NILU in The Polar Environmental Centre

Postal address:
NILU, The Polar Environmental Centre,
NO-9296 Tromsø

Visiting address:
NILU in The Polar Environmental Centre,
Hjalmar Johansens gate 14, Tromsø
Tel: +47 77 75 03 75
Fax: +47 77 75 03 76

The Polar Environmental Centre is highly visible in the centre of Tromsø.

Background
In 1994 the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) established a department in Tromsø. The department is one of several institutions in the Polar Environmental Centre. The main areas of research for the department in Tromsø are connected to environmental problems in the Polar areas and the Barents region.

NILU in the Polar Environmental Centre has focussed the research on following themes:

Ecotoxicology and persistent organic pollutants (POPs)

• Lipid characterisation and determination of POPs
  
• Bioaccumulation and biomagnifiation of environmental pollutants in Arctic food chains
  
• The relationship between POPs uptake and loads with lipid composition
  
• Metabolism and biological effects of POPs
  
• Use of models to estimate transport, fate and uptake of POPs in Polar regions
  
• Collecting human data for use in epidemiological studies

	Location of The Polar Environmental Centre in the city of Tromsø.

• Detection of heavy metals and organic pollutants
  
• Contamination from industrial activity on the Kola Peninsula
  
• Assessment of air quality near local contamination sources

• Ozone-measurements in the upper stratosphere by use of the facilities at ALOMAR at Andøya and the Zeppelin Station at Svalbard
  
• Studies of UV-radiation and its influence on the environment
  
• The role of ozone and aerosols in climatic questions