Glacial Melt Inputs of Organophosphate Ester Flame Retardants to the Largest High Arctic Lake

Scavenging of gas- and aerosol-phase organic pollutants by rain is an efficient wet deposition mechanism of organic pollutants. However, whereas snow has been identified as a key amplification mechanism of fugacities in cold environments, rain has received less attention in terms of amplification of organic pollutants. In this work, we provide new measurements of concentrations of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), organophosphate esters (OPEs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in rain from Antarctica, showing high scavenging ratios. Furthermore, a meta-analysis of previously published concentrations in air and rain was performed, with 46 works covering different climatic regions and a wide range of chemical classes, including PFAS, OPEs, PAHs, polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine compounds, polybromodiphenyl ethers, and dioxins. The rain–aerosol (K RP) and rain–gas (K RG) partition constants averaged 105.5 and 104.1, respectively, but showed large variability. The high field-derived values of K RG are consistent with adsorption onto the raindrops as a scavenging mechanism, in addition to gas–water absorption. The amplification of fugacities by rain deposition was up to 3 orders of magnitude for all chemical classes and was comparable to that due to snow. The amplification of concentrations and fugacities by rain underscores its relevance, explaining the occurrence of organic pollutants in environments across different climatic regions.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rain Amplification of Persistent Organic Pollutants

Casas

Martinez-Varela

Vila‐Costa

et al. 2021

“…The mean ∑OPEs in surface water from the North Atlantic and the Arctic were 2935 pg/L, 35 comparable to the mean ∑OPEs detected in the surface waters of Canadian Arctic lakes and coastal sites (1714−6435 pg/L) 37 but lower than those detected in surface water from the Arctic Ocean (10,670 pg/ L), 67 Canadian Arctic Ocean (11,000 pg/L), 39 Antarctic Peninsula (11,425−19,392 pg/L), 60 Northwestern Pacific to the Arctic (24,101 pg/L), 46 and Canadian Arctic Lake Hazen and its tributaries (15,509−25,096 pg/L). 40 A relatively higher level of ∑OPEs was reported in Ny-Ålesund (Svalbard, the Arctic), where its ∑OPEs ranged from 8700 to 358,000 pg/L, with a mean of 89,018 pg/L. 33 As one of the northernmost permanent human settlements in the world, the town of Ny-Ålesund is located on the shore of the bay of Kongsfjorden with relatively comprehensive living and supporting facilities, airports, harbors, and 18 permanent scientific research stations organized and built by 11 nations.…”

Section: Occurrence and Environmental Behavior Of Opesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Range Transport, Trophic Transfer, and Ecological Risks of Organophosphate Esters in Remote Areas

Chen

et al. 2021

Organophosphate esters (OPEs) have been a focus in the field of environmental science due to their large volume production, wide range of applications, ubiquitous occurrence, potential bioaccumulation, and worrisome ecological and health risks. Varied physicochemical properties among OPE analogues represent an outstanding scientific challenge in studying the environmental fate of OPEs in recent years. There is an increasing number of studies focusing on the long-range transport, trophic transfer, and ecological risks of OPEs. Therefore, it is necessary to conclude the OPE pollution status on a global scale, especially in the remote areas with vulnerable and fragile ecosystems. The present review links together the source, fate, and environmental behavior of OPEs in remote areas, integrates the occurrence and profile data, summarizes their bioaccumulation, trophic transfer, and ecological risks, and finally points out the predominant pollution burden of OPEs among organic pollutants in remote areas. Given the relatively high contamination level and bioaccumulation/biomagnification behavior of OPEs, in combination with the sensitivity of endemic species in remote areas, more attention should be paid to the potential ecological risks of OPEs.

“…In 2015, the annual global consumption volume of OPEs was reported to be 680 000 metric tons, and this number was predicted to keep increasing in the forthcoming years . Given that most OPEs are routinely added rather than chemically bonded to the products, they can be easily released into the environment through volatilization, abrasion, or leaching. ,, A large quantity of OPEs, especially some chlorinated OPEs, are relatively persistent in the environment and difficult to completely degrade. − Thus, there have been a growing number of reports on the occurrence of OPEs over the past decades, covering numerous OPEs detected in different environmental matrices − or organisms. − More importantly, toxicological and epidemiological studies have shown that exposure to some OPEs causes various adverse health effects, such as lipidome homeostasis disorders, endocrine disruption, serum hypertriglyceridemia, and reproductive failure. − Considering the toxicity and widespread exposure of OPEs, there is an urgent need to comprehensively identify OPEs in various environmental matrices.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Establishment of a Target, Suspect, and Functional Group-Dependent Screening Strategy for Organophosphate Esters (OPEs): “Into the Unknown” of OPEs in the Sediment of Taihu Lake, China

Meng

Huang

et al. 2021

Current environmental monitoring studies are generally confined to several target organophosphate esters (OPEs), and there is a lack of strategies for comprehensively screening all potential OPEs in environmental samples.Here, an effective and accurate strategy was developed for the target, suspect, and functional group-dependent screening of OPEs by the use of ultrahighperformance liquid chromatography−Q Exactive hybrid quadrupole−Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS), and this strategy was applied for the analysis of n = 74 sediment samples (including 23 surface sediment samples and 51 sediment core samples) collected from Taihu Lake (eastern China) in 2019. In these analyzed samples, we successfully identified n = 35 OPEs, and 23 of them were reported in this region for the first time. In addition, this strategy also presented other interesting findings, i.e., (1) OPE concentrations decreased with increasing distance from the coast of the lake; (2) the newly identified 3-hydroxyphenyl diphenyl phosphate (meta-OH-TPHP) was not statistically significantly correlated with triphenyl phosphate (TPHP; r = 0.02494, p = 0.9101) but with resorcinol bis(diphenyl phosphate) (RDP) (r = 0.9271, p < 0.0001) and three other OPEs; and (3) the summed concentrations of aryl OPEs (∑ aryl OPEs) in sediment core samples exhibited significantly increasing trends as the depth decreased. Collectively, this study provided an effective strategy that was successfully applied for comprehensive screening of OPEs in the sediments of Taihu Lake, and this strategy could have promising potential to be extended to other environmental matrices or samples.