Brief communication: organochlorine pesticides in an archived firn core from Law Dome, East Antarctica

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were, for the first time, quantified in archived firn cores from East Antarctica representative of 19451957 and 19581967 (current era, C.E.). The core sections were melted under high-purity nitrogen atmosphere, and the meltwater was analysed. Methods allowed quantifi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Cryosphere
Main Authors: Bigot, M, Curran, MAJ, Moy, AD, Muir, DCG, Hawker, DW, Cropp, R, Teixeira, CF, Bengtson Nash, SM
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus GmbH 2016
Subjects:
Earth Sciences
Atmospheric Sciences
Climate Change Processes
Arctic
East Antarctica
Law Dome
Antarc*
Antarctica
Climate change
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2533-2016
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/112484
Description
Summary:Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were, for the first time, quantified in archived firn cores from East Antarctica representative of 19451957 and 19581967 (current era, C.E.). The core sections were melted under high-purity nitrogen atmosphere, and the meltwater was analysed. Methods allowed quantification of hexachlorocyclohexanes, heptachlor, trans-chlordane, dieldrin and endrin. While the core presented evidence of nominal contamination by modern-use chemicals, indicating handling and/or storage contamination, legacy OCP concentrations and deposition rates reported are orders of magnitude lower than those from Arctic regions, lending support for their validity. The study further provides a description of equipment used and suggests methods to overcome logistical challenges associated with trace organic contaminant detection in polar regions.

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