Persistent organic pollutants in the atmosphere of the Antarctic Plateau

Persistent organic pollutants (POPS) bioaccumulate in biota, have long residence times in the environment, and potential for long range atmospheric transport. Here, we show the first measurements of legacy POPs in the atmosphere of the Antarctic Plateau from 73 degrees South to the South Pole. Samples were taken using passive samplers. The amount of polychlorinated biphenyls (as Sigma(26)PCBs) per sample ranged from 0.8 ng to 26 ng. The mass per sample of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane (gamma-HCH) in the gas-phase ranged from 0.67 ng to 2.7 ng and from non-detected to 2.6 ng, respectively. The lowest amounts of POPs were observed at the South Pole. This work shows that POPs have also reached the remotest region of Earth from primary sources. The assessment of the air mass back trajectories and current knowledge of atmospheric circulation over the Antarctic continent suggests that POPs reach the Antarctic Plateau by subduction of air masses from the free troposphere. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.