An inter-disciplinary study was conducted from 1986 to 1992 in the Beaufort Shelf/Mackenzie Delta to measure the transport and fate of hydrocarbons over the Beaufort Shelf (Beaufort Sea and Mackenzie River Delta )and the primary productivity of these coastal waters. Physical, chemical and biological oceanographic data was also collected and hydrocarbon concentrations were determined in suspended particulate, sediments and shoreline peat.

Sediment cores, water, zooplankton and Arctic cod were sampled from the major basins across the Arctic Ocean in 1992, 1993 and 1994 to determine the composition, quantity and distribution of persistent organic contaminants. As well as, to provide an oceanographic and geochemical perspective for interpretation of contaminant data and to model the rate of transfer of these compounds within the Arctic. Sediment cores were analyzed for metals, PAHs, Total Carbon, Total Nitrogen, Orgainic. Dirty snow and ice were analyzed for PAHs. Water column filtered particulate and XAD resin extract were analyed for PAHs. Zooplankton and Arctic cod were analyzed for Nitrogen, Lip, Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopes, Pesticides and PCBs.

Water column, sediment trap(1999, 2000 only), sediment(1999 only), phytoplankton (2000 only) and zooplankton samples were collected from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago in 1997, 1999 and 2000. Temperature, salinity and geochemical tracers were determined for water samples, carbon transport for sediment and sediment trap samples and biomass, productivity and taxonomy will be determined for zooplankton samples (samples not quantified as yet).

A year long drift station in the Canadian Basin, Arctic Ocean was used to conduct a year round contaminant measurement program. Samples were collected at six intervals during the drift to measure POPs concentrations in air, water, suspended particles, ice and zooplankton, with the intention of observing how the ocean maintains contaminant burdens in the euphotic zone and how such contaminants transfer into the food web.