Research subject Fate and Effects of Toxic Substances in the Environment

Mercury (Hg) is a global pollutant; its organic form, methylmercury (MeHg), is a neurotoxin that bioaccumulates in marine food webs, impacting human and wildlife health in the Arctic. The interaction between Hg and methane (CH4) cycling in Arctic sediment remains unknown, despite significant CH4 emissions.

We will optimize a simple laboratory test that measures chemical persistence in water-sediment suspensions and apply this test in diverse aquatic environments with the overarching objective of developing guidance for its use in regulation.

The Baltic Sea ecosystem and marine life are exposed to many different impact factors at the same time. The BalticCAT research project further develops a food web model that will calculate the effects of a large number of natural and human impact factors.

The self-purification capacity of rivers is an important ecosystem service (ES). Dominated by microbial biodegradation it eliminates stable and mobile contaminants from the water cycle. The project aims for a first systematic assessment of the ES in 20 rivers for hundreds of micropollutants.

This project will investigate the contribution of cyanobacterial blooms to fish production and contaminant bioaccumulation in the Baltic Sea.

The project compiles and synthesizes data on micropollutants in wastewater emitted in the Baltic Sea drainage basin and reviews effects associated with chemicals in wastewater in the Baltic Sea catchment.

We aim to move biotransformation assessment from a non-relevant half-life applied undifferentiated across space and time to an environmentally relevant test result that can be extrapolated using a sound scientific framework.

We will conduct fieldwork to determine if air concentrations of PFAS are correlated with tracers of sea spray aerosols and conduct modelling to determine if ocean-to-air transport of PFAS is an important source of PFAS relative to other sources.

In HADAL-POP we will perform a cruise to hadal trenches, which represent the deepest part of the ocean, to investigate the occurrence of persistent organic pollutants and how biogeochemistry governs the sediment capacity to accumulate these pollutants.

Pollution Load Compilations (PLC) have been an integral part of The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM) assessments since 1987, focusing on annual and periodic assessments of inputs of nutrients and selected hazardous substances. PLC-8 provides assessments of nutrient and contaminant inputs to the Baltic Sea.

We will develop a high-resolution GCMS method for targeted and non-targeted analysis of hydrophobic organic contaminants and apply the method in Arctic samples to investigate the contaminant fingerprint and fate in Arctic shelf sediment.

We will investigate how a vital group of organisms in the earth's cycle, phytoplankton, is affected by the chemicals constantly present in the environment, as well as to better understand how conditions in the environment affects the sensitivity of phytoplankton to chemicals.

This project will validate contaminant-sensitive indicators needed in environmental monitoring and in the Marine Directive, with recommendations for risk analysis and “good environmental status” values for chemical monitoring in the Baltic Sea.

In MOBILITY we aim to demonstrate the applicability of passive sampling approaches within the context of risk assessment and environmental monitoring of sediments, in order to develop recommendations for implementing these approaches in sediment remediation.

PERFORCE3 will greatly improve the understanding of these globally pervasive contaminants, find solutions for PFAS contamination problems and improve environmental and human health risk assessment frameworks and policies.

Pollution Load Compilations (PLC), have been an integral part of The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM) assessments since 1987, focusing on assessments of inputs of nutrients and selected hazardous substances.

While global efforts are undertaken to mitigate anthropogenic emissions of Hg, thawing permafrost and melting glaciers threatens to mobilize large amounts of Mercury (Hg) into the Arctic Ocean (AO). Future risks of wildlife and human mercury exposure, however, remain highly uncertain.

Mercury (Hg) has been sequestered in Northern permafrost soils for thousands of years. If some of this Hg is released into Hg’s modern biogeochemical cycle, it could worsen Hg pollution and counteract global efforts to protect human and wildlife health from Hg exposure.

The project aims to identify known and unknown organochlorinated, -brominated and fluorinated compounds in water and sludge from a sewage treatment plant using combustion ion chromatography and suspect screening.

Will European water legislation result in better water quality? In this project we analyse current indicators and measures to reduce chemical pollution.