Influence of Global Climate on Contaminant Pathways Report
AMAP, 2003. AMAP Assessment 2002: The Influence of Global Change on Contaminant Pathways to, within, and from the Arctic. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP)
-
Long-term Change in the Arctic
- During the last 400 000 years, the Earth has experienced four ice ages which have left records in glacial ice accumulating in Antarctica (Petit et al., 1999) and in Greenland (Dansgaard et al., 1993; Sowers and Bender, 1995).
-
Recent Change in the Arctic and the Arctic Oscillation
- The Northern-hemisphere Annual Mode, popularly referred to as the Arctic Oscillation (AO) (Wallace and Thompson, 2002), is a robust pattern in the surface manifestation of the strength of the polar vortex (for a very readable description, see Hodges, 2000).
-
Biological Responses to Climate Change
- An exhaustive consideration of the biological consequences of the kinds of physical change that are predicted for the Arctic is not feasible at this time, nor is it warranted for identifying how biological changes might effect major change in contaminant pathways.
-
The Effect of Climate Change on Human Activities
- There are at least six very different ways in which climate change may lead to an alteration of contaminant pathways through a modification of human activities.
-
The Effects of Climate Change on Contaminant Pathways
- This chapter considers how the changes described in the previous chapters will affect specific groups of contaminants – heavy metals, radionuclides, organochlorine compounds (OCs), and hydrocarbons. For each group, the significance of the recent shift to high Arctic Oscillation (AO) index will be discussed and then consideration will be given to the more general, long-term changes thought likely.
