Finnish Arctic Research Articles

Microplastics in Arctic waters of the Finnish Sámi area

We explored the presence of microplastics in the Finnish Arctic Sámi home area. A dialogue between Indigenous knowledge and scientific field work produced data about microplastics in remote wilderness aquatic ecosystems. Methods included geographical Indigenous knowledge analysis, water sampling with fraction filtration, and imaging Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The MPs found were small; the mean particle size was 126 ± 121 μm. Particle concentrations of MPs in freshwater and marine samples varied between 45 and 423 MPs m−3 and the most common polymer types were polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyethylene terephthalate. In conclusion, because microplastics are present even in the wilderness areas, their abundance should be monitored to assess plastic pollution in the relatively pristine Arctic environments. Sámi Indigenous knowledge proved to be a beneficial and important initiator, because locals recognize the possible sources and transport pathways of plastic litter, and practical sampling sites in the complex freshwater systems of the area.

Justice, Mining, and Legal Reforms in the Finnish Arctic

This paper assesses the extent to which the justice concerns of local stakeholders in the Arctic region of Finland are reflected in recent legal reforms. The reforms concern the Mining Act, the Act on a Mined Minerals Tax, the Nature Conservation Act, the Environmental Damages Fund, and the Act on the Sámi Parliament. The assessment is made from the perspectives of distributive, procedural, recognition, and intergenerational justice. We identified the justice concerns by conducting 21 interviews and a workshop, after which we analysed the legal reforms and discussed whether they reflected the justice concerns expressed by local stakeholders. We concluded that most of the justice concerns had been addressed, but only to a certain extent. Still, the most fundamental features of the governance of mining activities have not changed. By its very nature, the Finnish system of mineral ownership has remained a claim system, albeit not an entirely pure one. The reforms were not designed to limit the total volume of mining activities, and the mineral industry, backed by the EU and national policies, is likely to grow in the region. The most important legal change concerns the position of the municipal council. Today, a local land use plan is a precondition for granting a mining permit. The national Parliament did not approve a government proposal to reform the Sámi Parliament Act, which was a significant failure in recognition justice.

Arctic Wool

This research presents the work of two women, a crafter and a farmer, and considers connections between people working with textiles, sustainable processes, local economy, traditional knowledge, and roles within the craft sector in the Finnish Arctic and Circumpolar region. Two qualitative interviews were conducted in Finland: one with a textile-dyeing artisan using sustainable processes and another with a farmer and yarn crafter. Crafters and farmers preserve heritage skills in the textile field, valuable to the continuation of traditional knowledge. Their network has an environmental impact on the craft sector, helping to preserve endemic breeds of sheep.

An Irreplaceable Place: Onto-Epistemological Contestation in the Environmental Impact Assessment Process of the Green Anglo American Sakatti Mine, Arctic Finland

Finland adopted the “green mining” concept to reconcile an increase in mineral extraction with conservation needs. Ongoing academic discussions call attention to the social and political factors supporting or challenging new mining projects in the Global North. Particularly understudied are the struggles over existence and knowledge that emerge during environmental accountability processes. This paper is an ethnographic investigation into the onto-epistemological conflict involving the Anglo American Sakatti mine project in the protected Viiankiaapa mire of the Finnish Arctic. It uses material from interviews and stakeholder meetings to analyze how the company’s environmental impact assessment is being challenged and how people affected by mining are articulating their claims against the extractive ontology of replaceability. The findings, with parallels drawn to the Global South, suggest that green mine projects become ontologically conflicted and reveal their inherent fragility when companies increasingly try to minimize impacts and legitimate inevitable harm through offsetting.

