Dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyl (dl-PCB) concentrations in ambient air and soil in Shanghai, China, were measured to allow seasonal and spatial differences in the dl-PCB concentrations, profiles, distributions, fugacity fractions, and air-soil fluxes to be determined. The toxic equivalent (TEQ) DL-PCB concentrations in the air were higher in summer (mean 9.46 fg m(-3), range 1.32-26.3 fg m(-3)) than in winter (mean 4.57 fg m(-3), range 1.55-10.9 fg m(-3)). The DL-PCB concentrations in air were different in different areas, and the concentrations decreased in the order industrial areas > commercial and residential areas > suburban areas > rural area. The mean DL-PCB concentration in soil was 0.25 pg TEQ g(-1) dry weight (dw) and the range was 0.05-0.90 pg TEQ g(-1) dw. The highest DL-PCB concentration in soil was found in a sample from a commercial/residential area. The DL-PCB fluxes were negative (-216 pg m(-2) h(-1) in summer and -41.1 pg m(-2) h(-1) in winter), and the fugacity fractions were below 0.5, indicating that dl-PCBs in Shanghai are deposited from the air to the soil in all seasons. The net fluxes were higher in summer than in winter, and the deposition fluxes were higher in industrial areas than in other areas in both summer and winter.
Keywords: Air–soil exchange fluxes; Fugacity fractions; Passive sampling; Seasonal variations; Spatial distributions; dl-PCBs.