Global distribution and atmospheric transport of chlorinated hydrocarbons: HCH (BHC) isomers and DDT compounds in the Western Pacific, Eastern Indian and Antarctic Oceans

Abstract

Concentrations of chlorinated hydrocarbons such as HCH isomers and DDT compounds were determined in air and surface water samples taken from the Western Pacific, Eastern Indian and Antarctic Oceans. The most interesting finding was their presence in measurable concentrations in the Antarctic Ocean. Chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides are widely distributed in the open ocean environment over both the northern and southern hemispheres, and some characteristic distribution patterns of pesticide species in different oceanic regions were observed both in air and water samples. HCH residues found in the northern hemisphere were much higher in concentration than those in the southern hemisphere. On the other hand, higher concentrations of DDT residues were found in the tropical regions, but their levels were not so different between both the northern and southern hemispheres. HCH isomers found in the northern hemisphere had the following order of concentrations:α-HCH>γ HCH>β-HCH, while in the southern hemisphere γ-HCH was apparently dominant. DDT compound compositions were rather uniform in all the oceans surveyed, and more than 50% was p,p′-DDT. These facts can be explained by the world wide situation regarding pesticide use and the physicochemical properties of the pesticides such as their vapor pressures and water solubilities. In addition, the meridional circulation of the atmosphere, particularly the mass flows of the Hadley and Ferrel cells in the troposphere, also contributes to the atmospheric transport and global distribution of these pesticides. © 1982 Oceanographical Society of Japan.