The seasonal change of PAHs in Svalbard surface snow

• Published in: Environmental Pollution
• Main Authors: Vecchiato, Marco, Barbante, Carlo, Barbaro, Elena, Burgay, François, Cairns, Warren RL., Callegaro, Alice, Cappelletti, David, Dallo, Federico, D'Amico, Marianna, Feltracco, Matteo, Gallet, Jean-Charles, Gambaro, Andrea, Larose, Catherine, Maffezzoli, Niccolò, Mazzola, Mauro, Sartorato, Ivan, Scoto, Federico, Turetta, Clara, Vardè, Massimiliano, Xie, Zhiyong, Spolaor, Andrea
• Other Authors: Burgay, Françoi, Gallet, Jean-Charle
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Arctic; Svalbard
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/11391/1569475; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122864; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749123018663

The Arctic region is threatened by contamination deriving from both long-range pollution and local human activities. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are environmental tracers of emission, transport and deposition processes. A first campaign has been conducted at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, from October 2018 to May 2019, monitoring weekly concentrations of PAHs in Arctic surface snow. The trend of the 16 high priority PAH compounds showed that long-range inputs occurred mainly in the winter, with concentrations ranging from 0.8ngL−1 to 37ngL−1. In contrast to this, the most abundant analyte retene, showed an opposite seasonal trend with highest values in autumn and late spring (up to 97ngL−1), while in winter this compound remained below 3ngL−1. This is most likely due to local contributions from outcropping coal deposits and stockpiles. Our results show a general agreement with the atmospheric signal, although significant skews can be attributed to post-depositional processes, wind erosion, melting episodes and redistribution.