The Distribution, Transport, and Fate of Organochlorine Pollutants in the Arctic

Anthropogenic pollutants, emitted primarily in low and mid latitude regions, have made their way north and settled in some of the most pristine areas in the world. Through the process of global distillation these compounds evaporate and are transported from temperate climates to cooler, higher latitudes where they accumulate. There is little research available on the fate of the deposited pollutants, what chemical and physical interactions they have with snow and ice, and where they go upon snowmelt. Fieldwork has been carried out in Barrow, Alaska in order to investigate these issues. Snow, ice, water, and air samples were collected and analyzed for levels of a variety of different pesticides and PCBs. The sampling continued to the end of the melt period at which point samples from the runoff water of the melting snowpack were collected. Due to extended periods of sunlight during the spring and summer months in the Arctic photochemical transformations of pollutants can occur in the chemically reactive ice. Alongside the collection of field samples photochemical degradation experiments were performed to investigate the photochemical fate of organochlorine pollutants. This chemistry may impact the distribution and ultimate fate of organic pollutants. Combining data from the photochemistry experiments with measurements of pollutant distribution will form a more complete picture of how these transplanted pollutants move, transform, and impact the Arctic environment.