Organic Compounds and Suspended Particulate Matter in Snow of High Latitude Areas (Arctic and Antarctic)

Abstract

Long-term studies of suspended particulate matter (SPM) and organic compounds (OCs)—Corg, lipids, hydrocarbons (aliphatic—AHCs and polycyclic aromatic—PAHs), and chlorophyll a in the snow cover of the Arctic (Franz Victoria Trough, Mendeleev Rise, White Sea) and Antarctica (in the coastal waters on fast ice and on the mainland near Russian stations) were generalized. It was shown that in the Arctic, the influence of continental air masses leads to an increase in OCs in snow. Therefore, despite the fact that the Franz Victoria Trough and the Mendeleev Rise are at the same latitude (82° N), the OCs content in the snow in the region of the Mendeleev Rise was lower for aliphatic hydrocarbons 5 and 14–18 μg/L. In the White Sea, the AHC content in the snow and the upper layers of the ice in the mouth of the Severnaya Dvina River and in the Kandalaksha Bay was higher than that in the lower layers of the ice and sharply decreased with distance from the emission sources. As a result, the snow was supplied mainly by pyrogenic PAHs. In the Antarctica, the lowest OCs levels in atmosphere were found in areas where coastal hills are covered with snow. The maximum SPM and AHCs concentration was found in the sludge (SPM—to 4.37 mg/L, AHC—to 33 μg/L). An increase in the concentration of OCs and SPM in snow sampled on the continent took place in the areas of stations and oases (St. Novolazarevskaya) where the predominance of mineral particles in the SPM was registered. In the area of the operating stations, mainly low molecular weight PAHs with the dominance of petroleum PAHs were found in the SPM of snow and in mosses.