Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
ulting from emission sources located within the Arctic (such as the Kola smelters) is un-
likely to increase in geographical extent. Full implementation of the CLRTAP Gothenburg
Protocol (including the amendments agreed to by the CLRTAP Executive Body in 2012)
makes it unlikely that European and North American sources will result in widespread
acidification impacts in the Arctic. Two large questions hang over this prediction: Will the
growing East Asian sources increase in significance to the extent that they result in wide-
spread acidification and will climate change alter the physical and chemical dynamics of
the acidification process in Arctic environments? The increasing oil and gas exploration
in the Arctic (due partly to increasing accessibility of these resources as a consequence of
melting sea ice) will also likely cause increasing local air pollution problems.
After completing its 2006 acidification assessment, AMAP concluded that in the fu-
ture, this subject should be an element of the wider issue of air pollution (including black
carbon). This reflects the fact that the more recent air pollution agreements (such as the
Gothenburg Protocol) now use this approach rather than dealing with specific substances,
such as tropospheric ozone, sulphur, nitrogen and small particulates (for example, the
short-lived climate forcer black carbon). This enables better attention to be paid to the
physical and chemical processes that occur between the various air pollution constituents.
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