From Introduction: Organic contaminants entering soils pose a threat to soil functions and properties (Valentín et al., 2013; White & Claxton, 2004; Yaron et al., 2012). In freezing soils, especially permafrost-affected soils, the freezing process leads to changes in soil’s physical and chemical properties (Yershov, 1998). Soils represent a complex heterogeneous, multi-phase system, with a large interfacial area, which causes phenomena such as adsorption of water and chemicals, ion exchange and capillarity (Hillel, 2003). Therefore the interaction of freezing soils and organic contaminants is characterized by high complexity and a variety of processes, whose effects may accumulate or abate each other.