(Mods, please merge this if there is already a thread on this general topic.)
One of the changes we will see as things melt and thaw in the Arctic is new toxins entering the system, or at least in newly high levels of concentration. And of course there will be many other sources of pollution as oil exploration and shipping increase, wildfires rage, and other pollutants make their way to the top of the world. While obviously something that will affect the wildlife there, it seemed to me to be a discreet topic worthy of its own thread. Here's one article to kick it off:
Arctic Mercury Pollution To Increase as Permafrost Thaws
http://barentsobserver.com/en/nature/2015/10/arctic-mercury-pollution-increase-permafrost-thaws-13-10Thawing Arctic permafrost may well unleash a new wave of toxic mercury pollution, say scientists, contributing to ongoing mercury poisoning issues in parts of the region.
Mercury poisoning harms wildlife and causes developmental and neurological damage in human fetuses and children.
These soils were frozen year round as recently as 10 to 20 years ago, but now thaw and re-freeze annually, said lead author Dwayne Elias, a microbiologist with the Oak Ridge National Laboratories, a federally-owned research center in the United States.
As the freeze-thaw cycle continues in coming years, he said, bacteria that contain the genes needed to convert inorganic mercury to its toxic form, called methyl mercury, will “wake up from being dormant for thousands and thousands of years.”
Groundwater will transport this methyl mercury into rivers and streams that game animals such as moose and caribou drink from, he said. Those water flows will also carry the mercury into coastal habitats of marine mammals and fish.