Atmospheric deposition of triazine herbicides in Northern Germany and the German Bight (North Sea)

12 organonitrogen and -phosphorus pesticides were identified in precipitation samples (wet and dry deposition) from 5 locations in Northern Germany and the island of Heligoland (North Sea). The temporal development of the concentrations as well as deposition rates of three triazine herbicides, atrazine, simazine and terbutylazine, and of the metabolite desethylterbutylazine in total deposition samples from locations close to the source (agriculture) are compared to values obtained from the sampler on the island of Heligoland (marine sampling site). The concentrations ranged from < 3 to 500 ng/L. Deposition rates are presented for the respective sampling intervals as well as on a seasonal basis for all sampling sites Furthermore, gradients for the atmospheric transport or deposition, respectively, are calculated which may represent the dilution effect between source and Heligoland. For terbutylazine this gradient turned out to be 5:1, while for atrazine the value was about 1:1. The annual atmospheric deposition of triazine derivatives in the German Bight (North Sea) is estimated to be 20 μg/m2 which implies an input to the German Bight of about 500 kg triazines per year. This value is compared to riverine input of about 3 000 kg atrazine, 16 000 kg simazine and 2 000 kg terbutylazine per year.