Every time I leave Svalbard, I hope it won’t be the last time — and so far, that hope has worked out.

I’m back in Ny-Ålesund for a short fieldwork campaign as part of SNOWFAS, a project funded by the Norwegian Research Council and that I coordinate supported by the Norwegian Polar Institute. The goal is to identify environmental organic pollutants — primarily PFAS — in surface snow and snowpit samples at these high latitudes.
What makes this project new is the approach: instead of focusing only on the commonly monitored PFAS, a new non-target screening method will be applied to detect a broader spectrum of PFAS. To give some context: over 14,000 substances fall under the PFAS umbrella, but only a few dozen are typically monitored. That means we might be missing a huge part of the picture.

During this campaign, I’m collecting and pre-concentrating samples using SPE (Solid Phase Extraction), with the invaluable logistical and laboratory support from the Dirigibile Italia Arctic Station, which offers excellent facilities and clean lab spaces.

The fieldwork run from April 4 to April 23, 2025.

Samples will be shipped to Switzerland and then analyzed in collaboration with the University of Bern.