Toxic substances in the Arctic Effects on ecosystems and humans

Transcription

1 Toxic substances in the Arctic Effects on ecosystems and humans 4 th Joint Nordic Meeting on Remediation of Contaminated Sites September 2012, Oslo Lars-Otto Reiersen AMAP Secretariat, Oslo, Norway. 1

2 Thawing of the Cold war 2

3 Arctic environmental threats in 1989 Pollution from USSR/Russia: Radioactivity, Heavy metals & Forest death - Atmospheric SO2; Oilspills; Noise - affecting sea mammals; Organic contaminants Long Range Transport; Monitoring What can be done? 3

4 AMAP initiated in 1991 to: Monitor and Assess levels, trends and effects of: Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), Heavy metals, Radionuclides Petroleum hydrocarbons Climate Change and UV - included in 1993 Analysing samples from: Air, Water, Snow, Ice & Sediments Plankton, Invertebrate, Fish, Mammals & Birds Humans Provide science based policy related Actions 4

5 AMAP s geographical coverage 5

6 Permanent Participants (6 Arctic Indigenous Orgs): Aleut International Association (1998) Arctic Athabaskan Council Gwich'in Council International (1999) Inuit Circumpolar Council Saami Council (1956 as NSC) Russian Arctic Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) (1990)

7 Acidification and Heavy Metals

8 Radioactivity: Risks identified by AMAP in 1995 Kola Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Andreva Bay - Storage of spent fuel and waste RTGs - Lighthouses based on Strontium batteries Mayak - Reprocessing plant Dumping sites at Novaya Zemlya Decommissioning of nuclear submarines Long time storage and transport, Novaya Zemlya

9 Dismantling nuclear submarines Russian nuclear submarines have been decommisioned, 122 of these in North-west Russia, 1 waiting for dismantlement

10 Arctic Atmospheric stations

11 Legacy POPs Time trends in air Decreasing trends in the Arctic during 1970s PCB, DDT trends at Alert (Canada) and Zeppelin (Svalbard) show strong declines. Indications of slight increasing trends for HCB and PCB in recent years, might be an impacts of climate change on pathways and recycling. AMAP

12 Ringed Seal Annual sampling Sampling every 5 years 2008/9 Ausuittuq annual Ikaahuk Uluhaktuk 2006/7 annual Qausuittuq Uqsuqtuuq 2008/9 Ikpiarjuk 2009/ /10 Mittimatalik 2005/6 Qikiqtarjuaq Pangnirtung 2006/7 2007/8 Kangiqsualujjuaq Nunainguk 2005/6 Arviat annual Inukjuaq 2008/9 12

13 Levels of PCBs and HCHs in Polar Bears AMAP

14 Effects of POPs on Reproduction of Polar bears 14

15 OCs in Bowhead blubber 15AMAM

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17 Exposure via dietary intake AMAP

18 Traditional life style 18

19 Geometric mean concentrations of PTS in maternal blood by gender of newborns Contaminants Blood concentrations in maternal blood Boys Girls Total PCBs, ng/g 391± ± 79 Aroclor 1260, ng/g 872± ± 230 Sum of HCHs, ng/g 279 ± ± 66 Sum of Clordanes,ng/g 48 ± ± 18 Sum of DDTs, ng/g 618 ± ± 92 HCB, ng/g 160 ± ± 41 Sum of Tox, ng/g 18 ± 7 22 ± 8 Cd, µg/l 0,9 ± 0.1 1,0 ± 0.2 Pb, µg/l 45 ± 7 50 ± 11 Total Hg, µg/l 1,9 ± 0.4 2,2 ± 0.3

20 Temporal Trends in Human Exposure to POPs (as measured for serum concentrations, µg/l). A Cohort of Indigenous Adult Males of Arctic Russia 6,00 PCBs 5,33 5,00 HCH HCB 4,00 3,43 DDTs 3,25 3,20 3,00 2,78 2,69 2,59 2,00 1,35 1,00

