Air monitoring at Alert in the high Arctic: Results of one year of monitoring of organochlorine compounds and PAH

In January 1992, an air toxics sampler was set up at Alert, on Northern Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic (82.5{degree} N, 62.3{degree} W) as part of an arctic air toxics monitoring and assessment program. Since then, three more sites were added to the network: Tagish, Yukon Territory near Whitehorse, Dunai Island in the former Soviet Union, and Cape Dorset on Baffin Island. Organochlorines (OCs) and PAHs were sampled weekly to determine the types, concentrations and vapor-particle relationships. High volume samplers with a 10 micrometer size selective inlet were used with a collection cartridge consisting of glass fiber filter(s) for particulates followed by two 20 cm diameter 5 cm thick polyurethane foam plugs for vapors, with a weekly sample volume of approximately 11,000 m{sup 3}. Samples were analyzed by gas chromatography using electron capture detection and confirmation by GC/MS. This paper will focus on selected compounds for 1992 at Alert: a volatile OC hexachlorobenzene, a semi-volatile OC DDT, and the PAHs, pyrene, benzo(e) and benzo(a)pyrene. The authors will present annual average concentrations as well as weekly integrated values to look for potential seasonal variation through temporal profiles and their distribution between the particle and gas phases.