Persistent organic pollutants distribution of small coastal catchments at the Canadian Beaufort coast.

• Main Authors: Lodi, Rachele, Wagner, Julia, Hugelius, Gustaf, Martin, Victoria Sophie, Speetjens, Niek, Richter, Andreas, Gabrieli, Jacopo, Barbante, Carlo
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Permafrost; organic contaminants; Arctic; Herschel Island; Komakuk Beach; Ice; Ice Sheet; permafrost
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/5575507; https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-10165

Recent decades have shown phases of very rapid warming in the Canadian Arctic. This raises a concern, also in reference to potential changes in permafrost active layer deepening, enhancing the fact that seawater, snow and soils are becoming important secondary sources remobilizing persistent organic pollutants (POPs). This work investigates the potential influence of permafrost on POPs distribution in the soils of two small coastal catchments at the Canadian Beaufort coast. One catchment is located south of Herschel Island on the mainland and was covered by the Laurentide ice sheet during the last glacial maximum (LGM), the second catchment is located westerly at Komakuk Beach and was ice-free during the LGM.