The Antarctic as Sentinel of Global Pollution

• Main Author: Casas Papell, Gemma
• Other Authors: [e-mail], false, Dachs, Jordi, Jiménez Luque, Begoña, Santos Vicente, Francisco Javier, Universitat de Barcelona. Facultat de Química
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Universitat de Barcelona 2022
• Subjects: Contaminació atmosfèrica; Contaminación atmosférica; Atmospheric pollution; Contaminants persistents; Contaminantes persistentes; Persistent pollutants; Compostos organofosforats; Compuestos organofosforados; Organophosphorus compounds; Antàrtida; Regiones antárticas; Antarctica; Ciències Experimentals i Matemàtiques; 504; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10803/675047

Programa de Doctorat en Química Analítica i Medi Ambient / Tesi realitzada a l'Institut de Diagnòstic Ambiental i Estudis de l'Aigua (IDAEA-CSIC) Since the industrial revolution, we have introduced thousands or tens of thousands of new synthetic compounds, originating a new environmental perturbation in the Earth’s system. Among these, there are the so-called persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which constitute a heterogenic group of chemical substances of environmental concern. POPs are persistent, can bioaccumulate and biomagnificate, have toxic effects and have potential for LRT, and through atmospheric deposition followed by partitioning and other biogeochemical processes accumulate in Antarctic soils, ice, snow, seawater and biota. Both climatic and biogeochemical factors influence the reservoir potential of the different Antarctic compartments, but there are a number of processes, especially those implying amplification, that have received little attention for all POPs, both legacy and emerging. For legacy POPs, there has been a remarkable assessment of the cycling in the ocean, including polar regions. However, for other POPs having different sources and properties, such as the organophosphate esters (OPEs) and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), little is known about the processes that influence their occurrence, transport and fate in the global environment and particularly in remote areas, such as Antarctica. The working hypothesis of this thesis is that the Antarctica, and especially the northern part of the Antarctic Peninsula (AP), is a sentinel region for the identification of legacy and emerging POPs, which have the potential to be globally distributed. The overall goal of this thesis was to perform field and conceptual research in order to understand the cycling, accumulation and amplification processes of POPs with diverse physical-chemical properties and sources, such as OPEs and PFAS, in coastal Antarctica, and determine to which extend the AP can act as a sentinel of global pollution. For ...