Use of remote and ground methods to assess the impacts of smelter emissions in the Kola peninsula

We conducted both remote sensing and ground observations in the Lapland biosphere reserve territory of the Kola peninsula to document the deposition of pollutants from a regional smelter to the snow cover and the resulting impacts on vegetation. For remote sensing research, we used multispectral scanning radiometer images with medium geometric resolution obtained via the Cosmos-1939 satellite and vegetation spectrometer measurements taken from an MI-8 helicopter. We took snow samples in the spring during ground investigations to use in chemical analyses in characteristic plots of the region and to study the status of vegetation in the summer along the 11-km profile from Lake Chunozero across the Chuna-Tundra mountain range to Lake Kurkʹjavr. We assessed the effects of pollution from the Monchegorsk and Apatity industrial areas on the vegetation and snow cover. We present maps showing the distribution of metals and ions in the snow cover of the investigated region in spring 1990, along with diagrams of the status of the vegetation cover along the given profile. We also show the reflection spectra of solar radiation for the spruce forest communities in various degrees of degradation.