Distribution of organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in Ny-Ålesund of the Arctic

Sediment, moss and animal-dropping samples were collected from Ny-Alesund of the Arctic to investigate the distribution of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls ( PCBs) in the Arctic area. OCPs and PCBs were analyzed using the cap illary gas chromatography ( GC2ECD ). Recoveries of three surrogateswere at a range of 69.5-92.2% (mean: 78.8% ), 75.1-112.1% (98.5% ) and 67.7-95.1% ( 79.5% ) , and the relative standard deviations were 6.7% , 8.0% and 11.3% , respectively. The major monomers of OCPs were hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) and DDTs. Their concentrations were at a range of 0. 86-4.50 ng/g (mean: 2.24 ng/g) and 0.22-1.09 ng/g (mean: 0.55 ng/g). The concentrations of PCBs were 0.20-3.25 ng/g (mean: 0.84 ng/g) and the major congenerswere tetra-, penta-, and hexa-PCBs, which were up to 23.8%, 26.7% and 32.3% of total PCBs, respectively. Based on the results of the ratio analysis and the principal component analysis, the atmospheric transport is believed be one of the major inputways of OCPs and PCB s in the Ny-Alesund of the Arctic.