Persistent organic pollutants in Antarctica

• Main Authors: Corsolini, Simonetta, Galbán-Malagón, Cristóbal, Carmela Montone, Rosalinda
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Antarctic Environments Portal 2019
• Subjects: Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18124/k4r5-m743; https://environments.aq/information-summaries/persistent-organic-pollutants-in-antarctica/

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are carbon-based chemicals of anthropogenic origin that elicit toxic effects in organisms. For this reason, the United Nations Environment Programme implemented the Stockholm Convention on POPs in 2004 to protect human health and the environment. Due to their physical-chemical properties, POPs are readily transported mainly by atmosphere or ocean currents over long distances, including polar regions, where these chemicals are trapped because of the extreme cold climate. Once in the Antarctic region, they bioaccumulate in organisms and can elicit toxic effects. Antarctic and Southern Ocean ecosystems are fragile and have low resilience capacity, thus contamination can have unpredictable consequences. Moreover, global climate change may influence the abiotic drivers of chemical distribution and mobility in Antarctic ecosystems. Thus, a knowledge of concentrations and distributions of contaminants is necessary to understand the risk to Antarctica and for evaluating the overall environmental health and other possible consequences on a global scale. : Bioaccumulation Food webs Global change Long range atmospheric transport Persistant organic pollutants