Seasonal and diurnal variations of atmospheric PAHs and OCPs in a suburban paddy field, South China : impacts of meteorological parameters and sources

Abstract

The atmospheric contaminations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), and DDTs have been extensively monitored for decades, but contaminations in agricultural paddy fields have rarely been reported. We measured the atmospheric PAH, HCH, and DDT constituents during different rice growth stages in a suburban paddy field in South China. Diurnal variations were found in the atmospheric concentrations of PAHs and HCHs, but not for DDTs. Additional nocturnal emissions and meteorological conditions, such as low nocturnal stable atmospheric boundary layers, may be mainly responsible for the higher PAH and HCH levels at night, respectively. Atmospheric concentrations of PAH, HCH, and DDT constituents varied with rice growth stage, but no regular seasonal variation was found, suggesting that rice growth has no significant influence on the atmospheric concentrations of these chemicals. A correlation analysis suggested that meteorological parameters, such as temperature, precipitation, mixing layer height, or wind speed, may directly or indirectly affect the air concentrations of PAHs, HCHs, and DDTs. Source apportionment showed that atmospheric PAHs, HCHs, and DDTs in the paddy field originated from mixed sources, and the contribution of each source varied with time. The isomer ratio of fluoranthene/(fluoranthene+pyrene) may result in an invalid diagnosis of PAHs.