Search

Long-term monitoring is essential for revealing pollution trends, but relevant studies in the Antarctic remain limited. In this study, a seven-year continuous monitoring of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the atmosphere and soil was carried out at the Fildes Peninsula, Antarctica. Average concentrations of Σ 15 PAHs were 7134.491 pg/m 3 and 61.093 ng/g in air and soil, respectively. A declining trend was observed for Σ 15 PAHs in air during the 2013-2019 summer, but this was not found in soil. Potential sources of PAHs in the Fildes Peninsula were identified by PMF modeling, correlation analysis, air mass back-trajectories and component analysis. The results showed that PAHs in the gas phase were more easily influenced by long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT) than in the particle phase. Moreover, temperature played a key role in the PAHs concentration in particle phase. Occurrence of Σ 15 PAHs in soil was mainly attributed to local sources including fossil fuel combustion and spilling., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Fifteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were detected in seawater and atmosphere of Bransfield Strait. The concentration of ∑ 15 [PAH] in the atmosphere ranged from 3.75 to 8.53 ng m -3 , and three-ring PAHs were the most abundant compounds. Dissolved ∑ 15 [PAH] in seawater ranged from 5.42 to 34.37 ng L -1 , and the level of PAHs was markedly different on each side of the strait. The air-sea gas exchange process and molecular diagnostic ratios were calculated, results showed that the environmental behavior of PAHs was net deposition along this cruise. Given the changes in global transport routes of pollutants under global warming, the role of long-range transport (LRT) may be enhanced. Taking the Antarctic as a sink of PAHs due to the LRT and net deposition, PAHs will continue to load into the seawater of this area via atmospheric deposition, which contributes to improving our understanding of the environmental behavior of PAHs., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Dechloranes (Decs) have been widely found in the environment, even in the Tibetan Plateau and remote polar regions. However, the understanding of their regional distribution characteristics in polar regions is limited. To study the long-range atmospheric transport and fates of these emerging contaminants, Decs were analyzed in soil and lichen from the Fildes Peninsula in Antarctica. The concentrations of five Decs in soil and lichen ranged from 141.46 to 838.47 pg/g dw and 237.04 to 3599.18 pg/g dw, respectively. The mean fractions of anti -Dechlorane Plus (DP) ( f anti ) values estimated in the current soils (0.37) and lichen (0.24) were lower than those of commercial products ( f anti = 0.64⁻0.80), which confirms that long-range atmospheric transport is a main source of DP, and the DP burdens could be driven by the accumulation of syn -DP. The average ΣDP concentration in soil in the coastal area was higher than that in the inland area and Ardley Island, while in lichen, the average DP concentration at the Ardley Island site was approximately three-fold higher than that in the coastal area and inland areas. This indicates that the distribution of DP was influenced by anthropogenic interference and animal activities in the Fildes Peninsula. The spatial variation of f anti of the three regions was clearer in soil than that in lichen. The f anti values were negatively correlated with DP concentrations in soil, suggesting that DP concentration levels play an important role in determining the isomeric composition of DP in the soil.