Organochlorine pesticides in the atmosphere of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, January–March, 1990

Chlorinated pesticides in air were measured from the Greenpeace ship Gondwana between New Zealand and Ross Island, January–March, 1990. Geometric mean concentrations (pg m −3 ) were: α and γ -hexachlorocyclohexanes=4.0 and 3.8, hexachlorobenzene=60, heptachlor epoxide=0.52, chlordanes+nonachlors=1.8, p,p′-DDE+p,p′-DDT=0.81. A trend of decreasing pesticide concentration at higher latitudes was noted. The low levels of DDTs found in this study and also by Larsson et al . (1992) during 1988–1990 on Ross Island indicates that atmospheric DDT over the Southern Ocean has dropped markedly in the last decade. Recent concentrations of DDTs in Antarctic air are similar to those in the Arctic.