Abstract
Environmental issues in the Arctic region are of primary importance due to the fragility of the Arctic ecosystem. Mainly persistent organic compounds are monitored in the region by nine stationary laboratories. Information on the volatile (VOC) and semi volatile (SVOC) organic priority pollutants is very limited, especially for the Russian Arctic. Air samples from 16 sites along the Russian Arctic coast from the White Sea to the East Siberian Sea were collected on sorption tubes packed with Tenax, Carbograph, and Carboxen sorbents with different selectivity for a wide range of VOCs and SVOCs in 2020 within the framework of the International Siberian Shelf Study Expedition on the research vessel Akademik Keldysh. Thermal desorption gas chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry with Orbitrap was used for the analysis. Eighty-six VOCs and SVOCs were detected in the air samples at ng/m3 levels. The number of quantified compounds varied from 26 to 66 per sample. Benzoic acid was the major constituent, followed by BTEX, phenol, chloroform, bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, and carbon tetrachloride. The study allowed for obtaining the first ever data on the presence of 138 priority pollutants in the air of Russian Arctic, whereas the thorough assessment of their possible sources will be the aim of a next investigation.
Highlights
Global warming and ice melting makes the Arctic region more and more attractive for economic use [1], including the development of transport arteries (Northern Sea Route), hydrocarbon production on the shelf, and the development of mineral deposits in the mainland zone and on the Arctic islands
Within the framework of the international project “Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP)” [15] persistent organic pollutants (POP) and chemicals of emerging Arctic concern (CEAC) [16] as the most dangerous micropollutants have been monitored in the Arctic environment for many years
Considerable attention has been paid to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), as their concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere do not decrease despite the global industrial emission reduction due to the large contribution of natural sources [18]
Summary
Global warming and ice melting makes the Arctic region more and more attractive for economic use [1], including the development of transport arteries (Northern Sea Route), hydrocarbon production on the shelf, and the development of mineral deposits in the mainland zone and on the Arctic islands Such an increase in human economic activity inevitably leads to the corresponding increase in anthropogenic load on the fragile Arctic ecosystem, including air pollution with toxic volatile (VOCs) and semi-volatile (SVOCs) organic compounds [2]. The advanced technique of thermal desorption gas chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry (TD-GC-HRMS) with an orbital ion trap (Orbitrap) mass analyzer providing exceptional sensitivity and selectivity of the analysis was used
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