A Global 3‐D Ocean Model for PCBs: Benchmark Compounds for Understanding the Impacts of Global Change on Neutral Persistent Organic Pollutants
Human activities have released large quantities of neutral persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that may be biomagnified in food webs and pose health risks to wildlife, particularly top predators. Here we develop a global 3-D ocean simulation for four polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) spanning a rang...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Geophysical Union
2020
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/123656 |
| _version_ | 1826197159015350272 |
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| author | Wagner, Charlotte C. Amos, Helen M. Thackray, Colin P. Zhang, Yanxu Lundgren, Elizabeth W. Forget, Gael Friedman, Carey Selin, Noelle E Lohmann, Rainer Sunderland, Elsie M. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Wagner, Charlotte C. Amos, Helen M. Thackray, Colin P. Zhang, Yanxu Lundgren, Elizabeth W. Forget, Gael Friedman, Carey Selin, Noelle E Lohmann, Rainer Sunderland, Elsie M. |
| author_sort | Wagner, Charlotte C. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Human activities have released large quantities of neutral persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that may be biomagnified in food webs and pose health risks to wildlife, particularly top predators. Here we develop a global 3-D ocean simulation for four polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) spanning a range of molecular weights and volatilities to better understand effects of climate-driven changes in ocean biogeochemistry on the lifetime and distribution of POPs. Observations are most abundant in the Arctic Ocean. There, model results reproduce spatial patterns and magnitudes of measured PCB concentrations. Sorption of PCBs to suspended particles and subsequent burial in benthic marine sediment is the dominant oceanic loss process globally. Results suggest benthic sediment burial has removed 75% of cumulative PCB releases since the onset of production in 1930. Wind speed, light penetration, and ocean circulation exert a stronger and more variable influence on volatile PCB congeners with lower particle affinity such as chlorinated biphenyl-28 and chlorinated biphenyl-101. In the Arctic Ocean between 1992 and 2015, modeled evasion (losses) of the more volatile PCB congeners from the surface ocean increased due to declines in sea ice and changes in ocean circulation. By contrast, net deposition increased slightly for higher molecular weight congeners with stronger partitioning to particles. Our results suggest future climate changes will have the greatest impacts on the chemical lifetimes and distributions of volatile POPs with lower molecular weights. Keywords: ocean; biogeochemistry; persistent pollutants; fate and transport modeling |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:43:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/123656 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:43:24Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | American Geophysical Union |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1236562022-09-27T14:32:19Z A Global 3‐D Ocean Model for PCBs: Benchmark Compounds for Understanding the Impacts of Global Change on Neutral Persistent Organic Pollutants Wagner, Charlotte C. Amos, Helen M. Thackray, Colin P. Zhang, Yanxu Lundgren, Elizabeth W. Forget, Gael Friedman, Carey Selin, Noelle E Lohmann, Rainer Sunderland, Elsie M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Data, Systems, and Society Atmospheric Science Global and Planetary Change General Environmental Science Environmental Chemistry Human activities have released large quantities of neutral persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that may be biomagnified in food webs and pose health risks to wildlife, particularly top predators. Here we develop a global 3-D ocean simulation for four polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) spanning a range of molecular weights and volatilities to better understand effects of climate-driven changes in ocean biogeochemistry on the lifetime and distribution of POPs. Observations are most abundant in the Arctic Ocean. There, model results reproduce spatial patterns and magnitudes of measured PCB concentrations. Sorption of PCBs to suspended particles and subsequent burial in benthic marine sediment is the dominant oceanic loss process globally. Results suggest benthic sediment burial has removed 75% of cumulative PCB releases since the onset of production in 1930. Wind speed, light penetration, and ocean circulation exert a stronger and more variable influence on volatile PCB congeners with lower particle affinity such as chlorinated biphenyl-28 and chlorinated biphenyl-101. In the Arctic Ocean between 1992 and 2015, modeled evasion (losses) of the more volatile PCB congeners from the surface ocean increased due to declines in sea ice and changes in ocean circulation. By contrast, net deposition increased slightly for higher molecular weight congeners with stronger partitioning to particles. Our results suggest future climate changes will have the greatest impacts on the chemical lifetimes and distributions of volatile POPs with lower molecular weights. Keywords: ocean; biogeochemistry; persistent pollutants; fate and transport modeling United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (1553749) Simons Foundation (549931) 2020-01-23T19:41:27Z 2020-01-23T19:41:27Z 2019-03-28 2018-06-29 2019-11-07T13:11:08Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0886-6236 1944-9224 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/123656 Wagner, Charlotte C. et al. "A Global 3‐D Ocean Model for PCBs: Benchmark Compounds for Understanding the Impacts of Global Change on Neutral Persistent Organic Pollutants." Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 33, 3, (February 2019): 469– 481 © 2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. en 10.1029/2018gb006018 Global Biogeochemical Cycles Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Geophysical Union American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
| spellingShingle | Atmospheric Science Global and Planetary Change General Environmental Science Environmental Chemistry Wagner, Charlotte C. Amos, Helen M. Thackray, Colin P. Zhang, Yanxu Lundgren, Elizabeth W. Forget, Gael Friedman, Carey Selin, Noelle E Lohmann, Rainer Sunderland, Elsie M. A Global 3‐D Ocean Model for PCBs: Benchmark Compounds for Understanding the Impacts of Global Change on Neutral Persistent Organic Pollutants |
| title | A Global 3‐D Ocean Model for PCBs: Benchmark Compounds for Understanding the Impacts of Global Change on Neutral Persistent Organic Pollutants |
| title_full | A Global 3‐D Ocean Model for PCBs: Benchmark Compounds for Understanding the Impacts of Global Change on Neutral Persistent Organic Pollutants |
| title_fullStr | A Global 3‐D Ocean Model for PCBs: Benchmark Compounds for Understanding the Impacts of Global Change on Neutral Persistent Organic Pollutants |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Global 3‐D Ocean Model for PCBs: Benchmark Compounds for Understanding the Impacts of Global Change on Neutral Persistent Organic Pollutants |
| title_short | A Global 3‐D Ocean Model for PCBs: Benchmark Compounds for Understanding the Impacts of Global Change on Neutral Persistent Organic Pollutants |
| title_sort | global 3 d ocean model for pcbs benchmark compounds for understanding the impacts of global change on neutral persistent organic pollutants |
| topic | Atmospheric Science Global and Planetary Change General Environmental Science Environmental Chemistry |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/123656 |
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