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Tundra ecosystems store vast amounts of soil organic carbon, which may be sensitive to climatic change. Net ecosystem production, NEP, is the net exchange of carbon dioxide (CO(2)) between landscapes and the atmosphere, and represents the balance between CO(2) uptake by photosynthesis and release by decomposition and autotrophic respiration. Here we examine CO(2) exchange across seven sites in the Canadian low and high Arctic during the peak growing season (July) in summer 2008. All sites were net sinks for atmospheric CO(2) (NEP ranged from 5 to 67 g C m(-2)), with low Arctic sites being substantially larger CO(2) sinks. The spatial difference in NEP between low and high Arctic sites was determined more by CO(2) uptake via gross ecosystem production than by CO(2) release via ecosystem respiration. Maximum gross ecosystem production at the low Arctic sites (average 8.6 μmol m(-2) s(-1)) was about 4 times larger than for high Arctic sites (average 2.4 μmol m(-2) s(-1)). NEP decreased with increasing temperature at all low Arctic sites, driven largely by the ecosystem respiration response. No consistent temperature response was found for the high Arctic sites. The results of this study clearly indicate there are large differences in tundra CO(2) exchange between high and low Arctic environments and this difference should be a central consideration in studies of Arctic carbon balance and climate change.

Distribution of total mercury (THg), gaseous elemental Hg(0) (GEM), monomethyl Hg (MMHg), and dimethyl Hg (DMHg) was examined in marine waters of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA), Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay. Concentrations of THg were low throughout the water column in all regions sampled (mean +/- standard deviation; 0.40 +/- 0.47 ng L(-1)). Concentrations of MMHg were also generally low atthe surface (23.8 +/- 9.9 pg L(-1)); however at mid- and bottom depths, MMHg was present at concentrations sufficient to initiate bioaccumulation of MMHg through Arctic marine foodwebs (maximum 178 pg L(-1); 70.3 +/- 37.3 pg L(-1)). In addition, at mid- and bottom depths, the % of THg that was MMHg was high (maximum 66%; 28 +/- 16%), suggesting that active methylation of inorganic Hg(II) occurs in deep Arctic marine waters. Interestingly, there was a constant, near 1:1, ratio between concentrations of MMHg and DMHg at all sites and depths, suggesting that methylated Hg species are in equilibrium with each other and/or are produced by similar processes throughout the water column. Our results also demonstrate that oceanographic processes, such as water regeneration and vertical mixing, affect Hg distribution in marine waters. Vertical mixing, for example, likely transported MMHg and DMHg upward from production zones at some sites, resulting in elevated concentrations of these species in surface waters (up to 68.0 pg L(-1)) where primary production and thus uptake of MMHg by biota is potentially highest. Finally, calculated instantaneous ocean-atmosphere fluxes of gaseous Hg species demonstrated that Arctic marine waters are a substantial source of DMHg and GEM to the atmosphere (27.3 +/- 47.8 and 130 +/- 138 ng m(-2) day(-1), respectively) during the ice-free season.

The Canadian Atmospheric Network for Currently Used Pesticides (CANCUP) was the first comprehensive, nationwide air surveillance study of pesticides in Canada. This paper presentsthe atmospheric occurrence and distribution of pesticides including organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), organophosphate pesticides (OPPs), acid herbicides (AHs), and neutral herbicides (NHs) during the spring to summer of 2004 and 2005 across agricultural regions in Canada. Atmospheric concentrations of pesticides varied within years and time periods, and regional characteristics were observed including the following: (i) highest air concentrations of several herbicides (e.g., mecoprop, triallate, and ethalfluralin) were found at Bratt's Lake, SK, a site in the Canadian Prairies; (ii) the west-coast site at Abbotsford, BC, had the maximum concentrations of diazinon; (iii) the fruit and vegetable growing region in Vineland, ON, showed highest levels for several insecticides including chlorpyrifos, endosulfan, and azinphos-methyl; (iv) high concentrations of atrazine and metolachlor were measured at St. Anicet, QC, a corn-growing region; (v) the Kensington site in PEI, Canada's largest potato-producing province, exhibited highest level of dimethoate. Analysis of particle- and gas-phase fractions of air samples revealed that most pesticides including OCPs, OPPs, and NHs exist mainly in the gas phase, while AHs exhibit more diversity in particle-gas partitioning behavior. This study also demonstrated that stirred up soil dust does not account for pesticides that are detected in the particle phase. The estimated dry and wet deposition fluxes indicate considerable atmospheric inputs for some current-use pesticides (CUPs). This data set represents the first measurements for many pesticides in the atmosphere, precipitation, and soil for given agricultural regions across Canada.

Recent theoretical studies indicate that reactive organic iodocarbons such as CH2I2 would be extremely effective agents for tropospheric Arctic ozone depletion and that iodine compounds added to a Br2/BrCl mixture have a significantly greater ozone (and mercury) depletion effect than additional Br2 and BrCl molecules. Here we report the first observations of CH2I2, CH2IBr, and CH2ICl in Arctic air, as well as other reactive halocarbons including CHBr3, during spring at Kuujjuarapik, Hudson Bay. The organoiodine compounds were present atthe highest levels yet reported in air. The occurrence of the halocarbons was associated with northwesterly winds from the frozen bay, and, in the case of CHBr3, was anticorrelated with ozone and total gaseous mercury (TGM), suggesting a link between inorganic and organic halogens. The absence of local leads coupled with the extremely short atmospheric lifetime of CH2I2 indicates that production occurred in the surface of the sea-ice/overlying snowpack over the bay. We propose an abiotic mechanism for the production of polyhalogenated iodo- and bromocarbons, via reaction of HOI and/or HOBr with organic material on the quasi-liquid layer above sea-ice/snowpack, and report laboratory data to support this mechanism. CH2I2, CH2IBr, and other organic iodine compounds may therefore be a ubiquitous component of air above sea ice where they will increase the efficiency of bromine-initiated ozone and mercury depletion.

High-volume air samples were collected from 1993 to 1996 in rural areas of Quebec to investigate on the levels and the vapor-particle partitioning of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Ranges for the mean concentrations of total PAHs (ng m -3 ) were as follows: Villeroy, 3.31-18.92; St. Anicet, 7.57-22.84; and Mingan, 0.50-0.53. Lower molecular weight PAHs predominated at all locations. Particle-gas partition coefficients (Kp) were in good correlation with their vapor pressures (r 2 = 0.79-0.97) with slopes deviating from the expected value of -1. The curve of the fractions of PAHs on particles in St. Anicet in 1995 fell on that of Lake Superior. In St. Anicet, fractions of phenanthrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, and chrysene on particles were close to those calculated from the soot-air partition coefficient (K SA ). At all sites the mean ratios of particulate PAH of the same molecular weight but of very different reactivities were similar during the same sampling days, suggesting that particle-bearing PAHs in Villeroy and Mingan were of the same nature as those found in St. Anicet where adsorption onto soot particles was the major mechanism. Furthermore, the enthalpies of desorption for the predominant PAHs were close at all sites.