PCBs in the atmosphere of King George Island, Antarctica

Organochlorine Pollutants in Western Antarctic Peninsula Sediments and Benthic Deposit Feeders

“…North Atlantic Deep Water from 47°N to 30°S is about 150 years (25 ~ 300 years) and another 95 years (25 ~ 422 years) from 30°S to the Southern Ocean (13,14) Since the first detection of PCBs and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in the Antarctic five decades ago (15,16) , there have been dozens of investigations on the occurrence, distribution of POPs in Antarctic air (17)(18)(19)(20) , water (8,21) , soil (2,4) , sediments (22,23) , and biota (24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33) . Most of the studies were conducted at the tip of the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) and Ross Sea area (2,6) .…”

Remote Zones Air Quality. Persistent Organic Pollutants: Sources, Sampling and Analysis

“…The Polar Regions thus act as "cold traps" leading to an accumulation of chemicals in environmental matrices. That the dominant pathway for the transport of POPs to the Antarctic is the atmosphere, is indicated by comparable levels of POP contamination in seawater from north and south of the Antarctic Convergence, which separates sharply defined and distinct water masses (Montone et al, 2003). The presence of POPs in remote zones as Antarctic and Arctic regions should not be underestimated.…”

“…After concentration and clean-up, the extracts are analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) (Gambaro et al, 2005;Kallenborn et al, 1998) or by gas chromatography-electron capture detection (GC-ECD) (Montone et al, 2003). In order to minimize the interfering substances contamination and to provide acceptable blanks, prior the sampling the PUF plugs have to be cleaned by a long Soxhlet extraction, then the cleaned PUF plugs are dried in a dessicator, packed in glass flasks and sealed in plastic bags until sampling (Montone et al, 2003). PUF plugs are convenient to handle and economical, but can exhibit breakthrough of semivolatile and volatile compounds (Camel & Caude, 1995).…”

“…Montone et al (2003) reported atmospheric levels of PCBs near the Brazilian Antarctic Research Station, at King George Island, during a sampling survey undertaken in the austral summer of 1995-1996. Single PCB congeners ranged from below detection limit to 33.2 pg m -3 .…”

“…The lower chlorinated congeners (PCB-101 and below) predominated in the air samples and represented 66.7% of the total PCB concentrations. Atmospheric levels of PCBs were correlated with meteorological conditions (as well as to the general synoptic atmospheric circulation of the region) and the higher levels were associated with the passage of the frontal system coming from South America over the Drake Passage causing a local increase in air temperature and surface winds from northwest, north and northeast (Montone et al, 2003). Gambaro et al (2005) monitored the air near Italian Antarctic Research Station.…”