Atmospheric organophosphate esters in the Western Antarctic Peninsula over 2014-2018: Occurrence, temporal trend and...

Organophosphate esters (OPEs) were comprehensively investigated in the air samples collected using high-volume samplers near the Chinese Great Wall Station in the Western Antarctic Peninsula over the period of 2014-2018. The concentrations of ∑₈OPEs (gaseous + particle phases) ranged from 33.9 to 404 pg/m³ with a geometric mean of 119 ± 12.0 pg/m³. Tris [(2R)-1-chloro-2-propyl] phosphate (TCIPP) and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) dominated in the gaseous phase, while tris-n-butyl phosphate (TnBP) was the most abundant OPEs in the particle phase, followed by TCIPP and TCEP. An apparently temporal trend was observed for atmospheric ∑₈OPEs over the five years, with a doubling time of about 3.8 years, which indicated continuous inputs of OPEs into the sampling area. The particle-bound ∑₈OPEs accounted for 45% of the total, generally lower than that reported in the Arctic. Gas-particle partitioning modeling suggested that the partitioning of OPEs with higher logK_OA values approached the steady state in the Antarctic air. The back-trajectory modeling showed that high levels of OPEs were usually associated with air inputs from the northwest of the peninsula. This suggested that long-range transport from South America, which was confirmed by the no temperature dependencies of OPEs concentrations (excluding TnBP). Nevertheless, a steady high level of particle-bound TnBP implied local sources in the Western Antarctic Peninsula, which required further investigation in future works.