Halomethoxybenzenes in air of the Nordic region

Halomethoxybenzenes (HMBs) are a group of compounds with natural and anthropogenic origins. Here we extend a 2002-2015 survey of bromoanisoles (BAs) in the air and precipitation at Rao on the Swedish west coast and Pallas in Subarctic Finland. New BAs data are reported for 2018 and 2019 and chlorinated HMBs are included for these and some previous years: drosophilin A methyl ether (DAME: 1,2,4,5-tetrachloro-3,6-dimethoxybenzene), tetrachloroveratrole (TeCV: 1,2,3,4-tetrachloro-5,6-dimethoxybenzene), and penta-chloroanisole (PeCA). The order of abundance of HMBs at Rao was MBAs > DAME > TeCV > PeCA, whereas at Pallas the order of abundance was DAME > MBAs > TeCA > PeCA. The lower abundance of BAs at Pallas reflects its inland location, away from direct marine influence. Clausius-Clapeyron (CC) plots of log partial pressure (P-air)/Pa versus 1/T suggested distant transport at both sites for PeCA and local exchange for DAME and TeCV. BAs were dominated by distant transport at Pallas and by both local and distant sources at Rao. Relationships between air and precipitation concentrations were examined by scavenging ratios, SR = (ng m(-3))precip/(ng m(-3))air. SRs were higher at Pallas than Raoeuro due to greater Henry's law partitioning of gaseous compounds into precipitation at colder temperatures. DAME is produced by terrestrial fungi. We screened 19 fungal species from Swedish forests and found seven of them contained 0.01-3.8 mg DAME per kg fresh weight. We suggest that the volatilization of DAME from fungi and forest litter containing fungal mycelia may contribute to atmospheric levels at both sites. (c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences, Harbin Institute of Technology, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

Halomethoxybenzenes (HMBs) are a group of compounds with natural and anthropogenic origins. This study investigated bromoanisoles (BAs) in the air and precipitation at Rao on the Swedish west coast and Pallas in Subarctic Finland. The results showed variations in the abundance and sources of HMBs at the two sites.