Seasonality and interspecies differences in particle/gas partitioning of PAHs observed by the Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN)

This study presents partitioning data from eight locations in the Laurentian Great Lakes region collected by the Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN) over periods ranging from 1 to 6 years. Particle/gas partitioning varies sufficiently between sites in the Great Lakes region to preclude the use of a uniform temperature dependence for its description. Site-specific parameters for describing partitioning as a function of inverse temperature are presented. Relationships between partitioning of appreciably semivolatile PAHs and saturated vapour pressure at Chicago (IIT) and Sturgeon Point (STP) demonstrate that anthracene, benz[a]anthracene and retene behave differently than phenanthrene, fluoranthene, pyrene and chrysene+triphenylene. Possible reasons for these differences include interspecies variations in the fraction of atmospherically non-exchangeable, though analytically extractable, PAHs on particles and differences in soot–air partition coefficients as they relate to saturated vapour pressure. The observed interspecies differences are not consistent with sampling artefacts such as filter adsorption or sorbent breakthrough. At IIT, but not at STP, values of the slope of the relationship between the log partition coefficient and log vapour pressure vary in a manner opposing the annual temperature cycle. A comparison of partitioning calculated by a combined absorption/adsorption model shows good predictability at Chicago but underestimates values at a rural site (Eagle Harbor, EGH) by an order of magnitude.