Marine boundary layer air and seawater samples taken during a polar expedition cruise from East China Sea to the Arctic were analyzed in order to compare the occurrence, distribution, and fate of the banned polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) with their brominated alternatives as well as the chlorinated Dechloranes. The sum of PBDEs (∑10PBDEs) in the atmosphere ranged from 0.07 to 8.1 pg m–3 with BDE–209 being the dominating congener and from not detected (n.d.) to 0.6 pg L–1 in seawater. Alternate brominated flame retardants (BFRs), especially hexabromobenzene (HBB), (2,3–dibromopropyl–2,4,6–tribromophenyl ether (DPTE), pentabromotoluene (PBT), 2–ethylhexyl 2,3,4,5–tetrabromobenzoate (EHTBB), bis–(2–ethylhexyl)–tetrabromophthalate (TBPH), were detected in higher concentrations than PBDEs, even in the high Arctic (0.6 to 15.4 pg m–3 for sum of alternate BFRs), indicating the change of PBDEs toward alternate BFRs in the environmental predominance. In addition, Dechlorane Plus (DP) as well as Dechlorane 602, 603, and 604 were detected both in the atmosphere and in seawater. The highest concentrations as well as the highest compound variability were observed in East Asian samples suggesting the Asian continent as source of these compounds in the marine environment. The air–seawater exchange indicates strong deposition, especially of alternate BFRs, as well as dry particle–bound deposition of BDE–209 into the ocean.

The formation mechanism of uniform CeO2 structure at the nanometer scale via a wet-chemical reaction is of great interest in fundamental study as well as a variety of applications. In this work, large-scale well-crystallized CeO2 nanorods with uniform diameters in the range of 20-30 nm and lengths up to tens of micrometers are first synthesized through a hydrothermal synthetic route in 5 M KOH solution at 180 degrees C for 45 h without any templates and surfactants. The nanorod formation involves dehydration of CeO2 nanoparticles and orientation growth along the 110 direction in KOH solution. Subsequently, gold nanoparticles with crystallite sizes between 10 and 20 nm are loaded on the surface of CeO2 nanorods using HAuCl4 solution as the gold source and NaBH4 solution as a reducing agent. The synthesized Au/CeO2 nanorods demonstrate a higher catalytic activity in CO oxidation than the pure CeO2 nanorods.

A new data set of seasonal stable water isotopes (δD and δ18O) and temperature‐salinity profiles was applied to improve our understanding of water mass distributions and their impact on the environment of the Beibu Gulf (BG). Our study revealed that the coastal current (CC), West‐Guangdong coastal current (WGCC), and South China Sea water (SCSW) were the three dominant water masses in the BG, and their influence was exhibited in seasonal variations. The CC was the dominant contributor to the BG water during summer (43%) and fall (45%), while it changed to the intrusion of SCSW with higher salinity in winter (57%). The contribution of WGCC to the BG was relatively stable during the three seasons (24%–31%). In addition, the nutrients in the BG were greatly affected by different water mixing occurring in the gulf. The nutrients mainly originated from the CC in summer (52%–68%) and fall (32%–69%), while the dominant source shifted to the WGCC in winter (36%–69%). Moreover, the contribution of SCSW to the nutrients loading (15%–49%) in the BG was relatively high due to its high contribution (57%) to the BG water during winter. These indicated that the BG has a stable input of external nutrients from different water masses to sustain primary production in the BG. Our study uses dual water isotopes to quantify the seasonal intrusion of water masses and their impact on nutrients, providing a new method to study the impact of the distribution of water masses on nutrients in the gulf.