Flux of organic contaminants through the Antarctic marine food web

The Antarctic continent and surrounding seas receives contaminant inputs from only two main sources, the atmospheric and oceanic reservoirs. The goal of this project is to document organic contaminant levels in the Norwegian sector of Antarctica at the turn of the 21st century and to assess their flux and bioaccumulation potential through the marine food web. Food web dynamics and contaminant bioaccumulation in the Antarctic region will be contrasted with knowledge from the Arctic region. In addition to increasing the knowledge and understanding of contaminant flux in marine food webs in general, and the polar Antarctic region in particular, this work will serve as an invaluable baseline for future environmental monitoring in the Norwegian sector of Antarctica while strengthening current initiatives for environmental monitoring in the Arctic.

The project, lead by Akvaplan-niva, includes researchers from the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, the Norwegian Polar Institute, and Università degli Studi di Siena, ITALY.

The new information generated through this project represents an important contribution to the IPY COPOL (Contaminants in Polar Regions) initiative.

Financed by the Norwegian Research Council Antarctic program (NARE).

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