Atmospheric deposition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons near New England coastal waters

Wet and dry deposition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was measured at Nahant, Massachusetts, a peninsula jutting into Massachusetts Bay and Wolf Neck, a peninsula jutting into Casco Bay, Maine. Wet deposition (rain and snow) was collected in a funnel which drains into a shielded, temperature controlled receiving bottle. Dry deposition of gaseous and particulate PAHs was collected onto an exposed water surface. PAHs were analyzed by solid phase extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Sixteen PAH species were analyzed, ranging from acenaphthylene to coronene. The mean wet deposition rate of the sum of the 16 species is 720 ng m(-2) cm(-1) precipitation at Nahant, and 831 ng m(-2) cm(-1) precipitation at Wolf Neck. Wet deposition is attributed to regional PAH emitting sources. Storm patterns appear to-bring somewhat higher wet deposition of PAHs to Wolf Neck than to Nahant. The mean dry deposition rate is 95 ng m(-2) h(-1) at Nahant and 9.3 ng m(-2) h(-1) at Wolf Neck. The large difference is attributed to the fact that Nahant is close to the urban-industrial metropolitan Boston area and Logan International Airport, whereas Wolf Neck has no major PAH-emitting sources nearby. Individual measurements have an error bracket of +/- 30%. The Chemical Mass Balance model was used to apportion the dry deposition to source categories. At Nahant, nine samples gave valid statistical attributes with a mean apportionment: jet exhaust 35%, gasoline fueled vehicles 32%, diesel fueled vehicles 17%, wood combustion 13%, others 3%. At Wolf Neck, six samples yielded a mean apportionment: jet exhaust 30%, gasoline vehicles 28%, diesel vehicles 18%, wood combustion 16%, others 8%. There is a considerable variation between the samples. The apportionment is greatly dependent on the quality and selection of the model inputs, i.e. source signatures, which for PAHs are questionable. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.