title: Atmospheric transport and accumulation of organochlorine compounds on the southern slopes of the Himalayas, Nepal.
abstract: Studies have been devoted to the transport and accumulation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in mountain environments. The Himalayas have the widest altitude gradient of any mountain range, but few studies examining the environmental behavior of POPs have been performed in the Himalayas. In this study, air, soil, and leaf samples were collected along a transect on the southern slope of the Himalayas, Nepal (altitude: 135-5100 m). Local emission occurred in the lowlands, and POPs were transported by uplift along the slope. During the atmospheric transport, the HCB proportion increased from the lowlands (20%) to high elevation (>50%), whereas the proportions of DDTs decreased. The largest residue of soil POPs appeared at an altitude of approximately 2500 m, and may be related to absorption by vegetation and precipitation. The net deposition tendencies at the air-soil surface indicated that the Himalayas may be a 'sink' for DDTs and PCBs.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environmental Changes and Land Surface Process, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environmental Changes and Land Surface Process, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100101, China. Electronic address: wangxp@itpcas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xiao-ping
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environmental Changes and Land Surface Process, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Sheng-hai
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environmental Changes and Land Surface Process, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Wu-sheng
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environmental Changes and Land Surface Process, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Jiu-le
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environmental Changes and Land Surface Process, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100101, China; Department of Meteorology, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Dambaru Ballab
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Kattel
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environmental Changes and Land Surface Process, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Wei-cai
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Central Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu 44618, Nepal.
authors.forename: Lochan Prasad
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Devkota
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environmental Changes and Land Surface Process, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Tan-dong
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environmental Changes and Land Surface Process, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Daniel R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Joswiak
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000531:Altitude; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000032:analysis; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated / Q000032:analysis*; D009390:Nepal; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D015386:Hazardous Substances; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: Air–soil exchange; Altitudinal distribution; Cold-trapping; Hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA); Persistent organic pollutants (POPs)