Environ Sci Pollut Res (2017) 24:11045–11052 DOI 10.1007/s11356-016-7429-z

RECENT ADVANCES IN CHEMISTRY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls along an east-to-west gradient in subtropical North Atlantic surface water Gerhard Lammel 1,2 & Alejandro Spitzy 3 & Ondřej Audy 2 & Sabine Beckmann 3 & Garry P. Codling 2 & Lisett Kretzschmann 3,5 & Petr Kukučka 2,6 & Irene Stemmler 4

Received: 14 December 2015 / Accepted: 4 August 2016 / Published online: 18 August 2016 # The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com

Abstract Despite the fact that most persistent toxic substances have hardly been primarily emitted for several decades, their concentrations are only slowly decreasing in the global oceans. Surface seawater samples were collected along a 38°–24° N/28°–67° W transect in the subtropical North Atlantic Ocean. While the concentration levels of hexachlorobenzene (2.1–6.1 pg L−1), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT, up to 2.1 pg L−1) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB, 10.8–24.9 pg L−1) were in the same range as observed earlier in the North Atlantic, hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH, 90–627 pg L−1) was found elevated, partly also relative to previous measurements in the same sea region. Hereby, the ratio α-HCH/γ-HCH was very low, 0.09–0.13. Chlordane and endosulfan were found in the range

Organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls along an east-to-west gradient in subtropical North Atlantic surface water.

Despite the fact that most persistent toxic substances have hardly been primarily emitted for several decades, their concentrations are only slowly de...
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