| Title: | "Levels, sources and chemical fate of persistent organic pollutants in the atmosphere and snow along the western Antarctic Peninsula" |
| Author(s): | Khairy MA; Luek JL; Dickhut R; Lohmann R; |
| Address: | "Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA; Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, 21511 Moharam Bek, Alexandria, Egypt. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, 1208 Great Rd, Gloucester Point, VA 23062, USA. Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA. Electronic address: rlohmann@uri.edu" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.envpol.2016.05.092 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1873-6424 (Electronic) 0269-7491 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The Antarctic continent is among the most pristine regions; yet various organic contaminants have been measured there routinely. Air and snow samples were collected during the austral spring (October-November, 2010) along the western Antarctic Peninsula and analyzed for organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) to assess the relative importance of long-range transport versus local primary or secondary emissions. Highest concentrations of PCBs, PBDEs and DDTs were observed in the glacier's snow sample, highlighting the importance of melting glaciers as a possible secondary source of legacy pollutants to the Antarctic. In the atmosphere, contaminants were mainly found in the vapor phase (>65%). Hexachlorobenzene (33.6 pg/m(3)), PCBs (11.6 pg/m(3)), heptachlor (5.64 pg/m(3)), PBDEs (4.22 pg/m(3)) and cis-chlordane (2.43 pg/m(3)) were the most abundant contaminants. In contrast to other compounds, PBDEs seem to have originated from local sources, possibly the research station itself. Gas-particle partitioning for analytes were better predicted using the adsorption partitioning model than an octanol-based absorption approach. Diffusive flux calculations indicated that net deposition is the dominant pathway for PBDEs and chlordanes, whereas re-volatilization from snow (during melting or metamorphosis) was observed for PCBs and some OCPs" |
| Keywords: | "Antarctic Regions Atmosphere/*chemistry *Environmental Monitoring Environmental Pollutants/*analysis/chemistry Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers/analysis/chemistry Hexachlorobenzene/analysis/chemistry Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated/analysis/chemistry Ice Cover/*chem;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineKhairy, Mohammed A Luek, Jenna L Dickhut, Rebecca Lohmann, Rainer eng England 2016/06/12 Environ Pollut. 2016 Sep; 216:304-313. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2016.05.092. Epub 2016 Jun 9" |
