Monitoring of marine, coastal and freshwater environments

Akvaplan-niva carries out monitoring surveys on regional and local scales. The regional monitoring surveys are often carried out for National Authorities as part of international programs aimed at assessing global and regional contamination levels and pathways. Local monitoring is aimed at following discharges from identified point sources such as sewage discharges, harbours or industry.

Extensive monitoring studies have been carried out in the seas, coastal areas, rivers and lakes in Norway and the European Arctic. In Russia we worked in the Pechora, Kara and White Seas, a number of fjords and estuaries along the coast of Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josephs Land, the Kola Peninsula and Siberia. In Norway we worked along the whole coast, the Barents Sea and in the Svalbard Archipelago. Amongst the parameters monitored are benthos species composition and levels of petroleum hydrocarbons, heavy metals, persistent organic contaminants and radionuclides. Besides standard in-situ sampling techniques, satellite remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems are used on a regular basis as a supplement to field investigations and information from other sources. Our main customers are Ministries , State Pollution Control Authorities, regional authorities and private industries. Akvaplan-niva has since 1992 been a a major contributor of environmental baseline data to the international Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP).

Local monitoring studies are designed to document the effects of municipal sewage and industrial discharges on marine and freshwater environments.

The results can be used to recommend location of outlets and specifying purification measures

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