Impact of climate change on the mobilization and bioaccumulation of persistent organic pollutants in arctic freshwater systems

This project aims to:1.Identify and quantify the main controls on the remobilization of organic pollutants from the terrestrial environment into two lakes and their main tributaries at Cape Bounty (Melville Island) by i) collecting water, soil, vegetation, biota and sediment samples and analyzing them for legacy pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), recently regulated, flame retardants such as brominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and surface active poly-perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) and ii) stable C isotope ratio signatures to assess changes in the sources of carbon delivered to these water bodies; 2.Examine temporal trends of PCBs, PBDEs and PFASs in archived landlocked arctic char samples from the selected area (2008-2016) in order to assess the effects over time of remobilization due to warming and compare with ongoing analyses of mercury and other elements;3.Provide the new information to local communities and the Nunavut Environmental Contaminants Committee.