Conditions of commodification: Russian as a transient commodity in an Arctic tourism resort

Abstract Based on an ethnography incorporating interview, linguistic landscape and observational data, this research illustrates how temporary linguistic value is negotiated and how an Arctic tourism destination is made fit for consumption for a specific audience. Set within a tourism resort in the Finnish Arctic during two weeks in Winter when the region habitually receives a large influx of Russian-speaking visitors, we illustrate how Russian is conceptualized as a means of economic practice by stakeholders in the local tourism industry. While some offer services specifically for a Russian-speaking audience as part of a short-term high-risk/high-reward investment, others regard Russian as an expression of a negative niche market that compromises the overall image of the Arctic as a global tourism destination. We discuss these different understandings of commodity value and highlight, how stakeholders in the local tourism economy imagine and discursively construct Russian-speaking tourists. In doing so, this paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the conditions of language commodification and the processes involved in the valuation and devaluation of linguistic resources within temporary linguistic markets.

Measuring Changes in Snowpack SWE Continuously on a Landscape Scale Using Lake Water Pressure

AbstractThe seasonal snowpack is a globally important water resource that is notoriously difficult to measure. Existing instruments make measurements of falling or accumulating snow water equivalent (SWE) that are susceptible to bias, and most represent only a point in the landscape. Furthermore, the global array of SWE sensors is too sparse and too poorly distributed adequately to constrain snow in weather and climate models. We present a new approach to monitoring snowpack SWE from time series of lake water pressure. We tested our method in the lowland Finnish Arctic and in an alpine valley and high-mountain cirque in Switzerland and found that we could measure changes in SWE and their uncertainty through snowfalls with little bias and with an uncertainty comparable to or better than that achievable by other instruments. More importantly, our method inherently senses change over the whole lake surface, an area in this study up to 10.95 km2, or 274 million times larger than the nearest pluviometer. This large scale makes our measurements directly comparable to the grid cells of weather and climate models. We find, for example, snowfall biases of up to 100% in operational forecast models AROME-Arctic and COSMO-1. Seasonally frozen lakes are widely distributed at high latitudes and are particularly common in mountain ranges, hence our new method is particularly well suited to the widespread, autonomous monitoring of snow-water resources in remote areas that are largely unmonitored today. This is potentially transformative in reducing uncertainty in regional precipitation and runoff in seasonally cold climates.

Investing in indigenous multilingualism in the Arctic

This article explores the dynamics between language and identity categories and the boundaries produced in a changing multilingual, indigenous context in the Arctic region of Finland. In this moment of transition, indigenous multilingualism has high stakes. It can be a resource for political and economic development but also for management and regimentation, open to winners and losers. Drawing on a longitudinal critical discourse ethnography of producing language and identity categories in the Finnish Arctic, I discuss three circulating discourses relevant for the ways in which indigenous identity boundaries are made to matter, namely strategic, aspirational and affective multilingualism. I argue that the processes at work are neither simple nor linear, but must be understood as organic, interwoven, and rhizomatic.

Light-absorption of dust and elemental carbon in snow in the Indian Himalayas and the Finnish Arctic

Abstract. Light-absorbing impurities (LAIs) deposited in snow have the potential to substantially affect the snow radiation budget, with subsequent implications for snow melt. To more accurately quantify the snow albedo, the contribution from different LAIs needs to be assessed. Here we estimate the main LAI components, elemental carbon (EC) (as a proxy for black carbon) and mineral dust in snow from the Indian Himalayas and paired the results with snow samples from Arctic Finland. The impurities are collected onto quartz filters and are analyzed thermal–optically for EC, as well as with an additional optical measurement to estimate the light-absorption of dust separately on the filters. Laboratory tests were conducted using substrates containing soot and mineral particles, especially prepared to test the experimental setup. Analyzed ambient snow samples show EC concentrations that are in the same range as presented by previous research, for each respective region. In terms of the mass absorption cross section (MAC) our ambient EC surprisingly had about half of the MAC value compared to our laboratory standard EC (chimney soot), suggesting a less light absorptive EC in the snow, which has consequences for the snow albedo reduction caused by EC. In the Himalayan samples, larger contributions by dust (in the range of 50 % or greater for the light absorption caused by the LAI) highlighted the importance of dust acting as a light absorber in the snow. Moreover, EC concentrations in the Indian samples, acquired from a 120 cm deep snow pit (possibly covering the last five years of snow fall), suggest an increase in both EC and dust deposition. This work emphasizes the complexity in determining the snow albedo, showing that LAI concentrations alone might not be sufficient, but additional transient effects on the light-absorbing properties of the EC need to be considered and studied in the snow. Equally as imperative is the confirmation of the spatial and temporal representativeness of these data by comparing data from several and deeper pits explored at the same time.

