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Seasonal variations in concentrations, distributions, and air–soil exchange fluxes of dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls in Shanghai, China

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Abstract

Dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyl (dl-PCB) concentrations in ambient air and soil in Shanghai, China, were measured to allow seasonal and spatial differences in the dl-PCB concentrations, profiles, distributions, fugacity fractions, and air–soil fluxes to be determined. The toxic equivalent (TEQ) dl-PCB concentrations in the air were higher in summer (mean 9.46 fg m−3, range 1.32–26.3 fg m−3) than in winter (mean 4.57 fg m−3, range 1.55–10.9 fg m−3). The dl-PCB concentrations in air were different in different areas, and the concentrations decreased in the order industrial areas > commercial and residential areas > suburban areas > rural area. The mean dl-PCB concentration in soil was 0.25 pg TEQ g−1 dry weight (dw) and the range was 0.05–0.90 pg TEQ g−1 dw. The highest dl-PCB concentration in soil was found in a sample from a commercial/residential area. The dl-PCB fluxes were negative (−216 pg m−2 h−1 in summer and −41.1 pg m−2 h−1 in winter), and the fugacity fractions were below 0.5, indicating that dl-PCBs in Shanghai are deposited from the air to the soil in all seasons. The net fluxes were higher in summer than in winter, and the deposition fluxes were higher in industrial areas than in other areas in both summer and winter.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21407137, 51178440, and 21377121), the Special Fund for the Public Service Sector of the State Environmental Protection Agency of China (Grant No. 201209020), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant Nos. 2013 M540122 and 2014 T70105), and the State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (Grant No. SKLECRA 2015OFP01 and 2014OFP04).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China

    Yajun Tian, Zhiqiang Nie, Jie He, Qingqi Die, Yanyan Fang, Feng Liu, Yufei Yang, Xingbao Gao & Qifei Huang

  2. College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Qingqi Die & Yanyan Fang

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  1. Yajun Tian
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Correspondence to Qifei Huang.

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Responsible editor: Hongwen Sun

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Tian, Y., Nie, Z., He, J. et al. Seasonal variations in concentrations, distributions, and air–soil exchange fluxes of dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls in Shanghai, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 3376–3384 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5581-5

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