Project Overview: READ ME FIRST

Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2004 2:40 pm

Project Overview

What is the project about?
We are investigating how persistent organic pollutants break down in water, in sunlight and in the presence of dissolved organic matter.

Who cares?
Pollution in the Arctic is nearly always the result of pollution elsewhere on the planet; carried in by wind or by rain and snow, it is an indication of how much pollution is just about everywhere.

Some of these pollutants break down quickly into a variety of compounds, some of which are harmless to the environment, some of which are extremely dangerous. Other pollutants break down very slowly, and tend to bioaccumulate, becoming more and more concentrated the higher up a food chain they go.

Through our investigation, we hope to find out if exposure to sunlight and organic matter dissolved in water help break down pollutants into parts that are more or less harmful to the environment.

Who?
Dr. Yu-Ping “Yo” Chin is a geochemist at the Ohio State University who works to understand the factors that affect how organic pollutants degrade. In addition to being an exceptionally smart person, he is also the father of two children, an avid cook and a fly-fisherman.

Dr. Amanda Grannas is a post-doctoral researcher at the Ohio State University. She will soon be leaving Ohio to begin teaching at Villanova University, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When not working in the lab on better understanding environmental chemistry, she can be found playing the violin, preparing for her move in January or relaxing to Vivaldi.

Dr. Penney Miller is an assistant professor in chemistry at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana. Like Yo, she is a bi-polar researcher, and, I have it from good sources, a goddess of analytical chemistry. She enjoys hiking, reading, and playing tug-of-war with her dog, Osha.

Where?
Toolik Lake, Alaska
• 68° 38'N, 149° 43'W

o 130 miles south from Prudhoe Bay
o 350 miles north from Fairbanks
o 1,480 miles south from North Pole
o 2,450 miles northwest from Seattle
o 3,250 miles northwest from San Francisco
o 4,250 miles northwest from Columbus
o 4,700 miles northwest from New York
o 5,300 miles northwest from Miami

• North of the Arctic Circle:
o This summer, the sun came up on May 23 and won’t set until July 20 (and only then for a couple of minutes!)
o Last winter, the sun set on December 4 and didn’t rise again until January 8 (and only then for a couple of minutes)
• Elevation: 760 m above sea level
• Vegetation tundra tussock… no trees, permafrost

• One of 24 Long-Term Ecological Research Stations maintained by the National Science Foundation to monitor the environment in a variety of ecosystems. Learn more: http://ecosystems.mbl.edu/arc/

How?
More details to come; stay tuned!