Chlorinated pesticides and natural brominated anisoles in air at three northern Baltic stations

Polyurethane foam (PUF) disk passive samplers were deployed at one inland and two island locations in the Bothnian Bay region of the northern Baltic Sea. Uptake was linear over 81–147 d and a temperature range of −2.6 to 14.2 °C for organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and current-use pesticides (CUPs) having log KOA ≥9 at ambient temperatures. Partial saturation of the PUF disks occurred for the more volatile OCPs hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and for bromoanisoles (BAs), which are products of bromophenols released by natural and anthropogenic sources. Correction for nonlinear uptake of these was made using experimentally measured PUF-air partition coefficients. Passive-derived air concentrations of pesticides were uniform over the bay and agreed within a factor of 2 or better with levels determined by active (pumped) sampling at one of the island stations. Levels of OCPs were similar to those reported at background sites in the European and Canadian Arctic and at monitoring stations in the central Baltic and southern Scandinavia, indicating long-range transport. The insecticide chlorpyrifos was 10 times lower at bay stations than in the Canadian Arctic. Insight to sources and processes was gained by examining compound profiles. Fractions Falpha = α-HCH/(α-HCH + γ-HCH) and FTC = trans-chlordane/(trans-chlordane + cis-chlordane) at bay stations were higher than in the Norwegian and Finnish Arctic and similar to those at the southern monitoring stations. Volatilization of chlordanes from Baltic seawater may also modify FTC. Higher FTriBA = 2,4,6-TriBA/(2,4,6-TriBA + 2,4-DiBA) distinguished local volatilization from the Baltic Sea versus lower FTriBA found at the inland site and reported in air on the Norwegian coast, suggesting westerly transport from the Atlantic across Norway and Sweden.

Black carbon concentrations and mixing state in the Finnish Arctic

Abstract. Atmospheric aerosol composition was measured using a Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2) in the Finnish Arctic during winter 2011–2012. The Sammaltunturi measurement site at the Pallas GAW (Global Atmosphere Watch) station receives air masses from different source regions including the Arctic Ocean and continental Europe. The SP2 provides detailed information about mass distributions and mixing state of refractory black carbon (rBC). The measurements showed widely varying rBC mass concentrations (0–120 ng m−3), which were related to varying contributions of different source regions and aerosol removal processes. The rBC mass was log-normally distributed showing a relatively constant rBC core mass mean diameter with an average of 194 nm (75–655 nm sizing range). On average, the number fraction of particles containing rBC was 0.24 (integrated over 350–450 nm particle diameter range) and the average particle diameter to rBC core volume equivalent diameter ratio was 2.0 (averaged over particles with 150–200 nm rBC core volume equivalent diameters). These average numbers mean that the observed rBC core mass mean diameter is similar to those of aged particles, but the observed particles seem to have unusually high particle to rBC core diameter ratios. Comparison of the measured rBC mass concentration with that of the optically detected equivalent black carbon (eBC) using an Aethalometer and a MAAP showed that eBC was larger by a factor of five. The difference could not be fully explained without assuming that only a part of the optically detected light absorbing material is refractory and absorbs light at the wavelength used by the SP2. Finally, climate implications of five different black carbon mixing state representations were compared using the Mie approximation and simple direct radiative forcing efficiency calculations. These calculations showed that the observed mixing state means significantly lower warming effect or even a net cooling effect when compared with that of a homogenous aerosol containing the same amounts of black carbon and non-absorbing material.

