Terry Bidleman is a professor at the Chemistry Department of Umeå University working on the biogeochemistry of halogenated natural products, including occurrence in producing organisms, sources in estuaries, volatilization and atmospheric transport. His seminar will focus on The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) which is preparing a report on temporal trends of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and chemicals of emerging Arctic concern (CEACs) in biotic and abiotic media. This assessment for seawater updates previous trend estimates by merging data sets and incorporating additional published measurements. Weaknesses in the assessment include use of historical studies for pesticide concentrations, which were done with varying degrees of quality control and reliance on “ships of opportunity” for sampling. A regular monitoring program is needed, such as the international passive sampling network AQUA-GAPS.
