A Study on Distributional Characteristics of Pesticides used in the Atmosphere of South Korea

Abstract

Over the past few decades, historic-use pesticides (HUPs), as commonly known as organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), have been widely used in agricultural fields. Since these chemicals were banned throughout the world due to their environmental persistence, toxicity, and long-range atmospheric transport, however, current-use pesticides (CUPs) have been used as alternatives, and today both HUPs and CUPs are frequently detected in the environment. Therefore, this study aimed to understand the characteristics of HUPs and CUPs by exploring the target pesticides in the atmosphere. In this study, samples were collected at three main sites in South Korea for three consecutive days every month for one year. The annual concentrations in the atmosphere were 184.97±15.83 pg/m3 for HUPs and 1,226.43±1,333.47 pg/m3 for CUPs. The concentration distributions showed that most HUPs and CUPs reached the highest levels in summer, while falling to the lowest levels in winter. The results of the concentration levels with spatial and seasonal variations indicate that the emission sources of these pesticides were influenced by long-range atmospheric transport from a contaminated area and/or re-volatilization related to regional factors. These findings can potentially serve as a preliminary assessment tool for identifying the origins of these pesticides in the atmosphere.