Research project Investigating fingerprint and fate of hydrophobic pollutants in Arctic using HRGCMS methods

Environmental transport and fate of hydrophobic organic contaminants is strongly influenced by biogeochemical cycles, as these chemicals bind to organic matter. For this reason, marine sediment is an important sink for many non-polar chemicals, and thus serves as an archive and indicates chemical emissions and global transport. This project has access to a large collection of sediment samples collected across the entire Arctic Ocean. The overarching goal is to develop a high-resolution gas chromatography mass spectrometry (HRGCMS) method for wide-scope targeted as well as non-targeted analyses of non-polar organic contaminants and apply the method in the Arctic and other environmental samples in order to a) investigate the contaminant fingerprint in Arctic shelf sediment, b) make an assessment of the organic contaminant inventory in Arctic shelf sediment and its geographical distribution and differences, and c) assess how sources and degradation of organic carbon affect occurrence and storage of hydrophobic organic contaminants in Arctic shelf sediment.