Concentration distribution of polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides and their relationship with temperature in rural air of Korea

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) concentrations were measured every other week from July 1999 to February 2000 in the rural air of Ansung, Kyonggi-do in South Korea. The average contribution of PCB homologs were tri-(44.5%), tetra-(23.6%), penta-(21.6%), hexa-(3.6%), hepta-(5.5%) and deca-CB (1.6%) therefore identifying tri-CBs as the main component of PCB homologs. Endosulfan is the most prevalent OCP because of its continuous usage as a pesticide in South Korea. The correlation coefficient between OCPs and temperature was significantly high (p<0.05) which is partly due to the fact that major sources are re-volatilization from soil, vegetation and so on. The Clausius–Clapeyron equation was applied to atmospheric total PCBs and OCPs (α-HCH and γ-HCH), relating partial pressure (ln P) to inverse temperature (1/T). The partial pressure of total PCBs and OCPs were all significantly correlated with inverse temperature (p<0.01) and the slopes of resulting plots of total PCBs and OCPs ranged from −2950 (total PCBs) to −6629 (α-HCH), −8106 (γ-HCH). The strong temperature effect and steep slopes of OCPs indicate the predominant impact of local surroundings to these concentrations in the rural atmosphere.