ImPACT (persistent organic pollutants)

The purpose of this working group is to facilitate coordinated investigation and monitoring of chemical input to the Antarctic region. The Action Group will draw together the Antarctic POP research community in order to devise a long-term coordination body, and underpinning funding strategy, for realising Action Group goals.

About

The ImPACT Action Group aims to facilitate coordinated investigation of chemical input to the Antarctic region. This is a policy-driven Action Group which serves both the Global Monitoring Plan of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), as well as the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the Madrid Protocol), which explicitly prohibits the importation of chemicals of known risk to Antarctica.

ImPACT monitoring webPersistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are ubiquitous, toxic, environmental contaminants that have been released through global industry over the past century. Polar Regions act as environmental “sinks” for POPs, which reach these high latitude environments through long-range environmental transport processes, as well as in situ usage.

Today the field of Antarctic POP research faces the challenge of quantifying and forecasting the impact of POP contamination in the region, in the absence of a robust understanding of past or present contaminant input. With 1 million new chemicals registered each year globally, both the magnitude and diversity of chemical contamination reaching the continent are increasing rapidly. This Action Group will target co-ordinated monitoring of four known chemical input pathways:

  1. Atmospheric transport
  2. Hydrospheric transport
  3. In-situ usage
  4. Migratory biota

ImPACT atmospheric sampling Aurora web

The Action Group will specifically focus on the following objectives:

  • Co-ordinate current and ongoing research efforts aligned with the Action Group terms of reference, ensuring data collected meets minimum quality assurance requirements for temporal trend collation.
  • Pursue national and multi-national funding strategies for establishment of permanent atmospheric monitoring stations at multiple sites across the continent.
  • Publish collaborative synthesis works arising from coordinated monitoring efforts.
  • Identify avenues for scaffolding of the ImPACT Action Group towards establishment of an Antarctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AnMAP) body.

Members

Contact

The Chairs of ImPACT are Simonetta Corsolini and Zhiyong Xie.

 

Membership

Member Institute Country
Susan Bengtson Nash Griffith University Australia
Catherine King Australian Antarctic Division
Michaela Lerch Griffith University
Sergey Kakareka National Academy of Sciences Belarus
Alexander Mangold Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium Belgium
Nadine Mattiel Université Libre de Bruxelles
Christophe Walgraeve Ghent University
Caio Cipro University of Sao Paolo Brazil
Rosalinda Montone University of Sao Paolo
Tom Harner Environment Canada Canada
Cristobal Galban-Malagon Universidad Andres Bello Chile
Qinghua Zhang Chinese Academy of Sciences China
Olivier Chastel French National Center for Scientific Research France
Matthias Brenner Alfred Wegener Institute Germany
Ralf Ebinghaus Institute of Coastal Environmental Chemistry, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon
Anette Küster German Environment Agency
Zhiyong Xie (co-Chair) Institute of Coastal Environmental Chemistry, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon
Anoop Tiwari National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research India
Nicoletta Ademollo Italian National Research Council Italy
Alessandra Cincinelli University of Florence
Simonetta Corsolini (Chair) University of Siena
Roger Fuoco University of Pisa
Stefania Giannarelli University of Pisa
Marco Grotti University of Genova
Emanuele Magi University of Genova
Jung-Ho Kang Korea Polar Research Institute Korea
JungKeun Oh Korean National Institute of Environmental Research (National Environmental Specimen Bank)
Nico van den Brink Wageningen University and Research Netherlands
Pernilla Bohlin-Nizzetto (co-Chair) Norwegian Institute for Air Research Norway
Żaneta Polkowska Gdansk University of Technology Poland
Małgorzata Szopińska Gdansk University of Technology
Ana Cabrerizo Institute for Environmental Assessment and Water Research Spain
Jordi Dachs Institute for Environmental Assessment and Water Research
Begona Jimenez Spanish National Research Council
Maria Vila Institute for Environmental Assessment and Water Research
Rainer Lohmann University of Rhode Island USA
Natalia Barboza Uruguay National Environmental Protection Agency Uruguay
Andres Perez Universidad de la República
Franco Teixeira de Mello Universidad de la República
Natalia Venturini Universidad de la República

News and Updates from the persistent organic pollutants research community.

Resources

Publications, Data and Links of interest to the persistent organic pollutants research community.

Publications
Data
Links