title: Differences in spatiotemporal variations of atmospheric PAH levels between North America and Europe: data from two air monitoring projects.
abstract: Atmospheric concentrations of high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured at five sites for almost two decades near the North American Great Lakes, as part of the Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN), and at three remote sites around Europe, as part of the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP). The primary objectives were to reveal the spatial distributions, long-term temporal trends, and seasonal variations of atmospheric PAH concentrations and to investigate potential differences between these two regions. Atmospheric PAH concentrations at the urban sites in Chicago and Cleveland near Great Lakes were about 20 times (depending on PAH congener and sampling site) greater than those at the rural sites except for Košetice in the Czech Republic. Atmospheric PAH concentrations at Košetice, also a rural site, were about one-third of those at Chicago and Cleveland, but 10 times higher than those at other rural sites (Sturgeon Point, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Eagle Harbor, Aspvreten, and Spitsbergen). Significant long-term decreasing trends of all these PAH atmospheric concentrations were observed at Chicago and Cleveland. For the other sites, either less significant or no long-term decreasing trends were observed. Clear seasonality was observed at Sturgeon Point, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Košetice, and Spitsbergen, with the highest PAH concentrations observed in mid-January.
authors.affiliation: School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, United States.
authors.forename: Liang-Ying
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Masaryk University Brno, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kukučka
authors.affiliation: School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, United States.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Venier
authors.affiliation: School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, United States.
authors.forename: Amina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salamova
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Masaryk University Brno, Kamenice 5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klánová
authors.affiliation: School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, United States. Electronic address: hitesr@indiana.edu.
authors.forename: Ronald A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hites
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005060:Europe; D009656:North America; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis*; D012621:Seasons; D013995:Time
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
keywords: Europe; North America; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; Seasonal trends; Spatial distributions