Atmospheric Concentrations of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Sado

The concentration of 21 kinds of the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) including their metabolites in the atmosphere were measured at Sado area during the period from April 2002 to March 2003. Sado is one of the area where is scarcely polluted with the artificial pollution sources. Two sampling sites, Kanai site (agricultural, commercial and residential site which is located at the center of Sado island) and Seki site (remote site which is located in the north of Sado island), were selected in Sado area and the behavior of the POPs of these sites were compared with that of Niigata site (suburban site) . Hexachlorobenzene (HCB), α-, β-, γ-Hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), traps-, cis-Chlordanes, Heptachlor, p, p'-DDE, p, p'-DDT, Dieldrin and α-Endosulfan were frequently detected, but Aldrin, Endrin aldehyde and Methoxychlor were not detected at all. The concentrations of the POPs of Kanai site were close to those of Niigata site. But the concentrations of the POPs except HCB, α-, γ-HCHs and α-Endosulfan of Seki site were lower than those of the other sites. These results indicates that Seki located at remote site is not affected by any artificial pollution sources including residence and agricultural activities. The concentration levels of HCB, α- andγ-HCHs were similar values at the three sites, and these pollutants seemed to be spread over the global scale. Although the usages of Endosulfans have not been recorded in Niigata Prefecture in the past decade, the high value of α-Endosulfan detected at all the three sites suggests that Endosulfans might be transferred from the other area.