Transport of radionuclides in the Kara Sea and Eastern Barents Sea

The Arctic seas are influenced by radioactive contamination from both military and civilian sources such as global fallout, river transport, discharges from reprocessing plants and Chernobyl fallout. A joint Norwegian American field expedition was carried out to the Kara Sea in August-September 1995. An expedition to the Eastern Barents sea was conducted in September 1996. The investigation was funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Defence, The Norwegian Defence Research Establishment and Naval Research Laboratory. Both expeditions were conducted on the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment's ship H. U. Sverdrup II. In 1995 sea water, sediment samples and sea birds were collected along the east coast of Novaya Zemlya, in the East Novaya Zemlya Trough, east of the Kara Strait, along the Yamal and Taimyr peninsulas and in the Ob and Yenisey estuaries. In 1996 sea water and sediments were sampled along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, west of the Kara Strait, in the Pechora Sea and outside Cape Kanin and along the Kola Peninsula.