Climate Change Influence on Migration of Contaminants in the Arctic Marine Environment

The Arctic is particularly vulnerable to environmental changes connected to climate change. Most of assessments of the climate change impact to the Arctic environment concentrate on direct effects to the marine and terrestrial ecosystems. There is little understanding of numerous indirect effects of global change and their impact on cycle of different compounds e.g. man-made substances. The global change effects will not always be predictable but may be abrupt. Environmental changes connected to climate change will influence contaminant transport and migration within the Arctic marine ecosystem. Main effects of global change will be visible through changes of large scale contaminant transport pathways e.g. air mass transport, ice transport, marine currents transport and the changes of in situ environmental conditions e.g. changes of pH, temperature, oxygen content. In this review article we describe major environmental factors that may influence global transport of contaminants and migration of contaminants within the arctic ecosystem elements. We also discuss possible further changes in contaminant sources and distribution within the Arctic related to global changes.