In situ investigation of N deposit effects on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) photolysis in snow

As snow is an ideal scavenger of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) for both particulate-and gas-phase PAHs, a large amount of PAHs are accumulated in snowpacks. These PAHs could be released from seasonal snowpacks into environment over a short time during the snow melting period, causing a flush of contaminants. Understanding the fate of PAHs in snow therefore is important to evaluate the contaminant flush during snow melting. However, as an important natural process, PAH photolysis in snow is still unclear, especially in the context of global climate change. Therefore, photolysis of the 16 PAHs, which are listed as priority controlled pollutants by United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), was investigated with N deposit in field in snow in this study. A mixture of the 16 US EPA priority PAHs and nitrate/ammonia were spiked into sealed quartzose bottles containing snow samples in field. The bottles were then exposed to solar radiation in field for 6 h. Experimental results showed that >50% of PAHs were lost during 6 h photolysis, mostly occurred in the first hour. Generally, HMW PAHs were photolyzed faster than LMW PAHs, though the photolysis rate did not strictly increase with molecular weight. Low concentrations of nitrate can enhance photolysis of Ant and Pyr, while photolysis of investigated PAHs was inhibited with nitrate concentration increasing. In contrast, both low and high concentration of ammonium can inhibit PAH photolysis. The inhibiting effect of both nitrate and ammonia on photolysis of HMW PAH is stronger than that of LMW PAHs, indicating direct photolysis of PAHs is the main pathway of PAH degradation in snow in situ. This study firstly showed the effect of N deposition on PAH photolysis in snow. Under current increasing N deposition in northeast China, this study implied that more PAHs in snow could be preserved during winter and released shortly during snowmelt, resulting in high ecological risk in spring.

Automated summary

Snow acts as an ideal scavenger of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), leading to the accumulation of a large amount of PAHs in snowpacks. However, the fate of PAHs in snow, especially in the context of global climate change, is still unclear. This study investigated the photolysis of 16 priority PAHs listed by the US EPA in snow samples in the field. The results showed that over 50% of PAHs were lost during 6 hours of photolysis, with high molecular weight PAHs being photolyzed faster than low molecular weight PAHs.