THE OCCURRENCE AND THE FATE OF ORGANIC POLLUTANTS IN THE ATMOSPHERE

The transport and cycling of both natural and anthropogenic chemicals in the environment is an extremely dynamic proms that is important for the well being of all earth's inhabitants. The atmosphere plays a maj or role in the transport and cycling of chemicals, especially those th at are volatile or semi-volatile in nature. Atmospheric water, in the form of snow, fog, and rain can provide major transport pathways for c hemicals that are distributed both regionally and globally. The concen trations 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 mountainou s regions in Central and Northern Switzerland: n-alkanes, polycyclic a romatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychl orinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) , phenols, and a variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Results from these sampling campaigns indicate that the pollutants measured w ere: 1) strongly influenced by artifacts associated with sampling, ext raction, and analyses; 2) dependent on the local meteorological condit ions; and 3) can be modeled quite well by equilibrium partitioning the ory between the gaseous, aqueous, and particulate phases in the atmosp here.