Perfluorinated Chemical Concentrations in Antarctic Seabirds and Mammals

Southern Ocean wildlife, including Adelie penguins, South Polar skua, and elephant seals, were sampled for perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) like PFOS and PFOA. The dataset contains concentration measurements from blood and egg samples collected between 1995 and 2005. The research was conducted by the organization SCIOPS.

Use Cases

• Analyze PFOS concentration trends in elephant seal blood samples from 1995-2005.
• Compare PFC contamination levels between penguin blood, penguin eggs, and skua blood samples.
• Investigate the global distribution of PFCs by studying presence/absence data in Antarctic species.
• Model bioaccumulation factors using concentration data (ng/ml, ng/g) across different species and tissues.

Strengths

• Multi-year temporal coverage from 1995 to 2005.
• Includes multiple species (penguins, skua, elephant seals) and sample types (blood, eggs).
• Reports specific concentration ranges, such as PFOS in elephant seals from <0.08 to 3.52 ng/ml.

Limitations

• Sample size and number of measurement rows are unknown.
• Geographic coverage is limited to Antarctic sampling sites.
• Data is temporally stale, with the last update in 2005.

Provenance

Source

SCIOPS via NASA EarthData.

Collection Method

Chemical analysis of biological samples (blood, eggs) collected from wildlife.

Time Range

1995 to 2005.

Freshness

Data collection ended in 2005; no updates since.

Geography

Southern Ocean/Antarctic region.