A modified technique for field measurements of dry deposition fluxes of polychlorinated biphenyls in tropical regions

Abstract

This report focused on the development of a technique to measure dry deposition fluxes of PCBs in tropical environments. Temperature resistant double-adhesive tape has been used as a new surrogate surface for collection of deposited PCBs. The new technique includes the measurement of field blanks for the entire sampling period. A sonication-assisted extraction procedure has been validated for the extraction of PCBs from the tape. The new technique has been used in the field for a period of 4 months in the tropical region of Singapore. The average dry deposition flux measured for total PCBs was 15.3 ng m- 2 day- 1 and, on a global scale, this can be considered to be low. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.