Concentration and distribution of 17 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in seawater from the Japan Sea northward to the Arctic Ocean

Abstract

Seventeen classic organochlorine pesticides in surface seawater were studied in terms of their composition pattern as well as their distribution pattern in the areas covering the Japan Sea, Okhotsk Sea, Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea and Arctic Ocean. Their concentrations varied, but roughly two levels were seen with one ranging between 0.1 and 1 ng L-1 for most HCH isomers and the other lower than 0.1 ng L-1 for other chemicals. Of the 17 target compounds, HCHs were dominant with a total concentration percentage generally more than 50%, and a relatively high concentration percentage of heptachlor and aldrine was also observed at scattered stations. The historical long-term trend of several target chemicals in the five sea zones considered was discussed in comparison with previous reports. Inter-sea zone comparison was carried out for individual chemicals by comparing the concentration variation in all five sea zones. A higher variation in concentration was generally found in the northern sea zones, namely the Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea and Arctic Ocean, for most target compounds. The sum concentration of the 17 target chemicals displayed a general trend of increasing northward from the Japan Sea to the Okhotsk Sea to the Bering Sea to the Arctic Ocean. Different latitudinal trends were found for alpha-HCH and gamma-HCH, and the reason of this difference was discussed by considering their divergence of thermodynamic properties, which could contribute to a slightly different fractionation effect during their northward transport driven by atmospheric long range transport. The source of the HCHs was identified by analyzing the alpha-HCH/gamma-HCH ratio, which was less than 4 without exception, indicating a component characteristic featuring a mixture of technical HCHs and lindane. In addition, the vertical distribution of alpha-HCH, gamma-HCH and their ratio at station B80 was discussed. Different patterns were found in the upper 300 m while in layers from 300 m downward to 3500 m the patterns were fairly comparable. The vertical profiles were used to correlate the water mass distribution, based on which four layers were tentatively classified at station B80.National Natural Science Foundation of China [40776040, 40306012, 40776003]; National High Technology Research and Development Program of China [2007AA09Z121]; Ocean Public Welfare Scientific Research Project ; State Oceanic Administration of China [200805095]; Fujian Provincial Department of Science Technology [2005Y021]; Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration, State Oceanic Administration of Chin

Seasonal Variation of Legacy Organochlorine Pesticides (OCPs) From East Asia to the Arctic Ocean

“…The levels of α‐HCH generally increased with latitude in surface seawater, while the other six OCPs decreased with latitude increasing. The climbing levels of α‐HCH are consistent with other analyses from the same region (Cai et al, 2010, 2012). Compared to findings from previous studies, concentrations of α‐ HCH along the Bering Sea to the Arctic Ocean transect were much lower than that from sampling in 1988, 1993, and 1999 but higher than that from sampling in 2010 (Table S9).…”

Hexachlorocyclohexanes in Arctic and Antarctic Marine Ecosystems

“…Respect to concentrations values reported earlier for this area, γ-HCHs values reported by Cai et al (2010) showed a level comparable to that reported in 1999, but a slightly decreasing trend was observed for α-HCH. Water samples collected in the western Arctic Ocean presented concentrations of 2.07-2.63 ng/L and 0.33-070 ng/L for α-HCH and γ-HCH, respectively.…”

“…Surface seawater samples were collected during the third Chinese Arctic expedition cruise from July to September 2008 on board the R/V "Xuelong" The track covered the Japan sea, Okhotsk sea, Bering sea and the zone to the North of the Bering Strait including the Chukchi sea, Canadian Basin and Arctic ocean. Cai et al (2010) found that among the organochlorine pesticides, HCHs, especially α-HCH and γ-HCH, were the most predominant in the Arctic surface water body as found by other authors (Iwata et al, 1993;Chernyak et al, 1995;Jantunen et al, 1995;Yao et al, 2002;Weber et al, 2006). This trend might be attributable to the higher historic usage of HCHs compared to the other investigated compounds (Li and McDonald, 2005).…”

“…These authors confirmed that concentrations of HCHs have continued to decline in the last few years. The most recent data on HCHs concentrations in Arctic ocean are presented by Cai et al (2010), who successfully applied the new analytical method developed by Qiu and Cai (2010) based on the combination of solid phase extraction and headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME), for the determination of 17 ultra trace OCPs. Surface seawater samples were collected during the third Chinese Arctic expedition cruise from July to September 2008 on board the R/V "Xuelong" The track covered the Japan sea, Okhotsk sea, Bering sea and the zone to the North of the Bering Strait including the Chukchi sea, Canadian Basin and Arctic ocean.…”

Screening of Marine-derived Fungi Isolated from the sponge Didemnun ligulum for Biodegradation of Pentachlorophenol

“…The main reason of the pollution is the indiscriminate use of PCP for several decades [38]. Studies show that PCP residues are still measured at high level in several environmental matrices, such as soil, water, sediment, organic matter suspension, atmosphere, and even in many organisms [52][53]. Thus, the use of biological degradation techniques is very important because these methodologies promote the complete mineralization of this compound or conversion to harmless products [54].…”