Temporal trends of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in arctic air: 20 years of monitoring under the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP)

Abstract

Temporal trends of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) measured in Arctic air are essential in understanding long-range transport to remote regions and to evaluate the effectiveness of national and international chemical control initiatives, such as the Stockholm Convention (SC) on POPs. Long-term air monitoring of POPs is conducted under the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) at four Arctic stations: Alert, Canada; Stórhöfði, Iceland; Zeppelin, Svalbard; and Pallas, Finland, since the 1990s using high volume air samplers. Temporal trends observed for POPs in Arctic air are summarized in this study. Most POPs listed for control under the SC, e.g. polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) and chlordanes, are declining slowly in Arctic air, reflecting the reduction of primary emissions during the last two decades and increasing importance of secondary emissions. Slow declining trends also signifies their persistence and slow degradation under the Arctic environment, such that they are still detectable after being banned for decades in many countries. Some POPs, e.g. hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and lighter PCBs, showed increasing trends at specific locations, which may be attributable to warming in the region and continued primary emissions at source. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) do not decline in air at Canada's Alert station but are declining in European Arctic air, which may be due to influence of local sources at Alert and the much higher historical usage of PBDEs in North America. Arctic air samples are screened for chemicals of emerging concern to provide information regarding their environmental persistence (P) and long-range transport potential (LRTP), which are important criteria for classification as a POP under SC. The AMAP network provides consistent and comparable air monitoring data of POPs for trend development and acts as a bridge between national monitoring programs and SC's Global Monitoring Plan (GMP).

Atmospheric organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in urban areas of Nepal: spatial variation, sources, temporal trends, and long-range transport potential

“…Considering the ongoing use of DDTs and lindane in Nepal, the continuous atmospheric transport of the monsoon system, and cold trapping caused by low temperatures, the high Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau are likely key receptors of Nepalese POP emissions. In addition, increasing HCB atmospheric concentrations in the Arctic have been reported (Hung et al, 2016), and continuous HCB emissions from low-latitude regions were attributed to this increase. On the basis of its volatility and the estimated CTD (> 10 000 km), we consider that once HCB is emitted in Nepalese cities, it might transfer among multiple transport systems to reach high-latitude regions like the Arctic.…”

Occurrence and Concentrations of Halogenated Flame Retardants in the Atmospheric Fine Particles in Chinese Cities

“…12−16 However, they were still higher than the levels recently reported in European air. 17,18 The lowest concentrations were recorded in Wuhan and Guiyang, with mean concentrations of ∑ 9 PBDE 2.0 ± 1.4 pg/m 3 (0.62−5.1 pg/m 3 , n = 16) and 2.2 ± 2.2 pg/m 3 (0.28−7.0 pg/m 3 , n = 16), respectively. The lower concentrations of PBDEs measured in this study were comparable to the previously reported levels in the PM 2.5 on a remote island in the East China Sea, which was regarded as a background site, where contaminants were supplied by longrange atmospheric transport from the East China Sea rather than local sources.…”

Distribution of Organochlorine Pesticides Residues in <i>Solanum macrocarpum</i> and <i>Lactuca sativa</i> Cultivated in South of Benin (Cotonou and Seme-Kpodji)

“…Several studies and surveys on the impact of OCPs on health and the environment have linked OCPs to various pathologies including endocrine disruption, dysregulation of reproductive function and immune system, neurobehavioral disorders [9,10,11,12,13]. The major characteristics of OCPs are their resistance to biological, photolytic and chemical degradation [14,15,16]. They also have low solubility in water but high solubility in fat, so it is the main reasons which could explain their bioaccumulation in adipose tissues [17,18].…”