ATMOSPHERIC REMOVAL PROCESSES FOR HIGH MOLECULAR-WEIGHT ORGANOCHLORINES

Factors influencing the atmospheric removal of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and the chlorinated insecticides p,p prime -DDT, chlordane, and toxaphene were investigated in the city of Columbia, South Carolina, and at the North Inlet estuary on the South Carolina coast. Dry deposition velocities (V//d) for individual organochlorines (OC) varied by 1 - 2 orders of magnitude from day to day, and in Columbia log V//d was correlated with average wind velocity. The similarity of PCB and p,p prime -DDT removal rates suggests an explanation for the fact that PCB and p,p prime -DDT ratios in seawater are about the same as those in the ocean atmosphere.