Assessing source areas of pollutants

from studies of fly ash, charcoal, and

pollen from Svalbard snow and ice

AcknowledgementsWe want to thank all the people who in various ways helped to make these ice-coring projects possible.

Logistical support came from NPI in Longyearbyen and financial support came from Norwegian Polar

Institute, The Norwegian Research Council, NARP and NIPR.

Elisabeth Isaksson

Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway

Sheila Hicks,

Institute of Geosciences, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

Svalbard is positioned in a climatically sensitive area

Sensitive to changes in the:

• North Atlantic Current

• Sea ice extent

• Atmospheric circulation

1980

1995

About 60% is ice covered

Svalbard ice coresSvalbard ice cores

Do ice cores from sites with

substantial summer melt provide

any useful climate-environmental

data?

Example of core section with high melt index

Svalbard ice cores can provide

information on both local and

regional climate variability in the

Arctic depite their low altitude

and periodic melt.

Yes!

Ice core sitesIce core sitesAustfonna (750 masl)

drilled in April 1999

289 m deep, about 800 yrs

Project participants: Japan and Norway

Holtedahlfonna

(Snøfjellafonna)

drilled in April 2005

125 m deep, about 400 yrs

Project participants: Norway, The

Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Estonia

Lomonosovfonna (1250

masl)

drilled in April 1997

121 m deep, about 800 yrs

Project participants: Norway, The

Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Estonia

Svalbard climate during the past 1000

years from ice core !18O records

-20

-19

-18

-17

-16

-15

-14

-13

-12

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 2100

Year (AD)

Lo

mo

no

so

vfo

nn

a d

18

O

(pe

r m

ille

)

-25

-23

-21

-19

-17

-15

-13

-11

Au

stf

on

na

d1

8O

(pe

r m

ille

)

The !18O record from

Lomonosovfonna

suggests that

temperatures

during the early part

of the record about

1100-1500 AD

(Medieval warm

period) was at least as

warm as the 1900s.

However, the record

ends in 1997 thus

excluding the last

exceptionally warm

years.

Lomonosovfonna

Austfonna

The Svalbard data have good resemblance with NH

proxy temperature reconstructions

Pollution records from the ice cores

1800 1840 1880 1920 1960 2000Year (AD)

0

100

200

300

400

500

Concentr

ations (

ppb)

0

100

200

300

400

500

Concentr

ations (

ppb)

Austfonna NO3

-

Lomonosovfonna NO3-

Nitrate records from two Svalbard ice cores

Contaminant studies in Svalbard snow and ice

Profiles of methyl parathion and dieldrin in the Austfonna ice core.

The relatively high concentrations of methyl parathion in near surface layers suggest

a current use and growing inputs while dieldrin shows declining input since the late 1970s.

Example of two Pesticide records

Dieldrin banned

Mark Hermanson, University of Penn., Philadelphia, USA

Derek Muir, Env. Canada, Burlington, Canada

Pollen

• can give information on trajectories and transport distances

• carriers of contaminants

Betula and Vaccinum

Typical birch vegetation in

Northern Scandinavia Pollen trap

Ice core site

Pollen trap sites innorthern Finland

Winter 2001-2002

Summer 2001

Snow pit surface April 2002

Snow Pit 2002

0-15

15-30

30-45

45-60

60-75

75-95

95-106

106-116

116-126126-135135-140

cm

200 400 600 800 1000

Possible Svalbard taxa

200 400

Northern boreal taxa

200

Thermophilo

us taxa

2000 4000 6000 8000 10000

Charcoal

200

SCP

Summer melt layer

grains litre-1

Pollen, charcoal and SCP concentrations appearto be higher in the winter than summer layers.Indicates that E and SE dominating winter winds are responsible for the transport.

Reduction of

emissions in Europe

Coal mining recommences

on Svalbard, combustion

increases

Foundation of

Longyearbyen

grains cm-2 year-1

1989-1997

1981-1988

1973-1980

1965-1972

1957-1964

1949-1956

1941-1948

1933-1940

1925-19321917-19241909-19161901-19081890-19001880-1890

1870-1880

1860-1870

1850-1860

1450-1500

1400-1450

20

Possib

le S

valb

ard ta

xa

20

Alg

ae

20 40

Nort

hern b

oreal

taxa

20

Therm

ophilous

taxa

20

Bro

ken &

corr

oded g

rain

s

20 40

Total p

ollen, s

pores

& a

lgae

200 400

Char

coal

20 40

SC

P

1000 2000

nnSO4

20 40 60

PAH (s

pot sam

ples)

ng/g ng/g

Long-term variability

Pollen of northern boreal and

thermophilous taxa are more

common than local Svalbard taxa

SCP in agreement with

industrial history

SCP was lower in the pollen traps during the 1990s than 1980s

Much higher SCP in the pollen traps than in the ice core

SCP records from northern

Scandinavia and Svalbard

Lomonosovfonna

Norway, W.Finland

E. Finland

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Fly ash cm-2

year-1

1989-1996 1982-88

• Pollen, charcoal and SCP seem to arrive to this ice cap all year

round

• Pollen of northern boreal and thermophilous taxa are more

common than local Svalbard taxa, i.e. confirms long-distance air

mass movements

• No specific North American pollen found- probably European

sources

• The SCP record is in agreement with the ”industrial history”

• Viewing data from snow, ice and pollen traps together allows

particle transport to be assessed at different temporal scales

• Viewing pollen and SCP together could be a new approach for

tracing origins of contaminants

Main results from pollen, BC work

Future plans

• BC work on newest ice core drilled 2005 together with J. Ström

• Investigate links between atmosphere and snow by integrating

data from Zeppelin station with snow and ice core data

Zeppelin station Ny Ålesund