Influence of climate and biological variables on temporal trends of persistent organic pollutants in Arctic char and ringed seals from Greenland

Abstract. The fate and cycling of two selected legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs), PCB 153 and γ-HCH, in the North Sea in the 21st century have been modelled with combined hydrodynamic and fate and transport ocean models. To investigate the impact of climate variability on POPs in the North Sea in the 21st century, future scenario model runs for three 10 yr periods to the year 2100 using plausible levels of both in situ concentrations and atmospheric, river and open boundary inputs are performed. Since estimates of future concentration levels of POPs in the atmosphere, oceans and rivers are not available, our approach was to reutilise 2005 values in the atmosphere, rivers and at the open ocean boundaries for every year of the simulations. In this way, we attribute differences between the three 10 yr simulations to climate change only. For the HAMSOM and atmospheric forcing, results of the IPCC A1B (SRES) 21st century scenario are utilised, where surface forcing is provided by the REMO downscaling of the ECHAM5 global atmospheric model, and open boundary conditions are provided by the MPIOM global ocean model. Dry gas deposition and volatilisation of γ-HCH increase in the future relative to the present. In the water column, total mass of γ-HCH and PCB 153 remain fairly steady in all three runs. In sediment, γ-HCH increases in the future runs, relative to the present, while PCB 153 in sediment decreases exponentially in all three runs, but even faster in the future, both of which are the result of climate change. Annual net sinks exceed sources at the ends of all periods.

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Trends of persistent organic pollutants in ringed seals (Phoca hispida) from the Canadian Arctic

The Science of The Total Environment ◽

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.138 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 665 ◽

pp. 1135-1146 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

M. Houde ◽

X. Wang ◽

T.-L.L. Colson ◽

P. Gagnon ◽

S.H. Ferguson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Organic Pollutants ◽

Persistent Organic Pollutants ◽

Canadian Arctic ◽

Phoca Hispida ◽

Ringed Seals

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Temporal trends of lipophilic persistent organic pollutants in serum from Danish nulliparous pregnant women 2011–2013

Environmental Science and Pollution Research ◽

10.1007/s11356-017-8992-7 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 24 (20) ◽

pp. 16592-16603 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Christian Bjerregaard-Olesen ◽

Manhai Long ◽

Mandana Ghisari ◽

Bodil H Bech ◽

Ellen A Nohr ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pregnant Women ◽

Organic Pollutants ◽

Persistent Organic Pollutants ◽

Temporal Trends

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Spatial Distribution of the Persistent Organic Pollutants across the Tibetan Plateau and Its Linkage with the Climate Systems: Five Year Air Monitoring Study

10.5194/acp-2016-89 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Xiaoping Wang ◽

Jiao Ren ◽

Ping Gong ◽

Chuanfei Wang ◽

Yonggang Xue ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Organic Pollutants ◽

Persistent Organic Pollutants ◽

Time Trends ◽

Indian Monsoon ◽

Temporal Trends ◽

Sampling Period ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Transport Pathways ◽

Air Masses

Abstract. The Tibetan Plateau (TP) has been contaminated by persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including legacy organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) through atmospheric transport. The exact source regions, transport pathways and time trends of POPs to the TP are not well understood. Here XAD-based passive air samplers (PAS) were deployed at 16 Tibetan background sites from 2007 to 2012 to gain further insight into spatial patterns and temporal trends of OCPs and PCBs. The southeastern TP was characterized by dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) -related chemicals delivered by Indian Monsoon air masses. The northern and northwestern TP displayed the greatest absolute concentration and relative abundance of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) in the atmosphere, caused by the westerly-driven European air masses. The interactions between the DDT polluted Indian monsoon air and the clean westerly winds formed a transition zone in central Tibet where both DDT and HCB were the dominant chemicals. Based on 5-year of continuous sampling, our data indicated declining concentrations of HCB and hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) across the Tibetan region. Inter-annual trends of DDT class chemicals, however, showed less variation during this 5-year sampling period, which may be due to the on-going usage of DDT in India. This paper demonstrates the possibility of using POPs fingerprints to investigate the climate interactions and the validity of using PAS to derive inter-annual atmospheric POPs time trends.

