Kerstin Magnusson

• PhD
• IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute

Shipping is responsible for a range of different pressures affecting air quality, climate, and the marine environment. Most social and economic analyses of shipping have focused on air pollution assessment and how shipping may impact climate change and human health. This risks that policies may be biased towards air pollution and climate change, wh...

Allowing for installation of exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers) as an alternative to using a cleaner fuel, to comply with the IMO 2020 Sulphur cap, has been done without appropriate consideration of negative impacts on marine life. The toxic and acidic cocktail of scrubber water may pose a serious threat to marine organisms and ecosystems, wi...

Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems (EGCS), operating in open-loop mode, continuously release acidic effluents (scrubber waters) to marine waters. Furthermore, scrubber waters contain high concentrations of metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and alkylated PAHs, potentially affecting the plankton in the receiving waters. Toxicity tests eviden...

We present a new concept for marine research, applied in the EU-funded project EMERGE, “Evaluation, control and Mitigation of the EnviRonmental impacts of shippinG Emissions” (2020–2024; https://emerge-h2020.eu/). For the first time, both the various marine and atmospheric impacts of the shipping sector have been and will be comprehensively analyze...

The ubiquitous occurrence of anthropogenic particles, including microplastics in the marine environment, has, over the last years, gained worldwide attention. As a result, many methods have been developed to estimate the amount and type of microplastics in the marine environment. However, there are still no standardized protocols for how different...

The microplastics (MP) pollution has been receiving high attention in recent years, because of the massive amounts of plastics it contributes to the environment. Tyre wear and road wear particles (TWP and RWPs) were identified as major sources of MPs, but the observed data on these particles in urban snow deposits and snowmelt is scarce. To contrib...

In this review, we investigated published data on the occurrence of microplastic in Arctic fish, and the suitability of the data and species for risk assessment and monitoring. As of 11 November 2021, we found nine studies in the peer-reviewed literature, one thesis and one report, confirming the occurrence of microplastic in fishes from multiple A...

Few studies have been published on the occurrence and distribution of microplastics (MPs) in invertebrates from the Arctic. We still need to develop harmonized methods to enable good comparison between studies taking into account recovery rates, size ranges, shapes, and polymer types. Here, we review studies on MPs in invertebrates from the Arctic...

Litter and microplastic assessments are being carried out worldwide. Arctic ecosystems are no exception and plastic pollution is high on the Arctic Council's agenda. Water and sediment have been identified as two of the priority compartments for monitoring plastics under the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP). Recommendations for mon...

The atmosphere and cryosphere have recently garnered considerable attention due to their role in transporting microplastics to and within the Arctic, and between freshwater, marine, and terrestrial environments. While investigating either in isolation provides valuable insight on the fate of microplastics in the Arctic, monitoring both provides a m...

Major sources of pollution from shipping to marine environments are antifouling paint residues and discharges of bilge, black, grey and ballast water and scrubber discharge water. The dispersion of copper, zinc, naphthalene, pyrene, and dibromochloromethane have been studied using the Ship Traffic Emission Assessment Model, the General Estuarine Tr...

The purpose of the guidelines is to review existing knowledge and provide guidance for designing an Arctic monitoring program that will track litter and MP. The topics of litter, plastic pollution, and MP are addressed in many fora, including several of the Arctic Council working groups: Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP; https://www...

Microplastic particles in stormwater pose significant threats to the environment. This study investigated how effective a stormwater treatment train was at removing rubber, bitumen and other microplastics (incl. fibers, fragments, and paint particles) in the 100-300 µm and >300 µm size fractions from highway runoff. The two treatment trains compris...

This paper describes the new developments of the Ship Traffic Emission Assessment Model (STEAM) which enable the modelling of pollutant discharges to water from ships. These include nutrients from black/grey water discharges as well as from food waste. Further, the modelling of contaminants in ballast, black, grey and scrubber water, bilge discharg...

To reduce sulfur emission from global shipping, exhaust gas cleaning systems are increasingly being installed on board commercial ships. These so-called scrubbers extract SO X by spraying water into the exhaust gas. An effluent is created which is either released directly to the sea (open-loop system) or treated to remove harmful substances before...

In urban environments, particularly areas under reconstruction, metals, organic pollutants (OP), and microplastics (MP), are released in large amounts due to heavy traffic. Road runoff, a major transport route for urban pollutants, contributes significantly to a deteriorated water quality in receiving waters. This study was conducted in Gothenburg,...

Plastic pollution is emerging as a potential threat to the marine environment. In the current study, we selected seagrass meadows, known to efficiently trap organic and inorganic particles, to investigate the concentrations and dynamics of microplastics in their sediment. We assessed microplastic contamination and accumulation in ²¹⁰Pb dated soil c...

Marine litter pollution affects oceans globally and has today also made its way to the pristine arctic environment adding to the microlitter from local pollution sources. Marine litter pollution is recognized as a serious threat to the marine environment at all levels, from the UN to regional (EU, OSPAR, HELCOM) and national authorities. The risk p...