Positive Matrix Factorization of 47 Years of Particle Measurements in Finnish Arctic

Forty seven years of weekly total suspended particle filters collected at Kevo, Finland from October 1964 through 2010 by the Finnish Meteorological Institute were analyzed for near-total trace elements, soluble trace elements, black carbon, major ions and methane sulfonic acid (MSA). The chemical composition dataset was analyzed by Positive Matrix Factorization using EPA PMF5. The entire dataset (1964–2010) was modeled as well as three separate time periods, 1964–1978, 1979–1990, and 1991–2010. The dataset was split in 1979 due to a change from Whatman 42 cellulose filters to a glass fiber filters, and in 1990 due to drops in concentrations related to the economic collapse of the Soviet Union. Two factors representing non-ferrous metal smelters were found for all time periods. One factor was dominated by Cu and the other by Ni and Co. Each of the time periods contained a factor describing stationary fuel combustion with high percentages of V, BC, and nss-SO4=; a ferrous metal factor dominated by Fe and some Mn; a biogenic sulfate factor; a factor containing the majority of Mo and W; and a factor dominated by Sn. The 1979–1990, 1991–2010, and 1964–2010 results contained a factor for As and Re, and a factor with the majority of Mn and Cd, which were not observed in 1964–1978. The 1964–1978 time period results contain three unique factors, a factor dominated by Ag, a factor dominated by Au, and a sea salt factor characterized by a high percentage of Na and Mg. The 1964–2010 period contains an Ag and Au factor as well. Ag and Au both have high concentrations in the late 1960s that decrease dramatically starting in the early 1970s. The increased uncertainty due to the high blanks in the glass fiber filters may account for the inability to determine a sea salt factor in the later time periods.

Forty-seven years of weekly atmospheric black carbon measurements in the Finnish Arctic: Decrease in black carbon with declining emissions

Concentrations of atmospheric black carbon, [BC], were determined from filter samples collected weekly at Kevo, Finland (69°45′N, 27°02′E), from 1964 to 2010 using optical and thermal optical methods. The data provide the longest record of directly measured [BC] in the Arctic. The mean winter, spring, summer, and autumn [BC] based on the entire data set were 339, 199, 127, and 213 ng m−3, respectively. Annual mean [BC] decreased from ~300 in ~1970 to 82 ng m−3 in 2010. [BC] data sets from other Arctic sites show similar trends, but concentrations at Kevo are generally higher. From ~1970 to 2010 the [BC] decreased by ~1.8% yr−1. However, [BC] did not decrease monotonically. Instead, cyclical peaks occurred around 1976–1977, 1985–1987, and 1999. During such periods, nickel concentrations were well correlated with [BC]. This suggests that emissions from extensive ore smelting on the Kola Peninsula were significant contributors of particulate matter observed at Kevo. Simulations of [BC] at Kevo using the OsloCTM3 model using different emission inventories and meteorological data sets were performed. Modeled concentrations were lower than observed by a factor of 4. The results indicated that circulation changes can explain year to year variability, but the downward trend in the observations is mostly explained by emissions. Emission inventories in Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet Union are poorly constrained and appear to need revision in order to match observed trends in BC atmospheric concentrations.

Long-term particle measurements in Finnish Arctic: Part I – Chemical composition and trace metal solubility

Week-long total suspended particle filter samples collected between 1964 and 2010 from Kevo, Finland were analyzed for trace metals, soluble trace metals and major ions. Ion chromatography was used to measure major ions. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used to measure the trace metal and soluble trace metal concentrations. Species of anthropogenic origin (V, Co, Cu, Ni, As, Cd, Pb, SO42−) have significantly higher concentrations compared with other Arctic locations. A clear seasonal trend with winter/spring maxima and summer minima is observed for most species, although it is less pronounced than those found in the high Arctic due to the relative proximity to Eurasian pollution sources. High concentrations of Cu (14.1 ng/m3), Ni (0.97 ng/m3), and Co (0.04 ng/m3) indicate the influence of non-ferrous metal smelters on the Kola Peninsula, although Cu unexpectedly did not correlate with Ni or Co. Ni and Co were highly correlated. Cu, Re, Tl, As, W, and V had high solubilities (61%–87%), Co and Ni had solubility's of ∼33%, and Pb had a solubility of 22.9%. The solubility of metals can help determine if the source is natural or anthropogenic. It also dictates the bioavailability of metals once introduced to the environment.

