Clean-up sites in cold climates present unique challenges for the analytical chemist, primarily because of transportation constraints and limited infrastructure. Excavation of chemically contaminated soils and dumps requires a quick turnaround for analytical results. This is mainly due to the cost factors involved in having expensive heavy equipment idle and the short working seasons, but also because of melting of exposed permafrost during excavation. Three options are available for conducting analyses at remote polar sites. These are off-site determinations, the use of on-site test kits (or simple procedures), and the deployment of a mobile laboratory. This paper discusses these options and provides details of available on-site techniques as well as specific examples of their application in remote northern sites. The design and operation of a mobile laboratory at Resolution Island, Nunavut, is described, and available test kits are compiled and reviewed.

Mites (Acarina: Arachnida) have not colonised Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands by ballooning on air currents. All acarine records from Pacific and Southern Ocean aerial plankton represent dead coastal (hemi)-edaphic species or phoretics dislodged from their flying insect hosts. The few sub-Antarctic records of mites capable of ‘ballooning’ on air currents are all verified as being attributed to anthropogenic introductions.

The Peel-Caribou Staging Area, located along the Peel River, northern Yukon Territory, was used for exploratory drilling activities during the mid-1960s. Following abandonment of the project in 1975, waste materials were buried in a pit on site. An encroachment of the river on the waste pit in 1994 exposed the debris along with soils contamiated by DDT (1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis-(4-chlorophenyl)ethane), metals, hydrocarbons, and dichloromethane. The results of subsurface drilling in April 2000 and contaminants analyses, along with data from a geophysical investigation, indicated contaminated soils and debris were located in a 2-metre thick layer below the high-water mark of the riverbank, with an overburden of soil varying in depths from 3 to 4 m. The validation of various field test kits — including immunoassay test kits, PetroFLAGTM analyzer, and photoionization detector — as possible analytical tools for on-site testing was conducted during the site investigations. Site remediation was conducted in January–March 2002 while the river was frozen to facilitate excavations along the frozen and exposed riverbank as well as site access. The debris along the riverbank is usually submerged in the summer and autumn due to fluctuating water levels. Following the construction of a winter overland route to the site, the contaminated soils and associated waste were excavated and transported off-site for disposal. Based on the validation exercise, immunoassay test kits were used for on-site delineation and confirmatory testing during site remediation.

Svalbard reindeer were examined for their dependency on seasonal changes from January to May and their choice of certain vegetation types. Snow characteristics and accumulation appear to be the main factors for the changing use of vegetation types from open plains and wetland in January and February to slopes and areas with ridge and heath vegetation in April and May. The results confirm other studies of the grazing behaviour of reindeer and caribou on the Norwegian mainland and in North America.

From 1851 to 1855, the Baltic-German geologist Carl von Ditmar explored and made scientific observations of Kamchatka. This area had first been scientifically investigated by Georg Wilhelm Steller and Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov in the 1730s and 1740s. However, until the last decade of the nineteenth century, little was added to the studies by Steller and Krasheninnikov, despite almost all of the Russian circumnavigations having gone through Kamchatka. It was only in 1890 that Ditmar's detailed investigation of the natural history and peoples of the Kamchatka peninsula was published. Although Ditmar remains little known to the broader public, his investigations are still used by those investigating Kamchatka.

Major (Al, Fe), minor (Mn), and trace (Li, Cu, Ni, Cr, Cd, Zn, Pb) metals along with nutrients (TOC, TON, TS, TP) and enzymatic activities were determined in 18 surface sediment and two soil samples collected in six small bays of the Karelian shore of Kandalaksha Bay, White Sea, Russian Arctic. The studied sediments tended to be marine, with a major input of organic matter from autochthonous sources. Marine organic material might be an important carrier of trace metals in the examined sediments. According to sediment quality guidelines, all trace-metal contents were below the threshold levels. The results of azocasein-trypsin tests also suggested no significant contamination of analysed sediments and soils. A comparison of the trace-metal contents in the sediments examined with those of the western Arctic shelf showed higher levels of Zn and Cr in the Karelian shore. Presumably these disparities were related to regional differences in sediment chemistries rather than to any enhanced pollution within the studied area. Both geochemical composition and enzymatic-activities patterns among sites studied are largely controlled by the sediment granulometry. The evolution of sediments in the restricted exchange environments under investigation is caused by depositional conditions, which are strongly affected by small-scale hydrodynamic processes specific for each particular area. The most vivid examples are separating basins, where the fine-grained sediments enriched in organic matter — and thus in nutrients and metals — are formed under calm hydrodynamic conditions enhanced by severely restricted water exchange.

At three localities in Svalbard, there are unusual geomorphological features, where solifluidal sediment bodies were at first eroded at the bottom and not at the top, as should normally be expected. It is suggested that the thermoerosion of the refrozen solifluidal sediment is caused by water running down the valleys or gullies it blocks. Thermoerosion affects the lower part of the frozen sediment, whereas the upper part remains frozen, thus creating a bridge-like feature and, consequently, subsurface drainage over shorter distances. As all three localities have a similar lithology in common, this seems to be a significant factor.

Contaminants, in freezing ground or elsewhere in the world, are of concern not simply because of their presence but because of their potential for detrimental effects on human health, the biota, or other valued aspects of the environment. Understanding these effects is central to any attempt to manage or remediate contaminated land. The polar regions are different from other parts of the world, and it would be naïve to assume that the mass of information developed in temperate regions can be applied without modification to the polar regions. Despite their obvious environmental similarities, there are important differences between the Arctic and Antarctic. The landmass of the Arctic is much warmer than that of the Antarctic and as a result has a much greater diversity and abundance of flora. Because of its proximity to industrial areas in the Northern Hemisphere, the Arctic also experiences a higher input of contaminants via long-range aerial transport. In addition, the Arctic, with its indigenous population and generally undisputed territorial claims, has long been the subject of resource utilisation, including harvesting of living resources, mineral extraction, and the construction of military infrastructure. The history of human activity in Antarctica is relatively brief, but in this time there has been a series of quite distinct phases, culminating in the Antarctic now holding a unique position in the world. Activities in the Antarctic are governed by the Antarctic Treaty, which contains provisions dealing with environmental matters. The differences between the polar regions and the rest of the world, and between the Arctic and the Antarctic, significantly affect scientific and engineering approaches to the remediation of contamination in polar regions. This paper compares and contrasts the Arctic and Antarctic with respect to geography, configuration, habitation, logistics, environmental guidelines, regulations, and remediation protocols. Chemical contamination is also discussed in terms of its origin and major concerns and interests, particularly with reference to current remediation activities and site-restoration methodology.

Seven pack mules were taken from India to the Antarctic in 1912. Their preparations for the voyage and for use in exploration are described. The names of the animals and of their leaders are recorded from the account of their expedition from winter quarters to find the last camp of Scott's Polar Party.

In North American cold regions, terrestrial spill-response tactics have evolved through clean-up experience with crude oil and refined petroleum products. Alaska has developed response tactics as guidelines for clean-up of petroleum-based spills. Generic application of any response tactic without regard for season, site-specific conditions, and equipment limitations can further damage an ecosystem. For example, the practice of igniting and burning petroleum product spilled onto frozen tundra without consideration of the anthropogenic effect on the surface energy balance may actually increase the vertical migration of the spilled product. Prior to application of any mitigation strategy to a release of petroleum product, the movement of the product through freezing soil needs to be better understood. Case studies are presented, and lessons learned from them are discussed.