title: Temporal trends of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in arctic air: 20 years of monitoring under the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP).
abstract: Temporal trends of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) measured in Arctic air are essential in understanding long-range transport to remote regions and to evaluate the effectiveness of national and international chemical control initiatives, such as the Stockholm Convention (SC) on POPs. Long-term air monitoring of POPs is conducted under the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) at four Arctic stations: Alert, Canada; Stórhöfði, Iceland; Zeppelin, Svalbard; and Pallas, Finland, since the 1990s using high volume air samplers. Temporal trends observed for POPs in Arctic air are summarized in this study. Most POPs listed for control under the SC, e.g. polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) and chlordanes, are declining slowly in Arctic air, reflecting the reduction of primary emissions during the last two decades and increasing importance of secondary emissions. Slow declining trends also signifies their persistence and slow degradation under the Arctic environment, such that they are still detectable after being banned for decades in many countries. Some POPs, e.g. hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and lighter PCBs, showed increasing trends at specific locations, which may be attributable to warming in the region and continued primary emissions at source. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) do not decline in air at Canada's Alert station but are declining in European Arctic air, which may be due to influence of local sources at Alert and the much higher historical usage of PBDEs in North America. Arctic air samples are screened for chemicals of emerging concern to provide information regarding their environmental persistence (P) and long-range transport potential (LRTP), which are important criteria for classification as a POP under SC. The AMAP network provides consistent and comparable air monitoring data of POPs for trend development and acts as a bridge between national monitoring programs and SC's Global Monitoring Plan (GMP).
authors.affiliation: Air Quality Processes Research Section, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 4905 Dufferin St., Toronto, ON, M3H 5T4, Canada. Electronic address: hayley.hung@canada.ca.
authors.forename: Hayley
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.affiliation: NILU, Norwegian Institute for Air Research, P.O. Box 100, NO-2027 Kjeller, Norway.
authors.forename: Athanasios A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Katsoyiannis
authors.affiliation: IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, P.O. Box 47086, Göteborg, 40 258, Sweden.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brorström-Lundén
authors.affiliation: University of Iceland, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Hofsvallagata 53, IS-107, Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Olafsdottir
authors.affiliation: NILU, Norwegian Institute for Air Research, P.O. Box 100, NO-2027 Kjeller, Norway.
authors.forename: Wenche
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Aas
authors.affiliation: NILU, Norwegian Institute for Air Research, P.O. Box 100, NO-2027 Kjeller, Norway.
authors.forename: Knut
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Breivik
authors.affiliation: NILU, Norwegian Institute for Air Research, P.O. Box 100, NO-2027 Kjeller, Norway.
authors.forename: Pernilla
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bohlin-Nizzetto
authors.affiliation: Icelandic Meteorological Office Bustadavegur 9, 150 Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Arni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sigurdsson
authors.affiliation: Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, FI-00101, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Hannele
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hakola
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, Arctic Research Center, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark.
authors.forename: Rossana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bossi
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, Arctic Research Center, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Skov
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory for Environmental Testing, National Water Research Institute, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, ON, L7R 4A6, Canada.
authors.forename: Ed
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sverko
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory for Environmental Testing, National Water Research Institute, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, ON, L7R 4A6, Canada.
authors.forename: Enzo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barresi
authors.affiliation: Airzone One Ltd., 222, Matheson Blvd. E., Mississauga, ON, L4Z 1X1, Canada.
authors.forename: Phil
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fellin
authors.affiliation: Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme Secretariat, Gaustadalléen 21, N-0349 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D001110:Arctic Regions; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry; D002170:Canada; D002706:Chlordan / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005387:Finland; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000032:analysis; D006581:Hexachlorobenzene / Q000032:analysis; D007055:Iceland; D007391:International Cooperation; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013538:Svalbard; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D002706:Chlordan; D006581:Hexachlorobenzene; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: Air; Arctic; Persistent organic pollutants; Seasonality; Temporal trends