ARCTIC A Reconnaissance Survey of the Environmental Chemistry in

• Main Authors: East-central Ellesmere Isl, R. Mcneely, W. D. Gummer
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Key words; snow-pack; precipitation; pesticides; PAHs; acid rain; water chemistry; metals; Arctic; Ellesmere Island; Canada; Cape Herschel
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.567.4135; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic37-3-210.pdf

ABSTRACT. Snow-pack and surface water samples were collected from east-central Ellesmere Island near Cape Herschel between May and August in 1979-81 to ascertain whether anthropogenic pollution was detectable in a remote “pristine ” arctic environment. Snow-pack samples were ana-lyzed for organochlorine pesticide residues, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, a d chlorophenoxy acid herbicides. Precipitation and surface water samples were analyzed to determine whether the region has been subjected to “acid rain”. In addition, the surface water samples were analyzed for as many as 35 inorganic parameters to provide background data on the water quality of the region. Measurable concentrations of Lindane (-y-BHC) and its isomer a-BHC, HEOD (dieldrin), and DDT were detected at a number of sites, but no poly-nuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) or chlorophenoxy acid herbicides were detected. The pattern of pesticide residues observed in arctic snow-pack is similar to that present in precipitation in southern Canada, although the concentrations are lower. The presence of a variety of pesticide residues in this remote area of the Arctic is presumptive evidence that he residues are globally dispersed through the atmosphere. Only copper and the lithophilic metals aluminum and iron were consistently detectable in the snow-pack and surface water samples; all other metals were at or below their detection limits. Thus anthropogenic inputs of metal contaminants such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, selenium, and vanadium, via at-mospheric deposition, were not detected in this region. Although “acid rain ” was not in evidence in the study area, the surface waters of the local ponds and lakes, many of which are ombrogenic, are potentially susceptible to changes in the acidity of the atmospheric aerosol of the high Arctic.