Passive air sampling of organochlorine pesticides across Japan in spring 2008
2010
Kobara, Y., National Inst. for Agro-Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan) | Seike, N. | Nishimori, M. | Masunaga, S. | Hosomi, M.
Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), classified as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), have been banned as pesticides since around 1970 in Japan. Declining trends in atmospheric OCP concentrations began decreasing gradually in recent years, ranging from a few pg/cubic m to 1,000 pg/cubic m, but data related to their nationwide distribution in the atmosphere remain sparse. A large-scale passive air sampling survey was therefore conducted across Japan. Polyurethane foam disks were deployed simultaneously at 54 sites to evaluate OCPs distribution in the atmosphere, during March 21 to May 16, 2008. Analyses of OCPs revealed a descending order of the concentrations (geological average: concentration range pg/cubic m): chlordanes (146:12-1290) endosulfans (70:14-269) HCHs (46:12-405) hexachlorobenzen (42:21-107) DDTs (23:2.6-579) drins (11:2.7-11) heptachlors (7.6-0.44-37) mirex (0.24:0.082-0.88) and, furthermore, confirmed the characteristics of the region on the OCP concentrations. The results on the OCPs concentration ranges and orders are consistent with those of the atmospheric monitoring data by an active air sampler (AAS), taken by the Ministry of the Environment in Japan. Source diagnostic analysis by metabolites and isomers of OCPs, and trajectories suggested that DDTs, for instance, mainly come from DDT pesticide applied in Japan in past years. This was deduced form the ratio of p,p'-DDT/p,p'-DDE. Therefore, the simultaneous PAS monitoring has a potential to evaluate the OCP concentration distribution in the atmosphere in an extensive area and the source/region of OCPs emissions.
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