Both as an air pollutant and as a gaseous component of the local phosphorus
cycle, phosphine (PH3) was found in the urban air of Beijing. Other possib
le sources, like paddy fields and water reservoirs, were selected for testi
ng the hypothesis of the biological phosphine formation. Phosphine in the u
rban air of Beijing was measured in different seasons. In the summertime ph
osphine levels typically peak in the early morning and then decline towards
noon. The maximum concentration at 6.00 am was 65 ng m(-3) whilst that at
noon was 11 ng m(-3). In spring and in wintertime, the phosphine levels in
the urban air of Beijing were lowest. A first screening revealed phosphine
also in gas and in sediment samples from a paddy field near Beijing, the Be
ijing Shisanling water reservoir, and the refuse tips Changping of Beijing
as well as in the ambient air adjacent to these sampling sites. The maximum
phosphine concentrations in these gas samples were 41 (marsh gas, paddy fi
eld), 135 (marsh gas, reservoir), 1062 (landfillgas) ng m(-3), and in the a
mbient air samples 146 (air, paddy field), 166 (air, reservoir), and 71 (ai
r, refuse tips) ng m(-3). In sediment samples, the highest matrix-bound pho
sphine levels were 13 (paddy field), and 3.9 (reservoir) ng kg(-1). These c
omparatively high concentrations of the readily oxidizable phosphine in air
indicate hitherto unknown but important phosphorus emission sources, which
might reduce the biomass growth in Chinese fields and forests by a general
phosphorus limitation. Phosphine is also a constituent of the air pollutio
n in China. However, more work has to be done to evaluate the different sou
rces of atmospheric phosphine.