Project description
Uncovering chemical pollution risks in the Arctic
The global surge in chemical production poses serious threats to ecosystems and human health. With countless substances introduced each year, gaps in knowledge about their identities, properties, and emissions make it difficult to assess the full impact of chemical pollution. Even the remote Arctic, long considered isolated, serves as a repository for these contaminants, raising alarms about their persistence and long-range transport. As these pollutants accumulate, they highlight significant flaws in existing chemical regulations. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the ARCHEM project is leveraging cutting-edge mass spectrometry to investigate Arctic sediments. By identifying persistent pollutants, the project aims to map their emission sources and transport pathways, providing essential data to improve chemical management and regulatory policies.
Objective
The increasing volume and type of chemicals produced worldwide every year have the potential to cause severe ecosystem and human health problems. However, due to largely insufficient information regarding the identities, properties, and emissions of these substances, it is challenging to obtain a complete picture of global chemical pollution to aid in development and implementation of effective regulations. Despite the Arctic being pristine and distantly isolated from human activities, Arctic sediments function as a receptor for contaminants that are transported over long distances. Being ubiquitous far away from sources and in the Arctic requires that a chemical is sufficiently persistent, amenable to long-range transport (LRT), and produced in reasonably large quantities. Therefore, it is hypothesized that Arctic sediments can serve as a natural indicator to identify flaws or inefficiencies in current chemical legislation and prioritize persistent chemicals that require further regulation. The overarching aim of this project is to use state-of-the-art mass spectrometric tools together with high Arctic sediments to identify persistent contaminants of global concern, and then apply advanced statistical and modeling approaches to further understand their emission sources and LRT. This analysis will be used to: (a) Prioritize persistent contaminants of emerging concern based on increasing temporal trends recorded in dated sediment cores; (b) Identify major emission regions by analyzing the spatial heterogeneity of contaminants among circum-Arctic shelf surface sediments; (c) Identify dominant LRT pathways by comparing the chemical compositions of Arctic lake sites affected solely by atmospheric LRT versus marine sites impacted by mixed pathways. Results of this project will generate new knowledge on emission sources and transport of persistent chemicals of global concern while providing scientific guidance to improve chemical management and regulation policies.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
You need to log in or register to use this function
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
10691 Stockholm
Sweden
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.