This paper describes the new developments of the Ship Traffic Emission Assessment Model (STEAM) which enable modeling of pollutant discharges to water from ships. These include nutrients from black/grey water discharges as well as from food waste. Further, also the modeling of contaminants in ballast, black, grey and scrubber water, bilge discharge...

Human activities leave traces of marine litter around the globe. The Arctic is, despite its remoteness, emerging as an area of no exception to this environmental issue. Arctic sea ice has previously been found to constitute a temporal sink of microplastics, but the potential release and subsequent fate of microplastics in the marine environment are...

The knowledge base concerning microplastics (MPs) in the environment is rapidly developing with the goal of closing the existing knowledge gaps. One of such gaps, the occurrence of MPs in roadside snowbanks in urban areas, was surveyed at 16 sites in two northern Swedish cities, Luleå and Umeå, with the objective of estimating the quantities of MPs...

Tire and road wear particles have been identified as a potential major source of microplastics in the environment. However, more knowledge of the emissions and their further fate in the environment is needed, and the effectiveness and benefits of potential measures must be investigated to support future risk management efforts. Here the concentrati...

The ubiquitous occurrence of microplastics and other synthetic anthropogenic micro-sized particles in the marine environment has over the past decade gained substantial worldwide attention. This has resulted in the development of numerous methods to estimate the amount and type of microplastics present in different marine habitats (Hildago- Ruz et...

Standardized methods for the digestion of biota for microplastic analysis are currently lacking. Chemical methods can be effective, but can also cause damage to some polymers. Enzymatic methods are known to be gentler, but often laborious, expensive and time consuming. A novel tissue digestion method with pancreatic enzymes and a pH buffer (Tris) i...

Microplastic (MP)has become ubiquitous in the marine environment. Its threat to marine organisms has been demonstrated under laboratory conditions, yet studies on wild populations still face methodological difficulties. We reviewed the methods used to separate MP from soft animal tissues and highlighted a lack of standardised methodologies, particu...

Microplastic pollution is presently considered a high concern topic by scientists, policy makers, governmental bodies, non-governmental organizations and the general public. Microplastics are highly widespread in all environmental compartments (e.g. air, water, sediments and biota) and increasing empirical evidence points towards potential negative...

Measurements of anthropogenic microlitter/microplastic in wastewater from Greenland and Svalbard.

Ecotoxicological tests of open- and closed loop scrubber water from exhaust gas cleaning systems from ships on blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) and copepods (Calanus helgolandicus).

Microlitter consists of minute particles of anthropogenic or processed natural material. The project brings together research groups to conduct specific case studies in gradients from near urban sources such as the traffic environment and cities to the coastal water and sediments in order to study the relative occurrence of specific sources and the...

Environmental concentrations and effects of bilge water contaminants in two Baltic Sea areas were estimated from modelling of discharge rates and analytical data on bilge water from seven ships. Biodegradation of bilge water oil was accounted for and annual water concentrations were estimated to peak in late spring, which coincides with the beginni...

Water accumulating in the bottom of ships (bilge water), contains a mixture of oil, detergents and other compounds from on board activities. To evaluate ecological effects of released bilge water the chemical composition and toxicity of treated bilge water from seven passenger ships was analysed. The oil content was below 15 mg L− 1, the threshold...

Two methods for marine microlitter sampling were compared in the Gulf of Finland, northern Baltic Sea: manta trawl (333μm) and a submersible pump (300 or 100μm). Concentrations of microlitter (microplastics, combustion particles, non-synthetic fibres) in the samples collected with both methods and filter sizes remained <10particlesm(-3). The pump w...

This report provides an overview of the currently available data from studies on marine litter in the Nordic countries. This covers various field studies on amount, distribution, characteristics and impact of macro- and micro-litter particles. The data reported can provide a good basis for prioritization of activities, especially having the establi...

The accumulation of (14)C-labelled PCB 31, PCB 101, PCB 153 and PBDE 99 was investigated at the two lowest trophic levels of the pelagic food web. Accumulation was measured in the small phytoplankter Thalassiosira weissflogii (Coscinodiscophyceae: Thalassiosirales) and in the neritic zooplankter Acartia clausi (Copepoda: Calanoida) exposed to the s...

A marine mesocosm system (boxcosm system) was developed for ecological and/or ecotoxicological studies of sediment community function and structure. The system consists of continuous flow-through incubations of intact sediment samples, each with a surface area of 0.25 m2. The experimental setup enables repeated non-destructive measurements of benth...

Bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) were determined for (14)C-PCB 101 and (14)C-PBDE 99 in the pelagic copepod Calanus finmarchicus after exposure to either contaminated water or after being fed contaminated phytoplankton (the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum minimum or the diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii). BAFs in algae range from 7.6 to 8.0 for PCB 101 an...

