Distribution and Inventories of Polychlorinated Biphenyls in the Polar Mixed Layer of Seven Pan-Arctic Shelf Seas and the Interior Basins

Assessment of the Arctic as a global repository of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and of uptake processes in the base of its marine food chain hinges on reliable information of PCB distribution in surface seawater, yet there is a scarcity of quality-assured PCB measurements in this key compartment. Here, surface seawater PCB concentrations and congener fingerprints are evaluated for all seven pan-Arctic shelf seas and for the interior basins. Particulate and dissolved PCBs were collected via trace-clean protocols on three basin-wide expeditions (AO-01, Beringia-2005, and ISSS-08). Concentrations of the sum of 13 abundant congeners (Sigma 13PCB) were 0.13-21 pg/L, with higher concentrations in the shelf seas and lower concentrations in the Central Arctic Basin. Trichlorinated PCBs constituted about half of the total loadings in the Eastern Arctic (Beaufort, Chukchi, East Siberian, and Laptev Seas) and in the Central Basin, indicating an atmospheric source. In contrast, hexachlorinated PCBs were more abundant than tri-PCBs in the western sector, suggesting a role also for waterborne transport from regions of heavy PCB consumption in North America and Europe. Finally, the inventory of Sigma 13PCB in the polar mixed layer of the entire Arctic Ocean was 0.39 ton, which implies that only 0.0008% of historical PCB emissions are now residing in Arctic surface waters.