Air−Water Gas Exchange of Organochlorine Compounds in Lake Baikal, Russia

Abstract

Air and surface water samples were collected at Lake Baikal, Russia, during June 1991 to determine concentrations of organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners. These data were combined with Henry's law constants to estimate the gas flux rate across the air−water interface of each compound class. Air samples were collected at Lake Baikal and from nearby Irkutsk. Water samples were collected from three mid-lake stations and at the mouth of two major tributaries. Average air concentrations of chlorinated bornanes (14 pg m-3), chlordanes (4.9 pg m-3), and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) (194 pg m-3) were similar to global background or Arctic levels. However, air concentrations of hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), DDTs, and PCBs were closer to those observed in the Great Lakes region. Significantly higher levels of these three compound classes in air over Irkutsk suggests that regional atmospheric transport and deposition may be an important source of these persistent compounds to Lake Baika...