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Glacial Melt Inputs of Organophosphate Ester Flame Retardants to the Largest High Arctic Lake

Authors :
Derek C. G. Muir
Igor Lehnherr
John J. MacInnis
Amila O. De Silva
Yuxin Sun
Kyra A. St. Pierre
Christine Spencer
Source :
Environmental Science & Technology. 54:2734-2743
Publication Year :
2020
Publisher :
American Chemical Society (ACS), 2020.

Abstract

Organophosphate esters (OPEs) have been detected in the Arctic environment, but the influence of glacial melt on the environmental behavior of OPEs in recipient Arctic aquatic ecosystems is still unknown. In this study, water samples were collected from Lake Hazen (LH) and its tributaries to investigate the distribution of 14 OPEs in LH and to explore the input of OPEs from glacial rivers to LH and the output of OPEs from LH in 2015 and 2018. Σ14OPE concentrations in water of LH were lower than glacial rivers and its outflow, the Ruggles River. In 2015, a high melt year, we estimated that glacial rivers contributed 7.0 ± 3.2 kg OPEs to LH, compared to a 16.5 ± 0.3 kg OPEs output by the Ruggles River, suggesting that residence time and/or additional inputs via direct wet and dry deposition and permafrost melt likely result in OPE retention in the LH watershed. In 2018, a lower melt year, Σ14OPE concentrations in glacial rivers were much lower, indicating that the rate of glacier melt may govern, in part, the concentrations of OPEs in the tributaries of LH. This study highlights long-range transport of OPEs, their deposition in Arctic glaciers, landscapes, and lakes.

Details

ISSN :
15205851 and 0013936X
Volume :
54
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Environmental Science & Technology
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....e9acdc9fb4f4b371077ce00cb4275ac9
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b06333