Arctic marine cryospheric chemistry

近几十年来，北极海冰环境发生了巨大变化。与这些变化相关的是，北极地区工业和社会经济发展的可及性提高，以及化学污染物造成的生态和人类健康风险增加。我的研究项目致力于对北极海洋冰冻圈中发生的冰温化学反应及其气候、环境和工程影响进行基础性和原创性研究。在接下来的五年里，我和我的团队(包括两个理学学士，四个理学硕士)四名博士生和两名技术人员)将描述在温度、盐度和光照条件下发生的化学反应的特征和参数，这些条件类似于北极海洋冰冻圈的情况，包括海冰、上面的雪和下面的海水。重点将放在涉及二氧化碳、汞和多环芳烃的低温反应，因为它们作为温室气体和北极海洋生态系统中遗留和新出现的令人关切的污染物具有各自的重要性。大多数实验研究将在一个专门的北极冰冻圈实验室在完全受控的条件下进行，而微宇宙和中尺度研究将在国际独一无二的海冰环境研究设施和丘吉尔海洋观测站用“实验”或天然海冰进行。研究结果将有助于开发冰冻圈条件下的化学形态模型，然后将其纳入环北极和全球化学输送模型，以预测二氧化碳和其他污染物在各种排放和气候情景下的去向。 低温反应和冰冻圈化学是新的科学前沿，对于在冰点温度下发现新的反应途径和机制以及开发与修复和管理北方环境中的化学污染物有关的技术具有巨大的潜力。由于北方开发对因纽特人、所有加拿大人和世界都具有重要的战略意义，该研究计划将提供迫切需要的知识，以提供和改进政策、实践和适应战略，以平衡此类开发的长期经济和社会社会利益，同时保护北极的环境和生态完整性。在我们努力应对与加拿大第三大洋开放相关的前所未有的机遇和挑战之际，该项目培养的高素质人才将在工业界、政府或学术界需求旺盛。

The Arctic sea ice environment has been undergoing dramatic changes in recent decades. Associated with these changes is improved accessibility to the Arctic region for industrial and socioeconomic development, as well as increased ecological and human health risk posed by chemical contaminants. My research program pursues fundamental and original studies on freezing-temperature (<0C) chemical reactions, or cryo-reactions, occurring in the Arctic marine cryosphere and their climatic, environmental and engineering implications. Over the next five years, my team and I (including two B.Sc., four M.Sc. and four Ph.D. students, and two technicians) will characterize and parameterize chemical reactions occurring at temperature, salinity, and light conditions resembling those of the Arctic marine cryosphere including sea ice, the overlying snow and underlying seawater. The focus will be on cryo-reactions involving carbon dioxide, mercury and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, because of their respective importance as a greenhouse gas, and as legacy and emerging contaminants of concern in the Arctic marine ecosystem. Most experimental studies will be carried out at a dedicated Arctic Cryospheric Laboratory under fully controlled conditions, whereas microcosm- and mesocosm-scale studies will be performed with “experimental” or natural sea ice at the internationally unique Sea-ice Environmental Research Facility and the Churchill Marine Observatory. The results will allow for the development of a chemical speciation model for cryospheric conditions, which will then be incorporated into circum-Arctic and global chemical transport models to project the fate of carbon dioxide and other contaminants under various emission and climate scenarios. Cryo-reactions and cryospheric chemistry are new scientific frontiers, with great potentials for major scientific discoveries of new reaction pathways and mechanisms at freezing temperatures, and for technological development related to remediation and management of chemical contaminants in the Northern environment. As Northern development is strategically important to the Inuit, all Canadians and the world, this research program will provide urgently needed knowledge to inform and improve policies, practices and adaptation strategies to balance the long-term economic and socio-societal benefits of such development while protecting the Arctic environmental and ecological integrity. The highly qualified personnel trained by this program will be in high demand in industry, governments or academia as we grapple with the unprecedented opportunities and challenges associated with the opening of Canada's Third Ocean.