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The influence of global climate change on the environmental fate of persistent organic pollutants: A review with emphasis on the Northern Hemisphere and the Arctic as a receptor

Global and Planetary Change ◽

10.1016/j.gloplacha.2016.09.011 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 146 ◽

pp. 89-108 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Author(s):

Jianmin Ma ◽

Hayley Hung ◽

Robie W. Macdonald

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Northern Hemisphere ◽

Organic Pollutants ◽

Persistent Organic Pollutants ◽

Global Climate Change ◽

Environmental Fate ◽

Global Climate ◽

The Arctic

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Persistent organic pollutants and mercury in marine biota of the Canadian Arctic: An overview of spatial and temporal trends

The Science of The Total Environment ◽

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.10.034 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 351-352 ◽

pp. 4-56 ◽

Cited By ~ 262

Author(s):

B.M. Braune ◽

P.M. Outridge ◽

A.T. Fisk ◽

D.C.G. Muir ◽

P.A. Helm ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Organic Pollutants ◽

Persistent Organic Pollutants ◽

Temporal Trends ◽

Canadian Arctic ◽

Marine Biota ◽

Spatial And Temporal Trends

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Modelling the impact of climate change on the atmospheric transport and the fate of persistent organic pollutants in the Arctic

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-15-6549-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (11) ◽

pp. 6549-6559 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

K. M. Hansen ◽

J. H. Christensen ◽

C. Geels ◽

J. D. Silver ◽

J. Brandt

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Organic Pollutants ◽

Persistent Organic Pollutants ◽

Atmospheric Transport ◽

Climate Scenario ◽

The Arctic ◽

Model Studies ◽

Environmental Concentrations ◽

Mean Temperature ◽

The Impact

Abstract. The Danish Eulerian Hemispheric Model (DEHM) was applied to investigate how projected climate changes will affect the atmospheric transport of 13 persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to the Arctic and their environmental fate within the Arctic. Three sets of simulations were performed, one with present day emissions and initial environmental concentrations from a 20-year spin-up simulation, one with present day emissions and with initial environmental concentrations set to zero and one without emissions but with initial environmental concentrations from the 20-year spin-up simulation. Each set of simulations consisted of two 10-year time slices representing the present (1990–2000) and future (2090–2100) climate conditions. DEHM was driven using meteorological input from the global circulation model, ECHAM/MPI-OM, simulating the SRES (Special Report on Emissions Scenarios) A1B climate scenario. Under the applied climate and emission scenarios, the total mass of all compounds was predicted to be up to 55 % lower across the Northern Hemisphere at the end of the 2090s than in the 1990s. The mass of HCHs within the Arctic was predicted to be up to 38 % higher, whereas the change in mass of the PCBs was predicted to range from 38 % lower to 17 % higher depending on the congener and the applied initial environmental concentrations. The results of this study also indicate that contaminants with no or a short emission history will be more rapidly transported to and build up in the arctic environment in a future warmer climate. The process that dominates the environmental behaviour of POPs in the Arctic under a future warmer climate scenario is the shift in mass of POPs from the surface media to the atmosphere induced by the higher mean temperature. This is to some degree counteracted by higher degradation rates also following the higher mean temperature. The more dominant of these two processes depends on the physical-chemical properties of the compounds. Previous model studies have predicted that the effect of a changed climate on the transport of POPs to the Arctic is moderate relative to the effect of proposed changes in emissions, which is confirmed in this study. However, the model studies do not agree on whether climate change acts to reduce or increase environmental concentrations of POPs in the Arctic, and further work is needed to resolve this matter.

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