Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-dioxins and Dibenzofurans in the Atmosphere Around the Great Lakes

Abstract

The atmospheric concentrations of PCDDs and PCDFs were measured in four sites near the shores of the North American Great Lakes. The sites included an urban site (Chicago, Illinois) and three rural/remote sites (Eagle Harbor, Michigan; Sleeping Bear Dunes, Michigan; and Sturgeon Point, New York). Sampling occurred every 24 days between November 2004 and December 2007. The concentration of PCDD/Fs averaged 2.3 +/- 0.2 fg WHO TEQ/m3 at Eagle Harbor, 35 +/- 3 fg WHO TEO/ m3 at Chicago, 7.4 +/- 1.4 fg WHO TEO/m3 at Sleeping Bear Dunes, and 13 +/- 2 fg WHO TED/m3 at Sturgeon Point. The total concentration of the 17 toxic PCDD/F congeners showed a significant seasonal trend at all sites, except Chicago. The date of maximum concentration averaged Dec 6 +/- 35 days, which is consistent with residential heating being an important source of PCDD/Fs to the atmosphere. A significant positive relationship between the logarithm of the total concentration of the 17 toxic PCDD/F congeners and the logarithm of the number of people within a 25 km radius around the sampling site was found. We suggest that urban and industrial areas, which are heavily populated, act as sources of PCDDs and PCDFs to the atmosphere.

Reduction of Atmospheric Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-Dioxins and Dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

“…This result contradicts the findings by Venier et al, 8 who based their findings on different geographical and industrial activities around the Great Lakes and compared to an unimpacted rural location.…”

“…Similar observations have been reported in Europe, the United States, Japan, and Australia. 28 Most PCDF congeners were detected at the four sampling sites, whereas for PCDDs only OCDD 18 Shanghai, 19 the U.K., 5 Spain, 7 the Great Lakes region, 8 and Houston, Texas. 32 Figure S2 of the SI shows the temporal trends of each PCDD/ F homologues at site HD.…”

“…7 In the United States, PCDD/Fs were reported at 6.4À15.4 fg TEQ m À3 for rural areas in the United States between 1999 and 2002, 31 40À55 fg I-TEQ m À3 for Houston in 2002À2003, 32 and 7À35 fg WHO-TEQ m À3 for the Great Lakes area in 2004À2007. 8 Considering that the PCDD/Fs concentrations during the winter months were on average about 2À3 times higher than during the summer in Beijing air, 17 the expected annual PCDD/Fs levels in the Beijing air would be comparable to or slightly higher than those in other urban areas.…”

Sources, Fate and Effects of Contaminant Emissions in Urban Areas

“…Emissions are difficult to estimate as they originate from myriad non-point sources. Hites and co-workers have found significant relationships between atmospheric concentrations of PCBs, PAHs and PCDD/Fs with population (Hafner and Hites, 2003;Hafner et al, 2005;Venier et al, 2009). For PCDD/Fs, the slope of log-log concentration-population plots are slightly greater than 1, indicating that a doubling of the population results in slightly more than double the air concentrations, whereas the slope is $0.5 for PAHs.…”

Polychlorinated Dibenzo-P-Dioxins (PCDD), Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans (PCDF) and Dioxin-Like Polychlorinated Biphenyls (Dl-PCB) in the Baltic and Arctic Fish and the Further Trophic Transfer of these Pollutants to Seabirds

“…Due to the typical properties of dioxins and other POPs as hydrophobicity and low vapor pressure, these contaminants are characterized by relatively limited mobility in environmental compartments. Nevertheless, a vertical migration into groundwater, as well as horizontal transport by air can be achieved easily [4][5][6]. Increased mobility can be caused by the presence of other contaminants, e.g.…”