21 Заболеваемость на 1000 человек A decade trend in prevalence of some diseases potentially associated with the PCB exposure in a cohort of Chukotka Классы болезней, потенциально связанные с воздействием СТВ Новообразования Осложнения беременности и родов Болезни эндокринной системы Врожденные аномалии

22 Biomagnification of PFOS in Arctic food chains (AMAP 2009) Polar bear

23 Current used Pesticides the new new-ones observed in the Arctic Chloropyrifos Alaska & East Canada; fog, snow, water, Dacthal Alaska & Arctic Canada; air, water, fish, seals, Diazinon Arctic Canada lakes, Dicofol Arctic Canada air, Methoxychlor Alaska, Russia, Greenland, Svalbard; rivers, fish, seabirds Trifluralin Several sites, Svalbard air, sediment, fish, Chlorthalonil Arctic Canada, air, lakes, AMAP

24 Monitoring POPs in air under the UN/ECE EMEP programme Evaluating specific episodes: PCBs at Ny-Ålesund View from the station on a clear day And during the 2nd episode in May, Eckhardt et al Atmos Chem Phys 7:

25 Monitoring POPs in air under the UN/ECE EMEP programme Evaluating specific episodes, e.g. PCBs at Ny-Ålesund Eckhardt et al Atmos Chem Phys 7:

26 Global emissions of mercury

27 Mercury cycle in the Arctic Combined effects, climate and Contaminants, AMAP 2012.

28 Mercury trends Of the 83 recent time series (past few decades; >6 years of data) 13 (16%) significant increasing 4 (5%) significant downward 21 (25%) significant non-linear 45 (54%) no significant trend Braune et al. in press & AMAP 2011 EXPLANATION mixed pollution and climate signals

29 Historic proportion of present Historic Hg time-series in Arctic wildlife and humans Beluga teeth Gyrfalcon feather Human teeth Perigrine falcon feather Polar bear hair Ringed seal teeth 60 Man-made contribution ca. 94% Baseline ca. 6% Year Dietz et al. 2009

30 Conclusions from studies on MeHg Neurobehavioral effects most clearly on attention, memory and language, but also visuospatial and motor functions Cardiovascular effects, increased blood pressure Prenatal generally more toxic than early postnatal exposure Preliminary results from age 14 years suggest that effects are permanent Food advice has reduced intake and levels 30

31 Arctic Oil and Gas 2007 Results of the 2007 Assessment of Oil and Gas Activities in the Arctic: Effects and Potential Effects 31

32 Vulnerability of the Arctic 32

33 Responding to major oil spills remains a challenge in remote icy environments There are no effective means of containing and cleaning up oil spills in broken sea ice Responding to such spills in winter would be even more difficult On land and unbroken sea ice may be easier Prevention remains the best means to limit impacts of a spill Further research is needed on response techniques, particularly for oil under ice, or in broken ice Experimental in-situ burning of oil in ice

34 SWIPA Partners: AMAP IASC IASSA WMO WCRP/CliC IPY 34

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36 Latitude-month dependence of temperature anomalies,

37 Accelerating September trend avg.: 7.2 x 10 6 km avg.: 6.8 x 10 6 km avg.: 5.6 x 10 6 km 2 Year Range Trend (km 2 /yr) %/dec. rel avg Median

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39 Arctic Sea ice extent as of 15 September

40 Ice is getting younger and thinner Much of older, thicker ice north of Alaska now melting away during summer Mar 1985 Mar 1986 Mar 2010 Mar 2011 Based on satellite observations; from J. Maslanik, C. Fowler, Univ. Colorado

41 Traffic to/from arctic ports Northern Sea Route Arctic ocean route Northwest passage - Increased emissions - Risk for accidents Arctic shipping

