Adsorption of Phenanthrene on Natural Snow

• Published in: Environmental Science & Technology
• Main Authors: Domine, Florent, Cincinelli, Alessandra, Bonnaud, Elodie, Martellini, Tania, Picaud, Sylvain
• Other Authors: Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement (LGGE), Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble (OSUG), Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Università degli Studi di Firenze = University of Florence = Université de Florence (UniFI), Laboratoire de Physique Moléculaire (UMR 6624) (LPM), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Franche-Comté (UFC), Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté COMUE (UBFC)-Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté COMUE (UBFC)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2007
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology; Arctic; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://insu.hal.science/insu-00376226; https://doi.org/10.1021/es0706798

International audience The snowpack is a reservoir for semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) and, in particular, for persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which are sequestered in winter and released to the atmosphere or hydrosphere in the spring. Modeling these processes usually assumes that SVOCs are incorporated into the snowpack by adsorption to snow surfaces, but this has never been proven because the specific surface area (SSA) of snow has never been measured together with snow composition. Here we expose natural snow to phenanthrene vapors (one of the more volatile POPs) and measure for the first time both the SSA and the chemical composition of the snow. The results are consistent with an adsorption equilibrium. The measured Henry's law constant is HPhen(T) = 2.88 × 1022 exp(−10660/T) Pa m2 mol-1, with T in Kelvin. The adsorption enthalpy is ΔHads = −89 ± 18 kJ mol-1. We also perform molecular dynamics calculations of phenanthrene adsorption to ice and obtain ΔHads = −85 ± 8 kJ mol-1, close to the experimental value. Results are applied to the adsorption of phenanthrene to the Arctic and subarctic snowpacks. The subarctic snowpack, with a low snow area index (SAI = 1000), is a negligible reservoir of phenanthrene, but the colder Arctic snowpack, with SAI = 2500, sequesters most of the phenanthrene present in the (snow + boundary layer) system.