Spatial distribution of water mass pollution characteristics in the Barents Sea

Abstract

Digital databases on 444 stations were used to carry out statistical analysis of regularities in the spatial distribution of Barents Sea water pollution. The analysis was focused on the concentrations in water of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn) and toxic organic compounds: hexachlorocyclohexanes, hexachlorobenzene, chlordans, DDT, polychlorbiphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and normal paraffins. The statistical analysis of data on pollutants was carried out along two major directions in their distribution: the vertical—in the surface and bottom water layers; and the horizontal—over water masses. Reliable differences were identified in the pollution level of different water masses of the Barents Sea. The frontal zone was found to concentrate pollution.