42 Relative isolation of Arctic air means high-latitude sources primarily determine Arctic BC loads

43 Many coastal communities and facilities face increasing exposure to storms. 43

44 Greenland Ice Massballance

45 Gt/yr Gt/yr Gt/yr Gt/yr mm/yr mm/yr Grey1990 s Black: Yellow: before 1990 Red: AD (IPCC 2007): Greenland SLR: 0.05 m Global SLR: 0.35 m 2100 AD (AMAP 2011): Greenland SLR: 0.14 m Global SLR: m 3000 AD: +4 o C 3000 AD: +8 o C 3000 AD (AMAP 2011): Greenland SLR: 1-3 m? Global SLR: 5-8 m? S. Marshall, U. of of Calgary

46 Projected changes of temperature:

47 Sea ice projections and the reality Models used and reported ACIA 2005 and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007, and observations made by satellites

48 Arctic Ocean Acidification Assessment the status and trends on Arctic ocean acidification the potential consequences on - Arctic marine ecosystems, toxicity, - fisheries & economy

49 AMAP reports on combined effects 49

50 Effect of climate change on releases of stored POPs in the North - Thawing of permafrost - Melting of mountain glaciers and ice caps - Melting of Greenland Ice Sheet (> 300 g tonn pr y) - Flooding - Forest fires -Photo: Business week aug

51 Climate change and effects on contaminant accumulation Food web structure: Southern species and Northern Changed primary production Dietary and direct uptake of contaminants Bioaccumulation process rates: Direct partitioning/respiration, dietary uptake Growth, direct partitioning/respiration,, egestion, biotransformation Temperature dependency

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53 Overall objectives Transport of contaminants to and within the Arctic under present and future climate scenarios, using models ocean air- snow/ice (WP2) Abiotic process in marine and terrestrial food chain (WP 3) Human exposure through traditional food chain, under climate-mediated influences, using process studies (WP3) Human health outcomes in relation to contaminants in the Arctic and selected areas in Europe, develop future health risk scenarios induced by changes in contaminant exposure (WP4)

54 Arctic melt - New opportunities ROYAL DANISH DEFENCE COLLEGE 54

55 ACA Actions for a Changing Arctic: drivers and pressures A conceptual model of the ACA process. The output of the process will include: recommendations for actions towards mitigation, adaptation, adaptive capacities, point on new opportunities, etc. ) Climate Change Global Pollution Drivers of Change X Y Z Local Development Migration Global need for natural resources minerals, oil, gas Transportation and shipping Recreation and tourism

56 Consequences of change Challenges Opportunities Arctic residents Losers? Insecure travel routes, diminishing traditional food sources The global community Winners? (multinational industry) Sea level rise, amplified warming Better access to oil and gas resources, new shippig routes

57 From Science to Policy: Radioactivity reduce risk (1995 -) Food advice to Arctic peoples UNECE Århus protocol (1998) UNEP Stockholm Convention on POPs (2001) UN FCCC COP & IPCC (AR# 4 & 5) ( ??) UNEP Global Mercury negotiations ( ?) 57

58 From Production to Action - a long story Substance to Market Substance to Problem Market to Problem Problem to Regulation Regulation to Effect 2-5 y 5-10 y y y 5-10 y Ramon Guardans

59 Cleanup Training!!!

60 Local incineration of PCB 60

61 Frantz Josef Land PCB and oil study, Graham-Bell Island,

62 Remediation at FJL Aug-Sept

63 Negotiations on Climate change and Mercury not easy Replacement of fossile fuel may reduce : CO2, mercury, gases and particles; UNFCCC or UNEP/Mercury negotiations? 63

64 New Arctic Reality - Geopolitics & Governance, - Economic & Social development of the North - Global demand for Resources from the Arctic will increase - Migration of Animals and People to the North - Traditional Lifestyle, Food security, Culture & Health - Protection of Habitats - Rights to Access Geographical areas Traditional hurding & hunting, new transport lines, exploitation of resources - Climate Change & Pollution will continue - New concerns! 64

65 From the Cold war to the Arctic Meltdown Leninsky Komsomol at the North Pole Ice-olated, Thawing: Pollution Melt: Climate Change Greening: Science meet New Arctic Reality 65

66 Arctic - the Barometer of the Globe! Acknowledgement to the hundreds of scientists and experts involved in monitoring, research and assessments of the Arctic 66