The spatial concentrations, seasonal trends, profiles and congener pairs of ambient polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) were investigated within a seasonally active sampling scheme during Jun 2008 and Jan 2009 in Tianjin City, northern China. The PCDD/F concentrations ranged 14.2-172 fg I-TEQ/m3 (average 69.3 fg I-TEQ/m3 ) in summer and (89.8-1.01)×103 fg I-TEQ/m3 (average 509 fg I-TEQ/m3 ) in winter, respectively, except for the E-waste dismantling site where much higher values were observed (1.04×103 fg I-TEQ/m3 in summer and 7.123×103 fg I-TEQ/m3 in winter). The results indicated a significantly seasonal trend with higher TEQ values in winter as compared with summer, which could be related to increased emission sources and seasonal variations of the atmospheric boundary layer height. 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF was the dominant contributor to the total PCDD/F toxic equivalents, and 2,3,7,8-TCDD was detected at almost all the sampling sites in winter. Most of the similarly substituted PCDD/F congener pairs exhibited high correlations, suggesting that they might have similar environmental fate or sources. But different seasonal and spatial distributions of PCDD/F concentrations indicated that the emission sources might be intermittent.
Lei DingYingming LiPu WangXiaomin LiZongshan ZhaoQinghua ZhangTing TuanGuibin Jiang
Antarctica is an important research region for assessing persistence and long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT) of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). In this study, XAD-resin passive air sampling was conducted near the Chinese Great Wall Station, Antarctica, during a one-year sampling period in 2009-2010. The air concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were at a very low level, with total PCBs in the range of 26.74-45.08 pg m 3. PCB profiles were dominated by tetra-PCBs, tri-PCBs and di-PCBs, indicating LRAT was responsible for the pollutants in the Antarctic atmosphere. The sampling site near the Chinese Great Wall Station did not show higher PCB levels than the other sites, suggesting that PCB sources associated with the Great Wall Station were negligible. PCB-11 is a non-Aroclor congener, which has specific sources compared to other Aroclor PCB congeners. PCB-11 was observed in all air samples, with an average concentration of 1.22 pg m 3. To our knowledge, this study is the first investigation of PCB levels and distribution in the atmosphere around the Chinese Great Wall Station, Antarctica.
LI YingMingGENG DaWeiHU YongBiaoWANG PuZHANG QingHuaJIANG GuiBin
