Atmospheric deposition contributed mostly to organophosphorus flame retardant entering into the Bohai Sea, China

Jian He; Haibo Ma; Zhanxiang Wang; Hongyu Li; Haoyue Fan; Lulu Lian; Min Wu; Shijie Song; Jiabao Zhang; Tao Huang; Hong Gao; Jianmin Ma

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.105706

Atmospheric deposition contributed mostly to organophosphorus flame retardant entering into the Bohai Sea, China

iScience. 2022 Dec 12;26(1):105706. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105706. eCollection 2023 Jan 20.

Authors

Jian He¹, Haibo Ma¹, Zhanxiang Wang¹, Hongyu Li¹, Haoyue Fan¹, Lulu Lian¹, Min Wu¹, Shijie Song¹, Jiabao Zhang¹, Tao Huang¹, Hong Gao¹, Jianmin Ma^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, Gansu Province, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, P. R. China.
² Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China.

Abstract

Atmospheric emission sources of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in China's eastern seaboard regions cause heavy POP contamination in the Bohai Sea (BS), China. Because many rivers are emptying into the BS, terrestrial runoff has been considered a dominant pathway of POPs onto the BS. Here, we explored the contribution of atmospheric transport and terrestrial runoff to organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) to the BS by using an atmospheric transport model and a terrestrial runoff model. We examined the sensitivity and response of OPFR in the BS seawater to its atmospheric transport, deposition, and riverine discharge via terrestrial runoff. Both terrestrial runoff and atmospheric transport model simulations reveal that the atmospheric transport and deposition, including dry, wet, and diffusive gaseous deposition, dominate OPFR input into the BS. The total OPFR fluxes entering the BS via the atmospheric pathway and riverine input were 70.4 and 2.8 t/yr in 2013, respectively.

Keywords: Environmental chemistry; Environmental health; Environmental science.