Long-term particle measurements in Finnish Arctic: Part II – Trend analysis and source location identification

Forty-seven years (1964–2010) of weekly trace metal and major ion concentrations in total suspended particle samples from Kevo, Finland were analyzed for long-term trends and by source identification methods. Significant long-term decreasing trends were detected for most species. The largest decreases over the 47 years were Sb (−3.90% yr−1), Pb (−3.87% yr−1), Mn (−3.45% yr−1), Cd (−3.42% yr−1), and Ca (−3.13% yr−1). As, Pb, and Cd concentrations at Kevo were consistent with the reported time-trends of European emissions inventories. Pb concentrations at Kevo have dramatically decreased (92%) in the past 47 years due to the reduced use of leaded gasoline in automobiles. Back-trajectory analysis suggests that the main source areas of anthropogenic species (V, Cd, Mn, Mo, Sb, Tl, W) were predominantly in Eastern Europe, European Russia, and the Baltics. Markers of stationary fuel combustion (V, Mn, Mo, Sb, Se, and Tl) pointed towards source regions in the Pechora Basin and Ural industrial areas in Russia, and near gas and oil fields in western Kazakhstan.

Transboundary environmental assessment in the Arctic

The main intent of this article is to examine the extent of applicable international treaties and other regulations that oblige the concerned states to perform transboundary environmental assessment (TEA) in the Arctic, and whether these have induced any state practice. Since the co-operation process between the eight Arctic states has adopted an instrument aiming to influence how TEA should be undertaken in the Arctic conditions, a closer examination of the development and content of these Guidelines for Environmental Impact Assessment is in order. One case in the Finnish Arctic is used to demonstrate what a quality TEA can mean in the Arctic context.

Arctic haze: current trends and knowledge gaps

Trend analyses were performed on several indicators of Arctic haze using data from sites located in the North American, Norwegian, Finnish and Russian Arctic for the spring months of March and April. Concentrations of nonseasalt (nss) SO 4 = in the Canadian, Norwegian and Finnish Arctic were found to have decreased by 30–70% from the early 1990s to present. The magnitude of the decrease depended on location. The trend in nss SO 4 = at Barrow, Alaska from 1997 to present, is unclear. Measurements at Barrow of light scattering by aerosols show a decrease of about 50% between the early 1980s and the mid-1990s for both March and April. Restricting the analysis to the more recent period of 1997 to present indicates an increase in scattering of about 50% during March. Aerosol NO 3 - measured at Alert, Canada has increased by about 50% between the early 1990s and 2003. Nss K + and light absorption, indicators of forest fires, have a seasonal maximum during the winter and spring and minimum during the summer and fall at both Alert and Barrow. Based on these data, the impact of summertime forest fire emissions on low-altitude surface sites within the Arctic is relatively small compared to winter/spring emissions. Key uncertainties about the impact of long range transport of pollution to the Arctic remain including the certainty of the recent detected trends; sources, transport and trends of soot; and radiative effects due to complex interactions between aerosols, clouds and radiation in the Arctic. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0889.2006.00238.x

Arctic haze: current trends and knowledge gaps

Trend analyses were performed on several indicators of Arctic haze using data from sites located in the North American, Norwegian, Finnish and Russian Arctic for the spring months of March and April. Concentrations of nonseasalt (nss) SO4= in the Canadian, Norwegian and Finnish Arctic were found to have decreased by 30–70% from the early 1990s to present. The magnitude of the decrease depended on location. The trend in nss SO4= at Barrow, Alaska from 1997 to present, is unclear. Measurements at Barrow of light scattering by aerosols show a decrease of about 50% between the early 1980s and the mid-1990s for both March and April. Restricting the analysis to the more recent period of 1997 to present indicates an increase in scattering of about 50% during March. Aerosol NO3- measured at Alert, Canada has increased by about 50% between the early 1990s and 2003. Nss K+ and light absorption, indicators of forest fires, have a seasonal maximum during the winter and spring and minimum during the summer and fall at both Alert and Barrow. Based on these data, the impact of summertime forest fire emissions on low-altitude surface sites within the Arctic is relatively small compared to winter/spring emissions. Key uncertainties about the impact of long range transport of pollution to the Arctic remain including the certainty of the recent detected trends; sources, transport and trends of soot; and radiative effects due to complex interactions between aerosols, clouds and radiation in the Arctic.

