Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Antarctica: Occurrence in continental and coastal surface snow

Abstract

Despite geographical isolation and almost complete absence of human settlements, Antarctica is affected by Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): the traces of these impacts are recorded in the snow. Although POPs were detected in Antarctica decades ago, there are still large knowledge gaps and a comprehensive understanding of their fundamental patterns is lacking. In this study, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs, including the non-Aroclor PCB-11), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured in surface snow samples from five selected locations of Northern Victoria Land. To our knowledge this is the first study providing ground-based measurements of PCDD/Fs, PCB-11 and PBDEs in Antarctic surface snows, including the plateau. Long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT) followed by regional redistribution were hypothesized as governing sources of POPs to the Antarctic Plateau, but also local pollution from human activities was found. Sub-pg L− 1 levels of PCDD/Fs were detected in the coastal samples, while PCBs (ΣPCBs 110-580 pg L− 1) generally showed a decrease with respect to the past decades. Similar concentrations of PBDEs (ΣBDEs 130–340 pg L− 1) were found, mainly attributable to the congeners BDE-47 and BDE-99. PAHs (ΣPAHs 0.65–140 ng L− 1) were the most abundant compounds in all sites with an unexpected high value near a refueling point. Possible source areas of contamination were investigated by means of the HYSPLIT model

Fragrances as new contaminants in the Venice lagoon

“…On the basis of literature and existing methods Keil and Neibauer, 2009;Peck, 2006;Simonich et al, 2000;Vecchiato et al, 2015), different solvents and aliquots were tested for the elution of the FMs from the SPE cartridges and the final procedure derives from the combination of the most effective ones. Cartridges were not dried under vacuum in order to prevent possible losses of the more volatile analytes.…”

Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB)-Degrading Potential of Microbes Present in a Cryoconite of Jamtalferner Glacier

“…Since the late 1960s detectable concentrations of POPs and PAHs have been discovered in many environmental matrices, e.g., air, water, and sediments in the Alps, Antarctic, and Arctic (Halsall, 2004; Bassan et al, 2005; Tremolada et al, 2008; Fuoco et al, 2009; Hansen et al, 2014; Pisso et al, 2014; Vecchiato et al, 2015). It is already known that their long range transport and bioaccumulation significantly impacts human health and the environment, thus POP and PAH exposure is supposed to cause developmental defects, chronic illnesses, cancer, and death (Kageson, 1998).…”

Prospects for reconstructing paleoenvironmental conditions from organic compounds in polar snow and ice

“…Once a clean subsample has been obtained, the issues of contamination control are similar to those encountered in any organic geochemistry laboratory that analyses samples with low concentrations (Section 2.2). In this respect, one way to minimise contamination is to carry out extraction in situ as soon as possible after sampling and storage of organic extracts either in liquid-phase (Fuoco et al, 2012;Kang et al, 2012;Giannarelli et al, 2017;Vecchiato et al, 2015) or solid-phase extraction materials (Dickhut et al, 2005;Lacorte et al, 2009). A final comment is that the issues discussed above apply to organics as a whole.…”

“…In the best cases, it may be possible to interpret time series of organics in ice with simple analytical methodologies and a straightforward interpretation. However, for more complex molecules an atmospheric modelling approach (using either a transport model, or a chemistry and transport model) may be needed in order to determine what part of the variability can be attributed to changes in source strength (Levine et al, 2011a;Levine et al, 2011b;McConnell et al, 2007;Vecchiato et al, 2015).…”

“…PAHs from human activities are pervasive in the Arctic and Antarctic including in the seawater and air (Lohmann et al, 2009), as well as snow and ice (Masclet et al, 2000;Vecchiato et al, 2015). Innovative work examining PAHs in Arctic snow and ice cores over the past few centuries demonstrate an exponential increase in PAHs beginning in the 1930s associated with the major increase in fossil fuel burning (Jaffrezo et al, 1993;Jaffrezo et al, 1994;Kawamura et al, 1994;Masclet et al, 1995;Masclet et al, 2000).…”