The Amazon River -a major source of organic plastic additives to the tropical North Atlantic?

• Published in: Environmental Science & Technology
• Main Authors: Schmidt, Natascha, Fauvelle, Vincent, Ody, Anouck, Castro-Jiménez, Javier, Jouanno, Julien, Changeux, T., Thibaut, Thierry, Sempere, Richard
• Other Authors: Institut méditerranéen d'océanologie (MIO), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Toulon (UTLN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut d'astrophysique spatiale (IAS), Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National d’Études Spatiales Paris (CNES), Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas España = Spanish National Research Council Spain (CSIC), Laboratoire d'études en Géophysique et océanographie spatiales (LEGOS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), European Project: 1166-39417,FEDER, European Project: 696324,H2020,H2020-BG-2015-1,CSA Oceans 2(2016)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2019
• Subjects: Plasticizers; Marine pollution; Tropical Atlantic Ocean; Amazon River; Organophosphate esters; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://amu.hal.science/hal-02161028; https://amu.hal.science/hal-02161028v2/document; https://amu.hal.science/hal-02161028v2/file/Schmidt%20et%20al%202019-bearbeitet.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b01585

International audience The release of emerging organic contaminants is identified among the most critical hazards to the marine environment, and plastic additives have received growing attention due to their worldwide distribution and potential deleterious effects. Here, we report dissolved surface water concentrations of two important families of plastic additives (organophosphate esters (OPEs) and bisphenols) and other related organic compounds (perfluorinated chemicals) measured in the North Atlantic from Cape Verde to the West Indies. We found that OPEs were the most abundant contaminants, reaching remarkably high concentrations in open ocean waters (1200 km offshore of the American Coast, at the location of the Amazon river plume during the sampling period), with up to 1.3 μg L–1 (Σ9OPEs). A Lagrangian analysis confirmed that these high concentrations of contaminants originated from the Amazon River plume and were transported more than 3000 km by the North Brazil Current and its retroflection. We thus consider the Amazon River as a major source of organic contaminants of emerging concern to the tropical North Atlantic Ocean and suggest that medium-/long-range contaminant transport occurs, most certainly facilitated by the highly stratified conditions offered by the river plume.