Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polybrominated diphenil ethers (PBDEs) in Adelie penguin food web

This is more than 10-fold greater than levels in biota at other sites far from McMurdo. For comparison, a 2006 study of krill, rock cod, and penguin eggs at Terra Nova Bay (200 km from McMurdo) reported much lower ΣPBDE6 concentrations (3.06 to 5.81 µg/kg).

Researchers attributed the dominance of the more volatile congeners to their preferential long-range transport. Hale instead suggested that the Cinder Cones cod may have previously resided near McMurdo. Its presence at Cinder Cones thus would represent biologically mediated export of pollutants from a contaminated zone to a more pristine area.