Abstract
The transport and cycling of both natural and anthropogenic chemicals in the environment is an extremely dynamic process that is important for the well being of all earth's inhabitants. The atmosphere plays a major role in the transport and cycling of chemicals, especially those that are volatile or semi-volatile in nature. Atmospheric water, in the form of snow, fog, and rain can provide major transport pathways for chemicals that are distributed both regionally and globally.
The concentrations of organic pollutants in the following compound classes have been measured in snow, rain, fog, and the ambient air surrounding the precipitation for the last seven years in urban, rural, and mountainous regions in Central and Northern Switzerland: n-alkanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs), phenols, and a variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Results from these sampling campaigns indicate that the pollutants measured were: 1) strongly influenced by artifacts associated with sampling, extraction, and analyses; 2) dependent on the local meteorological conditions; and 3) can be modeled quite well by equilibrium partitioning theory between the gaseous, aqueous, and particulate phases in the atmosphere.
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Hart, K.M., Tremp, J., Molnar, E. et al. The occurrence and the fate of organic pollutants in the atmosphere. Water Air Soil Pollut 68, 91–112 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00479395
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00479395