Concentrations, gas-particle distributions, and source indicator analysis of brominated flame retardants in air at Toolik Lake, Arctic Alaska.
Brominated flame-retardants (BFRs) can be released from consumer products, resulting in accumulation in the surrounding environment and/or long-range transport to remote environments. We evaluated concentration changes in a suite of BFRs, including 13 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and 1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)ethane (BTBPE), in air at Toolik Lake, Arctic Alaska during the Northern Hemisphere summer of 2013. A high-volume active air sampler was used to collect 2 day integrated samples at the field station and three flow-through air samplers were used to collect 18 day integrated samples along a transect extending away from the field station. The BDE congeners associated with the penta-BDE commercial mixture (BDE-47, -99, and -100) were the most frequently detected BFRs and were found at concentrations consistent with those reported at other Arctic sites. Gas-particle distributions were influenced by temperature and correlations between gas-phase concentrations and temperature suggested that either volatilization from local sources or re-emission from secondary sources (that is, re-volatilization of BFRs that had migrated northwards from distant sources) was important for the lower-brominated BFRs during the warmer months. Source indicator analysis suggested no single dominant geographic source of BFRs while results from the flow-through samplers indicated that the field station itself was not a significant source of BFRs.
Department of Chemistry, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand. khageman@chemistry.otago.ac.nz.
Cleo L
CL
Davie-Martin
Department of Chemistry, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand. khageman@chemistry.otago.ac.nz.
Kimberly J
KJ
Hageman
School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
Yu-Ping
YP
Chin
Department of Chemistry, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand. khageman@chemistry.otago.ac.nz.
Benjamin J
BJ
Nistor
Air Quality Processes Research Section, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, Ontario M3H 5T4, Canada.
Hayley
H
Hung
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000413:Alaska; D001110:Arctic Regions; D001969:Bromobenzenes / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005411:Flame Retardants / Q000032:analysis*; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000032:analysis*; D060106:Lakes
D000393:Air Pollutants; D001969:Bromobenzenes; D005411:Flame Retardants; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; C081014:1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)ethane