Long description

A map showing a stereographic plot of the Arctic regions. The North Pole is at the centre and the lowest latitude is 50° N. There are concentric lines of latitude at 60° N, 70° N and 80° N. The Arctic Circle (66.6° N) is shown as a dashed line. The ocean regions are coloured blue and land is coloured pale green. Superimposed on this plot are six coloured bar charts in different locations showing the concentration of PBDE in the fat of various wildlife. The bar charts are for beluga (2 bar charts in different locations), burbot liver, ringed seals (2 bar charts) and thick-billed murre seabird eggs. All are in northern Canada, except one bar chart for ringed seals which is in western Greenland. Each bar chart shows PBDE concentration measurements during the period 1975 to 2005. The measurements are sparse through this period but broadly show an increase through time, typically from 1-5 nanograms of PBDE per gram of lipid weight in the 1970s-80s increasing to 25-35 ng/g in the 2000s. The exceptions to this pattern are ringed seals in northern Canada, where the increase is from around 1 up to around 5 ng/g over this period, and beluga in northern Canada, where there are no data before 1990 so it is not possible to know whether the concentrations increased.