PAH Baseline Measurements in North Slope Marine Mammal Tissues

North Slope region of Alaska marine mammal tissue and fluid samples collected by subsistence hunters over 15 years have been analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Northwest Fisheries Science Center conducted the study using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. Findings are intended for a peer-reviewed journal publication.

Use Cases

• Establishing baseline pollution levels in top-level predators based on PAH concentration measurements.
• Analyzing tissue and stomach content samples for parent and alkylated PAHs using GC/MS.
• Analyzing bile and urine samples for PAH metabolites using HPLC/fluorescence or LC-MS/MS.
• Studying the impact of petroleum-related compounds on subsistence-harvested marine mammals.

Strengths

• Samples collected over a 15-year period, suggesting a longitudinal component.
• Analysis uses high-quality techniques like gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS).
• Data includes multiple sample matrices: tissues, stomach contents, bile, and urine.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the North Slope region of Alaska.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Samples collected by subsistence hunters and archived by the North Slope Borough, analyzed by the NWFSC Environmental Chemistry Program.

Time Range

Samples collected over the past 15 years (inferred from description).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-14 22:54:05.134395; freshness should be verified

Geography

North Slope region of Alaska