Prospects for a background monitoring network in the Russian Arctic

Abstract The authors describe how a system of comprehensive background monitoring of environmental conditions in Arctic Russia might be organized. Considerable attention is devoted to a methodology for ranking 91 potential sites for the location of background monitoring stations (using as an example heavy metals as the major group of pollutants to be monitored). A ranking algorithm is employed to identify five groups of sites with greater or lesser suitability for the location of monitoring stations. Not surprisingly, since the purpose is to monitor background (i.e., relatively pristine or undisturbed) conditions, sites in the “most unfavorable” group include such mining/metallurgical centers as Monchegorsk, Noril'sk, Nikel, and Deputatskiy.