Assessment of the spatial and temporal distribution of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the Nordic atmosphere

Comparability of long-term temporal trends of POPs from co-located active and passive air monitoring networks in Europe

“…However, signicant discrepancies are visible in the active PCB trends at Stórhöf+i: PCB 28 signicantly decreases, PCB 52 signicantly increases, while the remaining (heavier) PCBs remain around the same constant concentration (between 0.1 and 0.2 pg m À3 ). Although this increase observed in PCB 52 is already apparent in previous studies of Stórhöf+i, 7,[45][46][47] our analysis shows that the trend appears to begin decreasing aer 2010 (though no statistically signicant break point was identied). This is further supported by the passive trends, which reveal highly consistent decreases of 12-20% per year for the lighter PCBs and 9-11% per year for the heavier PCBs at Stórhöf+i, similar to the trends at the other sites (Fig.…”

“…Although PCBs are still in limited use, their atmospheric levels have decreased over the globe. 7,[33][34][35][36][44][45][46][47] Active EMEP temporal trends for all six indicator PCBs show statistically signicant (p < 0.05) decreases at Birkenes, Košetice, Pallas, Råö and Zeppelin ranging from 2-20% per year. This is supported by similar and consistent decreases in the passive MONET trends for all PCBs and all sites ranging from 1-30% per year.…”

“…These annual decreases are generally consistent with previously published trends of HCHs at the same sites (6-16% per year for a-HCH and 7-23% per year for g-HCH; Table S8 †). 7,19,[45][46][47] Annual changes in p,p 0 -DDE vary from À4% per year to +1% per year for the active time series, compared to a range of À16% per year to +5% per year for the passive time series. At sites where atmospheric concentrations of p,p 0 -DDE are extremely low (approximately one order of magnitude lower than HCHs at Pallas and Stórhöf+i) the poorer agreement between active and passive trends may be a result of higher uncertainty in the measurements of the concentrations.…”

Industrial and natural compounds in filter-feeding black fly larvae and water in 3 tundra streams

“…Atmospheric transport and deposition deliver POPs and other persistent chemicals to the Arctic, including northern Scandinavia. Routine atmospheric monitoring of POPs is now conducted in Arctic regions of Finland (Anttila et al 2016) and Norway (Bohlin-Nizzetto and Aas 2016). More recent investigations in northern Sweden have expanded the list of identified compounds to include chlorinated pesticides (Newton et al 2014;Bidleman et al 2017b), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and novel flame retardants (NFRs; Newton et al 2014).…”

“…More recent investigations in northern Sweden have expanded the list of identified compounds to include chlorinated pesticides (Newton et al 2014;Bidleman et al 2017b), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and novel flame retardants (NFRs; Newton et al 2014). Routine atmospheric monitoring of POPs is now conducted in Arctic regions of Finland (Anttila et al 2016) and Norway (Bohlin-Nizzetto and Aas 2016). By contrast, fewer data are available concerning the occurrence and levels of persistent chemicals in aquatic environments of Arctic and subarctic northern Sweden.…”