PASSIVE SAMPLING OF WATER AND COASTAL AIR VIA SEMIPERMEABLE-MEMBRANE DEVICES

Lipid containing semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) were applied i n a field sampling study of water and coastal air in California. SPMDs were shown to be effective in concentrating trace organochlorine cont aminants from both air and water. Estimates of ambient air and water c oncentrations for selected organochlorines (OCs) were made from their concentrations in SPMDs. Comparison of the ratio of the estimated air to water OC concentrations to the non-dimensional Henry's Law constant s suggests that the net flux of OCs should be from the ambient air to the water. In this study, SPMD values for coastal air concentrations w ere compared to those recently obtained by Iwata, Tanabe, et al., for measurements of OC air concentrations over the North Pacific ocean. SP MD derived estimates for coastal air concentrations of alpha and gamma -HCCH were roughly 9 times higher than open ocean values; the cis- and trans-chlordanes were 70 times higher; and the p,p'-DDE levels are mo re than a thousand times higher. Coastal air concentration estimates f or hexachlorobenzene were comparable to those previously reported for the open ocean. Comparison of OC ratios for open ocean air to those es timated for coastal air suggests the difference in the composition of coastal air is primarily due to an increase in gamma-HCCH and a large increase in p,p'-DDE concentrations.