Polychlorinated Biphenyls Dataset from
Multimedia Samples from Fildes Peninsula
and Xiehe Peninsula, Antarctica

Ge, L. K.^1*  Wang, Y. J.¹  Gao, H.¹  Zhang, P.¹  Zhang, J.²  Li, R. J.¹  Lu, Z. H.¹  Liu, X.¹  Na, G. S.¹

1. Key Laboratory for Ecological Environment in Coastal Areas, State Oceanic Administration (SOA), National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian 116023, China;

2. Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai 200136, China

Abstract: Based on polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) data collection from samples in the multi-environmental media in vicinity of the Chinese Great Wall Station and Zhongshan Station at Fildes Peninsula and Xiehe Peninsula, Antarctica, we developed the Polychlorinated Biphenyls Dataset in the Multimedia Samples from Fildes Peninsula and Xiehe Peninsula, Antarctica (short name as “AntarcticPCBLevels"). It is the concentrations of 27 PCB congenersin 123 samples including air, seawater, snow, lake water and sediments, soils, penguin faeces, plants and intertidal benthos. Compared with the previous studies, this study provides more baseline data on PCBs occurrence in the Antarctic, which can support a comprehensive understanding of PCB long-range transport and polar distribution.

Keywords: Polychlorinated biphenyls; the Antarctic; Fildes Peninsula; Xiehe Peninsula; Multi environment tal-media

1 Introduction

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are toxic and bioaccumulative compounds that contaminate nearly all environmental matrices worldwide and are known to undergo global fractionation, accumulating toward the poles in a cold-trapping process^[1–3]. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of ubiquitous POPs, which were used historically in electrical transformers and capacitors. Their persistence coupled with their potential toxicity has prompted international regulations and increased effort to understand their regional and global scale presence, especially in the Polar Regions. The occurrence of PCBs in the multi-environment of many countries and even in the Arctic is well documented^[4–6]. However, limited data on PCBs have been reported in the Antarctic due to the difficulty of access.

Antarctica is concerned as an important sink for global POPs and is one of the most significant and sensitive areas in response to the global climate and environment changes. Thus, it is a significant research region for assessing persistence and long-range atmospheric transport of POPs, such as PCBs. In recent years, levels of PCBs have been found in the Antarctic air^[7–9], snow ^[1] and fish ^[10] from southeast Antarctica. Baek, et al.^[7] monitored atmospheric PCBs in Polar Regions and found a prevalence of lighter PCB congeners at the King George Island, Antarctica. Li, et al.^[8–9] also found a very low air concentrations of PCBs that were dominated by tetra-PCBs, tri-PCBs and di-PCBs close to Chinese Great Wall Station, King George Island. These results indicated that the Polar area was contaminated with PCBs, which was mainly influenced by LRAT. Even so, the levels and distribution of PCBs are not well known in other multi-environmental media, such as snow, soil, seawater, sediments and marine organisms. Furthermore, multimedia occurrence of PCBs needs to be clarified in other Polar

areas, such as Xiehe Peninsula of the southwest Antarctica.

The present study reported levels of 27 PCB congeners in the multi-environmental media near the Chinese Great Wall Station and Zhongshan Station, which are located respectively at Fildes Peninsula and Xiehe Peninsula, Antarctica^[11]. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the PCB concentrations in Antarctic multiple and comprehensive samples.

2 Metadata of Dataset

The metadata of “AntarcticPCBLevels” dataset is summarized in Table 1. It includes the dataset full name, short name, authors, year of the dataset, temporal-spatial resolution, data format, data size, data files, data publisher, and data sharing policy.

Table 1  Summary of the AntarcticPCBLevels metadata

3 Methods

3.1 Study Area

In the period of December 2013 to March 2014, the samples of air, seawater, snow, lake water and sediments, soils, penguin faeces, plants and intertidal benthos were collected from vicinity of the Chinese Great Wall Station and Zhongshan Station, which are located respectively at Fildes Peninsula and Xiehe Peninsula, Antarctica.

3.2 Data Collection or Processing

The dataset processing method referred to the article of “Distribution and transfer pattern of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) among the selected environmental media of Ny-Alesund, the Arctic: As a case study” published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin ^[4]. The meth­ods were described briefly as below.

Figure 1 shows the location map of the samples near the Fildes Peninsula, Antarctica. An active high-v­olume air sampler with glass fiber filters (GFF) and PUF disks was ap­plied to capture particle-bound PCBs and gaseous PCBs from the atmosphere. PCBs in water samples were collected by C18 membranes and GFFs. An accelerated solvent extraction instrument (ASE350, Dion­ex, US) was applied to extract PCBs from the solid samples, including soils, sediments, plants and faces. The air and water samples were treated using an ultrasonic assistant extraction method. The condensed sulfur acid was used to remove the co-eluting interferences from the extract samples. After cleanup, the extracts were concentrated, spiked with internal standards and analyzed by Chromatography equipped with an Electric Capture Detector (GC-ECD, Agilent 7890A, US) and a tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS, Agilent 7000B, US).

4 Results and Validation

4.1 Dataset Product

The AntarcticPCBLevels dataset is comprised of two excel files, which correspond to the multimedia PCB concentrations of Fildes Peninsula and Xiehe Peninsula, respectively. The first File “Levels of polychlorinated biphenyls at Fildes Peninsula of Antarctica.xlsx” covers the levels of 27 PCB congeners in 42 samples of 12 environmental media from the region. The second File “Levels of polychlorinated biphenyls at Xiehe Peninsula of Antarctica.xlsx” includes the PCB levels in 81 samples of 10 environmental media. The minimum, maximum and mean concentrations of total PCBs (∑PCBs) were summarized in Table 2.

Table 2  Sample numbers (n) and concentration levels of ∑PCBs at Fildes Peninsula and Xiehe Peninsula

4.2 Data Validation

All sampling and analytical procedures were monitored using strict quality assurance and control measures^[4]. For all samples, a method blanks, a matrix spike, a matrix spike duplicate, a sample duplicate and the field samples were analyzed as a batch. The PCB congeners were quantified with ECD and then confirmed with MS/MS. The concentrations of target compounds were quantified using internal standard method and corrected by the recoveries of PCB209, serving as surrogate standard. The recoveries of PCB209 in samples referred to Zhang, P., et al.^[4]

5 Discussion and Conclusion

The AntarcticPCBLevels dataset covers comprehensive data of PCB concentrations in Antarctic multiple samples from Fildes Peninsula and Xiehe Peninsula, Antarctica. PCBs were detected ubiquitously in the Antarctic air, water, sediment, soil, faeces, plant and intertidal benthos. Compared with that in previous studies, this dataset can provide comprehensive assessment of PCB distribution and transfer pattern in the selected multi-environmental media.

Author Contributions

Na, G. S. designed the study. Ge, L. K. wrote the paper. Wang, Y. J., et al. contributed to the data processing, analysis and validation.

References

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[11]    Ge, L. K., Wang, Y. J., Gao, H., et al. Polychlorinated biphenyls dataset from multimedia samples from Fildes Peninsula and Xiehe Peninsula, Antarctica [DB/OL]. Global Change Research Data Publishing & Repository, 2014. DOI:10.3974/geodb.2014.02.11.V1.

[12]    GCdataPR Editorial Office. GCdataPR Data Sharing Policy [OL]. DOI:10.3974/dp.policy.2014.05 (Updated 2017).