Persistent organic pollutants in the Atlantic and southern oceans and oceanic atmosphere

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) continue to cycle through the atmosphere and hydrosphere despite banned or severely restricted usages. Global scale analyses of POPs are challenging, but knowledge of the current distribution of these compounds is needed to understand the movement and long-term consequences of their global use. In the current study, air and seawater samples were collected Oct. 2007 Jan. 2008 aboard the Icebreaker Oden en route from Goteborg, Sweden to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Both air and surface seawater samples consistently contained alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane (alpha-HCH), gamma-HCH, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), alpha-Endosulfan, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Sample concentrations for most POPs in air Were higher in the northern hemisphere with the exception of HCB, which had high gas phase concentrations in the northern and sotithern latitudes and low concentrations near the equator. South Atlantic and Southern Ocean seawater had a high ratio of a-HCH to gamma-HCH, indicating persisting levels from technical grade sources. The Atlantic and Southern Ocean continue to be net sinks for atmospheric alpha-, gamma-HCH, and Endosulfan despite declining usage.(C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.