This book provides a description of FANTOM, an ocean model, that has been developed to investigate the fate of selected POPs in the North Sea. The main focus of the model is on quantifying the distribution of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and their aquatic pathways. The model was applied for the southern North Sea and tested by studying the behavior of g-HCH, a-HCH and PCB 153 in sea water.
The book reports the results on the fate of POPs in the abiotic and biotic components of the aquatic environment North Pacific Ocean (include Russian part of North Pacific), possible health risks for coastal residents Pacific Ocean exposed to these hazardous pollutants are systematized. In particular, indicator organisms (fish, birds, and mammals), indicating the pollution of the region, were identified; the possible ways of xenobiotic transfer from the sea to the land are shown; the targets of POPs impact on living organisms were determined; the time of circulation of pollutants in the biosphere was determined; a list of “priority” toxicants for the region based on quality screening was compiled; the risks to human health from the consumption of contaminated aquatic organisms were assessed; the levels of POPs in the human body were measured. The book is interesting for specialists in the agro-industrial complex, aquaculture and medicine, teachers and graduate students of universities, researchers, which interested in the problems of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). There are no similar books on the study of POPs in the Russian part of the Pacific Ocean in the world literature. This book is useful to scientists of the world who study the fate of POPs.
The Open Ocean has been recognized as playing a key role on global dynamics of pollutants due to its large coverage of the planet surface, its high degradation potential and its sink and accumulation capacities towards anthropogenic chemicals. Nevertheless, there is a dearth of measurements of contaminants in the Open Ocean lower atmosphere, water column and trophic chain as a result of its remoteness and wide spatial reach. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are an important class of chemical contaminants due to their particular characteristics such as persistency, bioaccumulation potential, high toxicity and long range environmental transport capacity. Even though previous studies report their occurrence in the marine environment, the processes and magnitude of their fate, transport and sinks in the Open Ocean remain uncharacterized. In this Thesis two groups of organic contaminants have been selected in order to study POPs dynamics and fate in the oceanic environment. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are organic pollutants generated during incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and organic matter, but as well coming from petrogenic and biogenic natural sources. PAHs are semivolatile and highly mobile between the atmosphere and aqueous systems. Perfluoroalkylated substances (PFASs) are anthropogenic halogenated pollutants, recently developed for industrial and consumer goods usage. They are extremely persistent and exhibit higher solubility and lower hydrophobicity than most POPs, which makes them prone to be found in aqueous matrixes. During the Malaspina 2010 circumnavigation cruise across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans (35°N- 40°S), 64 PAHs were measured in the gas, aerosol, rainwater, dissolved, particulate and plankton matrixes, and 11 PFASs were quantified in dissolved phase at surface and deep chlorophyll maximum depth seawater. Degradation and atmospheric deposition of PAHs was assessed for dry deposition, wet deposition and diffusive air-water exchange, suggesting approaches for their global estimation, and proposing a global budget for PFAS, PAHs, and other semivolatile aromatic-like compounds, and their effect in the carbon global cycle. Dry deposition was obtained by direct measurements on board and parametrized for the whole tropical and subtropical Ocean; wet deposition was quantified from the precipitation rainwater gathered during the cruise; and diffusive exchange was calculated from the measured PAHs concentrations in the gas and dissolved phases, concurrently with the environmental parameters affecting volatilization and absorption (temperature, wind speed, salinity, dissolved organic carbon among others). Moreover, vertical distribution processes and influencing parameters in the surface mixed layer of the water column were assessed for PAHs and PFASs. Processes evaluated for PAHs include the vertical fluxes associated to the organic matter sinking (biological pump), biomass dilution, planktonic degradation, and air-water-particle exchange. For PFASs, the biological pump and eddy diffusive fluxes (based on turbulence eddy diffusion coefficients measured concurrently to the PFASs sampling) were assessed empirically for the first time in literature. The analysis of the complex feedback established between atmospheric depositional fluxes and the diffusive, degradative and biological pumps fluxes in the marine water column at a global scale is also covered. Furthermore, a wide array of understudied environmental parameters are reviewed as plausible factors affecting POPs fate in the Open Ocean, and a proposal of the research directions to follow and missing gaps to be filled is done. Amongst the innovative outcomes of this study, it can be highlighted the comprehensive sampling covering the tropical and subtropical global oceans, and the large amount of experimentally determined processes and influencing factors in order to better understand the global fate of chemical organic pollutants in the Open Ocean.
Environmental Protection of the North Sea focuses on measures and initiatives for the protection of the North Sea. The book first discusses the physical features, North Sea resources, and biological considerations. The compilation then takes a look at the distribution of anthropogenic organic compounds in the North Sea, including analytical aspects and reporting format for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); transport of PCB in abiotic phases in rivers, estuaries, and the North Sea; and PCB in biota. The text examines the environmental impacts of organic chemicals. History of pollution; environmental effects of chemicals; effects of chemicals on marine biota; and chemicals of potential concern are described. The compilation also underscores the sources of pesticides in the North Sea; environmental impacts of PCBs in the marine environment; and contamination of the North Sea by the production and utilization of organic chemicals. The book also looks at environmental protection strategies for organic chemicals; assessment of environmental impacts of nutrients in the North Sea from the perspectives of the fertilizer and detergents industries; and pathology of fish diseases in the North Sea. The compilation is a good source of data for readers interested in environmental protection.
This preface is being written at a time of exceptional public interest in the North Sea, following media head lines on toxic algal blooms, the mass mortality of common seals, and concern over pollution levels. These headlines may suggest that pollution of the North Sea is a recent event. This is not the case. Although no data are available (methods simply did not exist), it is safe to assume that emission (both into air and water) of heavy metals already started to increase in the 19th cen tury. The growth of cities and introduction of sewer sys tems led to the discharge of raw sewage and sewage sludge. The introduction of man-made (xenobiotic) organ ic chemicals and their subsequent emission into the North Sea commenced before the second world war. The shallower and coastal areas of the North Sea receive the highest concentrations of these pollutants. Not unexpectedly, these areas - some Norwegian fjords, the Dutch coast, the German Bight - show signs of ecosystem deterioration and eutrophication. A certain percentage of the pollutants does not remain in the North Sea but is "exported" to the Atlantic. The North Sea therefore con tributes to the global input of pollutants to the world's oceans. The major part of the pollutants accumulate in the North Sea and are incorporated in the bottom sediments. Although they are "out of sight", they should not be "out of mind".
