1. The seasonal change of PAHs in Svalbard surface snow.
- Author
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Vecchiato, Marco, Barbante, Carlo, Barbaro, Elena, Burgay, François, Cairns, Warren RL., Callegaro, Alice, Cappelletti, David, Dallo, Federico, D'Amico, Marianna, Feltracco, Matteo, Gallet, Jean-Charles, Gambaro, Andrea, Larose, Catherine, Maffezzoli, Niccolò, Mazzola, Mauro, Sartorato, Ivan, Scoto, Federico, Turetta, Clara, Vardè, Massimiliano, and Xie, Zhiyong
- Subjects
SEASONS ,SPRING ,AUTUMN ,POLYCYCLIC aromatic hydrocarbons ,WIND erosion ,SNOW cover - Abstract
The Arctic region is threatened by contamination deriving from both long-range pollution and local human activities. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are environmental tracers of emission, transport and deposition processes. A first campaign has been conducted at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, from October 2018 to May 2019, monitoring weekly concentrations of PAHs in Arctic surface snow. The trend of the 16 high priority PAH compounds showed that long-range inputs occurred mainly in the winter, with concentrations ranging from 0.8 ng L
−1 to 37 ng L−1 . In contrast to this, the most abundant analyte retene, showed an opposite seasonal trend with highest values in autumn and late spring (up to 97 ng L−1 ), while in winter this compound remained below 3 ng L−1 . This is most likely due to local contributions from outcropping coal deposits and stockpiles. Our results show a general agreement with the atmospheric signal, although significant skews can be attributed to post-depositional processes, wind erosion, melting episodes and redistribution. [Display omitted] • PAH concentrations in Arctic surface snow change at seasonal scale. • Long-range deposition of PAHs occurs mainly during winter. • The strong seasonality detected for retene reflects local coal inputs. • The signal obtainable from snow deposition is detached from atmospheric trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2024
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