Ambient silver concentration anomaly in the Finnish Arctic lower atmosphere.

Mean silver concentrations in weekly particle samples collected at Kevo, northern Finland, were determined for the period of October 1964-March 1978 by neutron activation analysis. Two distinct periods were observed in the silver concentration levels over this time frame. During 1964-1970, mean weekly silver concentration levels were found in the range of 0.01-190 ng/m3 with an arithmetic mean of 2.19 ng/m3. A few very high silver concentration levels (>10 ng/m3) were observed in this period, some of which simultaneously occurred with some of the highest bromine and iodine concentration levels. During 1971-1978, silver concentration levels were in the range of 0.02-0.89 ng/m3 with a mean value of 0.09 ng/m3. The observed concentration levels in the later period matched well the data from the early 1990s reported at Sevettijärvi, northern Finland, about 60 km east of Kevo. Data analysis, historical records for this region, and residence time analysis (RTA) using wind back-trajectories show that occasional smelting of silver-rich Norilsk ores at the Nikel smelter, Kola Peninsula, was probably a significant contributor to elevated mean silver concentration levels during 1964-1970. RTA alone was not able to unambiguously identify the most probable source region for highest silver impacts at Kevo due to the weekly integrated nature of the samples collected. Critical examination of wind back-trajectories (24 per day) for specific high silver, bromine, and iodine concentration weeks was carried out to supplement the ensemble RTA analysis (2 back-trajectories per day). The supplemental back-trajectory analysis revealed that deposition of the smelter component silver as well as the sea components (bromine and iodine) could occur together at Kevo during these weekly sampling periods. The study implies that data from weekly integrated samples are insufficiently time-resolved for RTA methods alone to unambiguously resolve the sources contributing to ambient atmospheric concentrations at Kevo, Finland.

Atmospheric aerosol over Finnish Arctic: source analysis by the multilinear engine and the potential source contribution function

Week-long samples of total suspended particles were collected between 1964 and 1978 from Kevo at the Finnish Arctic and analyzed for a number of chemical species. The chemical composition data was analyzed using a mixed 2-way/3-way model. The results of receptor modeling were connected with the back trajectory data in a Potential Source Contribution Function analysis to determine the likely source areas. Nine sources, namely silver emissions, coal/oil shale combustion, biomass burning, non-ferrous smelters (two sources), crustal elements from remote sources, excess silicon from local sources, sea salt particles and biogenic sulfur emissions from marine algae were found. Although the emissions from industrial areas in the Kola Peninsula had an effect on the concentration of anthropogenic pollutants at Kevo, the highest concentrations during winter were transported from the sources in the mid-latitudes. The yearly strength of the biogenic sulfur emissions showed no dependence on the Northern Hemisphere temperature anomaly and thus, a climatic feedback loop could not be confirmed.

Composition of the Finnish Arctic aerosol: collection and analysis of historic filter samples

Week-long samples of total suspended particles have been collected between October 1964 and February 1978 from the Finnish Arctic. Neutron activation analysis, ion chromatography, and light-absorption techniques have been used to analyze the concentration of several heavy metals and other elements, major ions, methane sulfonate (MSA), and black carbon. Kevo is located near the Kola Peninsula and the effect of the industrial area can be seen. Compared to previous studies of Arctic aerosols carried out in North American Arctic, the Kevo results show higher concentration of anthropogenic pollutants and the seasonal variability for most constituents is weaker than the typical Arctic haze pattern. MSA, a marker of biogenic activity, has a clear seasonal cycle with a peak from April to August.