Occurrence, spatial patterns, air-seawater exchange, and atmospheric deposition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the Northwest Pacific to Arctic Ocean

Jie Fu; Haibo Zhang; Ruijing Li; Tengda Shi; Hui Gao; Shuaichen Jin; Qian Wang; Humin Zong; Guangshui Na

doi:10.1016/j.marenvres.2022.105793

Occurrence, spatial patterns, air-seawater exchange, and atmospheric deposition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the Northwest Pacific to Arctic Ocean

Mar Environ Res. 2023 Jan:183:105793. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2022.105793. Epub 2022 Nov 7.

Authors

Jie Fu¹, Haibo Zhang², Ruijing Li², Tengda Shi³, Hui Gao², Shuaichen Jin², Qian Wang⁴, Humin Zong⁵, Guangshui Na⁶

Affiliations

¹ National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian, 116023, China; College of Marine Ecology and Environment, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China.
² National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian, 116023, China.
³ National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian, 116023, China; College of Marine Technology and Environment, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, China.
⁴ College of Marine Ecology and Environment, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China.
⁵ National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian, 116023, China. Electronic address: hmzong@nmemc.org.cn.
⁶ Laboratory for Coastal Marine Eco-environment Process and Carbon Sink of Hainan Province/Yazhou Bay Innovation Institute, Hainan Tropical Ocean University, Sanya, 572022, China. Electronic address: nags@hntou.edu.cn.

PMID: 36371950
DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2022.105793

Abstract

Numerous studies have elucidated the characteristics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the Arctic; however, their behavior in different environments has not been studied at a large scale. To investigate the occurrence, spatial trends, air-seawater exchange and atmospheric deposition of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), this study takes sample from the Northwest Pacific Ocean. to the Arctic Ocean.The concentrations of 16 PAHs in air and seawater ranged from 27 to 5658 pg/m³ and 34-338 ng/L, respectively. The air-seawater exchange flux of the region was calculated with a Whitman two-film model to be -82681-24613 ng/m²/day. Meanwhile, low-ring PAHs were transported from seawater to the air, while high-ring PAHs were transported from air to seawater. A correlation analysis between multiple environmental factors and particle phase ratio suggested that temperature might be the major driving factor for PAHs in the long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT) process. Moreover, the dry atmospheric deposition fluxes in the region were analyzed by considering environmental factors and the physicochemical properties of each PAHs monomer, these fluxes ranged from 0.001 to 696 ng/m²/day and were greater inshore than offshore and at higher latitudes. This study highlights that PAHs are affected by LRAT during their transport from Asia to Northwest Pacific and further to the Arctic Ocean, while emphasizing that air-seawater exchange plays an important role in air-sea interactions in the open ocean.

Keywords: Atmospheric transport; Large-scale study; Polar regions; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; Spatial trends.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Environmental Monitoring
Pacific Ocean
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons* / analysis
Seawater / chemistry

Substances

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Air Pollutants