctic: a comparison of sources, impacts, and remediation options

Abstract

Contaminants, in freezing ground or elsewhere in the world, are of concern not simply because of their presence but because of their potential for detrimental effects on human health, the biota, or other valued aspects of the environment. Understanding these effects is central to any attempt to manage or remediate contaminated land. The polar regions are different from other parts of the world, and it would be naïve to assume that the mass of information developed in temperate regions can be applied without modification to the polar regions. Despite their obvious environmental similarities, there are important differences between the Arctic and Antarctic. The landmass of the Arctic is much warmer than that of the Antarctic and as a result has a much greater diversity and abundance of flora. Because of its proximity to industrial areas in the Northern Hemisphere, the Arctic also experiences a higher input of contaminants via long-range aerial transport. In addition, the Arctic, with its indigenous population and generally undisputed territorial claims, has long been the subject of resource utilisation, including harvesting of living resources, mineral extraction, and the construction of military infrastructure. The history of human activity in Antarctica is relatively brief, but in this time there has been a series of quite distinct phases, culminating in the Antarctic now holding a unique position in the world. Activities in the Antarctic are governed by the Antarctic Treaty, which contains provisions dealing with environmental matters. The differences between the polar regions and the rest of the world, and between the Arctic and the Antarctic, significantly affect scientific and engineering approaches to the remediation of contamination in polar regions. This paper compares and contrasts the Arctic and Antarctic with respect to geography, configuration, habitation, logistics, environmental guidelines, regulations, and remediation protocols. Chemical contamination is also discussed in terms of its origin and major concerns and interests, particularly with reference to current remediation activities and site-restoration methodology.

Marine Oil-Degrading Microorganisms and Biodegradation Process of Petroleum Hydrocarbon in Marine Environments: A Review

“…Due to the increasing global petroleum demand, more and more activities such as exploitation, extraction, refining, and transportation of petroleum have been conducted. At the same time, about half of these petroleum products are transported across the world by sea [56]. Consequently, there is a dramatic increase of the petroleum spill or leakage accidents all over the world, such as spills from oil wells, pipelines, drilling rigs, or transport tankers.…”

Screening of heavy metal containing waste types for use as raw material in Arctic clay-based bricks

“…In the vulnerable Arctic environment, the impact of especially hazardous wastes can have severe consequences (Lemly, 1994;Moiseenko, 1999;Poland et al, 2003;Ramirez-Llodra et al, 2015;Rylander et al, 2011) and the reduction and safe handling of these waste types are therefore an important issue in the Arctic nations. Although bricks are a well-suited building material for cold climates (Brick Industry Association, 2006), the Arctic region does not have a strong tradition for masonry structures in comparison to other parts of the world.…”

“…Due to the scarce and geographically wide-spread population in the arctic areas, municipal solid wastes are traditionally handled by dumping at open disposal sites and/or uncontrolled incineration (Poland et al, 2003). This was also common practice in Greenland before the 1990's (Eisted and Christensen, 2011;Kirkelund et al, 2012), however, increased awareness of the environmental impact has since led to the introduction of a waste strategy and several small municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) plants.…”

“…Benefits such as increased durability (Torres et al, 2009), reduced firing temperature (Segadães et al, 2005) and lowered total cost (Roy et al, 2007) were reported for the produced ceramics. The Arctic area contains several mining operations and has already experienced severe environmental problems relating to tailings (Askaer et al, 2008;Poland et al, 2003) Up until this date, only a few mines have been in operation in Greenland, but serious environmental problems relating to the tailings from some of these mines have also been experienced here (Johansen and Asmund, 2001). Use of the mine tailings in clay-based bricks might offer an environmentally better alternative to disposal, which is addressed in this paper.…”

Assessment of persistent organic pollutants and their relationship with immunoglobulins in blood of penguin colonies from Antarctica

“…Yet, our results are indicating that PCBs, DDT, HCB and endosulfan are present somehow in the Antarctic food web. On the other hand, the Antarctic wildlife is more sensitive to chemical contaminants at lower concentrations than similar species from temperate latitudes (Poland et al 2003). Polar animals have a high content of lipids and a slow metabolism to save energy, and therefore they have a very slow process of pollutants detoxification (Chapman and Riddle 2005), which implies that Antarctic organisms might be more vulnerable to the adverse effects of POPs than animals from other regions (Bargagli 2008).…”