Measurements of marine atmospheric background concentrations of volatile organic compounds originating from petroleum

Recently it has been noted that human health damage is caused by exposure to low concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor air. Even very low concentration VOCs might affect animals and plants as hazardous air pollutants. However, their background concentrations and decomposition process are not clarified well. Measurements of global-scale-background concentrations of VOCs in the air over the ocean have been carried out on board on two routes between Japan and Australia and a round-the-world route. Two sampling methods, canister and solid-absorption-thermal-desorption, were used, and the VOC concentrations were measured with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). In this paper, measurements of VOC concentrations by two sampling methods are shown, and the global-scale-background concentrations of VOCs are analyzed.