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The atmospheric size distributions of particulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their deposition fluxes were measured at four sites in August and at three sites in November 1999, in Korea. The total ambient particulate PAHs concentrations at each site ranged between 6.7 and 128.7 ng m−3. In November, the total PAHs concentrations at Inchon (IC) were the highest, followed by Yangsuri (YS) and Seoul (SE). This trend is contrary to the expectation that the total PAHs concentrations at IC and SE be higher than that at YS because IC and SE are highly industrialized large cities and YS is rural area. The size distributions of individual PAHs in IC and SE show trimodal in Dp ≤ 9 µm while the particulate PAHs in YS were distributed evenly to fine- and coarse-size particles. These results suggest that YS has local sources in addition to transport of PAHs emitted from urban sources. The measured dry deposition fluxes of total PAHs ranged from 6.9 to 12.6 µg m−2 day−1 in August, and from 5.9 to 8.5 µg m−2 day−1 in November. Individual PAH fluxes were dominated by high molecular weight (MW) PAHs at all sampling sites in August. But dry deposition fluxes of low MW PAHs were higher than high MW PAHs at all sampling sites in November. This result indicates that major sources of ambient PAHs have seasonal variety. The Sehmel-Hodgson model was used to estimate dry deposition velocities as a function of particle size for the multistep deposition model calculation. The calculated fluxes agreed fairly well with the measured fluxes, and it was shown that large particles (Dp > 9 µm) are more important than small particles (Dp > 9 µm) in particulate dry deposition of PAHs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are primarily emitted into the atmosphere through anthropogenic activities and can be transported to receptor sites at varying distances. In this study, the atmospheric PAH deposition was investigated using a dry deposition plate (DDP) with Mylar, a dry deposition disk (DDD) with Velcro, a resin bulk deposition sampler (Resin-BDS), and a water bulk deposition sampler (Water-BDS) in Ulsan, South Korea, during May–October 2013. Additionally, ambient PAH concentrations were monitored using high-volume air samplers. The mean deposition fluxes of Σ 13 PAHs were 8.62 ± 1.44, 36.9 ± 6.81, 56.9 ± 9.74, and 63.8 ± 8.04 μg/m2/d for the DDP, DDD, Resin-BDS, and Water-BDS, respectively. The DDD was more effective than the DDP because it could collect high molecular weight (HMW) PAHs from dry deposition, which are more toxic than low molecular weight PAHs. The Water-BDS had the highest fluxes of Σ 13 PAHs; however, the Resin-BDS may be more suitable for collecting HMW PAHs from both dry and wet deposition due to relatively constant values for the deposition velocity of PAHs. Furthermore, the PAH fluxes in the Resin-BDS samples were significantly positively correlated with the gaseous and total (gaseous + particulate) concentrations of ambient PAHs. Hence, the fluxes obtained by the Resin-BDS were further used to apply principal component analysis, multiple linear regression, and backward air trajectory simultaneously to identify the emission sources of the deposited PAHs. The results indicate that the combustion of fossil fuels and biomass was the major source. In particular, the industrial complexes using petroleum and coal on the city's east coast and vehicular exhausts were the main local sources. Meanwhile, long-range sources may be forest fires, harbors, and industrial activities in nearby countries. Our study suggests that BDS, considering both dry and wet deposition, can be selectively used for research on PAH deposition. [Display omitted] • The performance of four deposition samplers for ambient PAHs was evaluated. • Dry samplers using Mylar and Velcro collected mostly coarse particle-bound PAHs. • The water and resin bulk samplers were suitable to study both dry and wet deposition. • The resin bulk sampler collected more toxic PAHs with a constant deposition velocity. • The burning of fossil fuels and biomass was a major source of the deposited PAHs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]