The atmospheric fate of 1,2-dibromo-4-(1,2-dibromoethyl)cyclohexane (TBECH): spatial patterns, seasonal variability, and deposition to Canadian coastal regions

Oh, Jenny; Shunthirasingham, Chubashini; Lei, Ying Duan; Zhan, Faqiang; Li, Yuening; Dalpé Castilloux, Abigaëlle; Ben Chaaben, Amina; Lu, Zhe; Lee, Kelsey; Gobas, Frank A. P. C.; Eckhardt, Sabine; Alexandrou, Nick; Hung, Hayley; Wania, Frank

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10191-2023

Articles | Volume 23, issue 17

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10191-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10191-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 17

Research article

|

12 Sep 2023

Research article |

| 12 Sep 2023

The atmospheric fate of 1,2-dibromo-4-(1,2-dibromoethyl)cyclohexane (TBECH): spatial patterns, seasonal variability, and deposition to Canadian coastal regions

Jenny Oh, Chubashini Shunthirasingham, Ying Duan Lei, Faqiang Zhan, Yuening Li, Abigaëlle Dalpé Castilloux, Amina Ben Chaaben, Zhe Lu, Kelsey Lee, Frank A. P. C. Gobas, Sabine Eckhardt, Nick Alexandrou, Hayley Hung, and Frank Wania

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Final revised paper (published on 12 Sep 2023)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 05 Jun 2023)
Supplement to the preprint

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

CC1:
'Comment on egusphere-2023-1151', Terry Bidleman, 26 Jun 2023

Please see attached review.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1151-CC1
- AC1:
  'Reply to comments by Terry Bidleman', Frank Wania, 01 Jul 2023
  
  We would like to thank Terry Bidleman for taking the time to send his insightful and constructive feedback. We have taken the feedback in consideration and prepared responses for each comment in the atached document.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1151-AC1
  - RC1: 'Reply on AC1', Terry Bidleman, 10 Jul 2023
    
    Thanks to the authors for thorough and thoughtful responses to my comments. I am satisfied with these responses and enthusiastically recommend the paper for final publication.
    
    Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1151-RC1
RC2:
'Comment on egusphere-2023-1151', Anonymous Referee #2, 11 Jul 2023

In summary, I find this to be an excellent paper. It is very well written and is also a very significant contribution to our knowledge on the environmental presence of the emerging contaminant, TBECH and stands to influence its regulatory review. I recommend accepting it. I list a few minor comments for the authors to consider below, but would not insist on any of them be done.
Keywords: I did not actually see the keywords, but, consider including the other name to TBECH there: DBE-DBCH
Line 50 - it could be mentioned that toxicity & effects can still occur with non-persistent contaminants - if they are continuously released.
Line 71-74 - There are a few other toxic effects - you could simply point readers to a recent review which covers many of them (Marteinson et al 2021: A review of 1,2-dibromo-4-(1,2-dibromoethyl)cyclohexane in the environment and assessment of its persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity, Environmental Research, 195. https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1016%2Fj.envres.2020.110497&data=05%7C01%7CSarah.Marteinson%40dfo-mpo.gc.ca%7C8cea1b93e57d4f681fd608db81059958%7C1594fdaea1d94405915d011467234338%7C0%7C0%7C638245633299908122%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=m%2BwLPfK8PoZZwmKf2GV2DfUUphjgbnkHw9ri1Zo9oKI%3D&reserved=0)
102 - 2019 - 22 - should any potential impacts of change human behaviour during the pandemic be mentioned? I am not sure what these might be given TBECH is likely emitted from finished imported products. However, it does come to the reader's mind that this might not be a representative period of time. There is no need to speculate, but it could simply be acknowledged a an unknown; perhpas there is some trend data on other similar air pollutants to indicate any changes (or not) during the pandemic that could be mentioned?
Line 181-183 - I think it would be beneficial to summarize in a few lines what these tables show - otherwise the results for all of these other BFRs measured are only found in the supplemental information and that is unfortunate.
Paragraph beginning line 185 - Note that concentrations of TBECH have already been reviewed (Marteinson et al 2020) which includes most of these same references - this should be acknowledged.
Line 204-5 "in this study, BDE-47 was also detected in the air in all sampling regions, with comparable levels to TBECH." This is a very significant and important finding, adding important evidence to that mounting which suggests TBECH is an contaminant of concern to consider further in risk assessment.
The figures are excellent.
Line 318 - can you verify this error before publication?
Paragraph beginning on line 354 - This is also a very interesting/novel finding and useful for understanding of TBECH enantiomers in the environment.
Section 4.1.2 - It was striking to me that air concentrations of TBECH changed with the season, but precipitation concentrations did not - some discussion of this here and how it relates to the scavenging rations you have calculated would be beneficial/interesting.
4.2 - this is the only heading phrased as a question which seems out of place - you may want to change it.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1151-RC2
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Frank Wania, 19 Jul 2023
  
  We wish to express our sincere gratitude to Anonymous Reviewer #2 for their detailed and constructive feedback. We have taken their comments into consideration and prepared responses in the attached document.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1151-AC2

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload

AR by Frank Wania on behalf of the Authors (19 Jul 2023) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (11 Aug 2023) by Ivan Kourtchev

AR by Frank Wania on behalf of the Authors (14 Aug 2023)

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Short summary

An emerging brominated flame retardant (BFR) called TBECH (1,2-dibromo-4-(1,2-dibromoethyl)cyclohexane) has never been produced or imported for use in Canada yet is found to be one of the most abundant gaseous BFRs in the Canadian atmosphere. The recorded spatial and temporal variability of TBECH suggest that the release from imported consumer products containing TBECH is the most likely explanation for its environmental occurrence in Canada.