Field concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were measured in sediment and nine marine soft bottom invertebrate species. Lipid- and organic carbon normalised biota-sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) were determined for 29 nonplanar and 11 coplanar congeners. To investigate whether the bioaccumulation was in thermodynamic equilibrium...

Sediment spiked with C-14-2,2', 4,4'-tetrabrominated diphenyl ether (BDE-47) was added as a single pulse, at a low or a high concentration, to intact soft-bottom sediments in a box-cosm system. The vertical distribution of the pollutant and the bioaccumulation in 39 different taxa of macrofauna were analysed after 10, 20 and 29 wk exposure. Through...

The effect of tri-n-butyl tin (TBT) on an intact marine sediment community after five months exposure was investigated. Changes in the structure of macro- and meiofauna communities were determined, as well as the functional diversity of the microbial community using BIOLOG microplates for Gram negative bacteria. Development of tolerance in the micr...

In vivo metabolism and depuration of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) was studied in the blue mussel Mytilus edulis. In one experiment, the animals were injected with H-3-BaP and thereafter exposed to either a high (H) or a low (L) concentration of the alga Isochrysis galbana. Mussels were sampled after 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 d and temporal changes in the metabol...

In vivo metabolism and depuration of benzo [a]pyrene (BaP) was studied in the blue mussel Mytilus edulis. In one experiment, the animals were injected with 3H-BaP and thereafter exposed to either a high (H) or a low (L) concentration of the alga Isochrysis galbana. Mussels were sampled after 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 d and temporal changes in the metabol...

The use of a suite of different biochemical markers in the deep sea fish Roundnose grenadier and caged common mussels, and analyses of contaminant levels in the mussels, indicate that Skagerrak are more polluted than waters around the Faroe Islands. In Roundnose, induction of ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) is consistent with increased benzo(a)...

In situ biomonitoring of roundnose grenadier (Coryphaenoides rupestris) and Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) and measurements of pollutants levels in caged common mussel (Mytilus edulis) were used to assess the environmental impact of contaminants in the Skagerrak and Kattegat and near the Faroe Islands. By comparing the responses of a suite of...

The pollution state in the Skagerrak and Kattegat was investigated by determination of pollutant concentrations and toxicity of sediment samples from 11 stations in the area. A comparison was made with the sediment from a reference site near the Faroe Islands. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and organochlorines were determined in whole sedim...

Biodegradation of 14C-labelled nonylphenol at the concentration 11 microg litre (-1) in seawater has been estimated by collection and quantification of the formed labelled carbon dioxide. Initially degradation was very slow but when the microorganisms had become adapted, after four weeks at 11 degrees C, the degradation rate increased rapidly and a...

Biodegradation of 14C-labelled nonylphenol at the concentration 11 μg litre-1 in seawater has been estimated by collection and quantification of the formed labelled carbon dioxide. Initially degradation was very slow but when the microorganisms had become adapted, after four weeks at 11°C, the degradation rate increased rapidly and after 58 days ab...

Seminar on nonylphenolethoxylates (NPE) and nonylphenol (NP), Grand Hotel, Saltsjöbadebn, Sweden, February 6-8, 1991 : proceedings, ISBN 91-620-3907-5, Rapport / Naturvårdsverket, ISSN 0282-7298 ; 3907, 53-75 In a field test with caged mussels (Mytilus edulis), bioaccumulation of nonylphenol (NP) was measured after a 7-week exposure in a water area...

Environmental fate and effects of bleached pulp mill effluents : proceedings of a SEPA Conference held at Grand Hotel Saltsjöbaden, Stockholm, Sweden 19-21 November 1991: ed. A. Södergren, Rapport / Naturvårdsverket, ISSN 0282-7298 ; 4031, 68 - 73 A long-term degradation test was performed with a sediment which was contaminated by organic pollutant...

In a field test with caged mussels (Mytilus edulis), bioaccumulation of nonylphenol (NP) and its short-chained ethoxylates was measured after a 7-week exposure along a transect away from the wastewater outlet of a chemical plant on the west coast of Sweden. The highest tissue residue concentration of NP was found in mussels from the deep cages clos...

The toxicity of nonylphenol to the common mussel (Mytilus edulis L.) has been determined in both semistatic and continuous flow test systems. The LC50 values obtained were for 96 h, 30 mg litre(-1); 360 h, 0.5 mg litre(-1); and 850 h, 0.14 mg litre(-1). Sublethal effects, manifested as decreased byssus strength and change of scope for growth, were...

In late spring 1988, a bloom of the planktonic green alga Chrysochromulina polylepis Manton et Park along the coasts of the Skagerrak caused mortality of many species of fish and marine invertebrate. C. polylepis was found to be acutely toxic to eggs and larvae of the ascidian Ciona intestinalis (L.) and the bivalveMytilus edulis L. at algal concen...

Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborg University, 2001.