Atmospheric deposition of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in coastal areas in Korea Hyo-Bang Moon a, * , Kurunthachalam Kannan b,1 , Su-Jeong Lee a , Minkyu Choi a a Marine Environment Management Team, National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, 408-1, Sirang-ri, Gijang-eup, Gijang-gun, Busan 619-705, Republic of Korea b Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health and Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany, Empire State Plaza, P.O. Box 509, Albany, NY 12201-0509, USA Received 6 July 2006; received in revised form 16 September 2006; accepted 18 September 2006 Available online 13 November 2006 Abstract Atmospheric bulk samples were collected monthly, for one year, from urban, suburban, and rural sites located in the coastal areas of Korea, for the assessment of depositional fluxes and seasonal variations in atmospheric concentrations of PBDEs. Twenty individual PBDE congeners were found in atmospheric samples, and their depositional fluxes varied from 10.1 to 89.0 lg/m 2 /year. The highest depositional fluxes were found in two urbanized areas, with a strong urban–rural gradient. The relationship between PBDE and partic- ulate depositional fluxes showed significant correlation for all locations, which suggested the association of PBDEs to particulate phase. Deca-BDE (BDE 209) was the predominant congener (>93%) in all deposition samples, which is consistent with a high consumption of deca-BDE for the flame-retardant market in Korea. Seasonal variability was observed in PBDE concentrations for the two urban sites, whereas no seasonal trend was found for either the suburban or the rural location. Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: PBDEs; Bulk sample; Seasonal variation; Depositional flux; Deca-BDE 1. Introduction Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have been widely used, in large quantities, as flame retardants for many applications such as television sets, computers, radios, textiles, new synthetic building materials, and auto- mobiles (Sellstro ¨m et al., 1993; Pijnenburg et al., 1995; Darnerud et al., 2001). PBDEs have the potential for endo- crine disruption, bioaccumulation, and long-range trans- port (Safe, 1992; Boon et al., 2002; Ter Schure et al., 2004); they are, therefore, recognized as an emerging group of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) (Tanabe, 2004). Since PBDEs were first detected in pike, eel, and sea trout samples from Sweden (Andersson and Blomkvist, 1981), many studies have been conducted to elucidate the worldwide distribution of PBDEs in various environmen- tal compartments (Watanabe et al., 1987; Loganathan et al., 1995; Strandberg et al., 2001; Boon et al., 2002; Hassanin et al., 2004; Liu et al., 2005), and in human tissues (Choi et al., 2003; Johnson-Restrepo et al., 2005). Of particular concern is the exponential increase in PBDE concentrations in human tissues and breast milk during the last few decades, while concentrations of polychlori- nated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) have been decreasing (Nore ´n and Meironyte ´, 2000; Hites, 2004). In Korea, the use of flame retardants has been steadily increasing, by approximately 10% per year during the last decade (KEI, 2001). Total consumption of brominated 0045-6535/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2006.09.042 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 51 720 2532; fax: +82 51 720 2515. E-mail addresses: hbmoon@nfrdi.re.kr (H.-B. Moon), kkannan@ adsworth.org (K. Kannan). 1 Tel.: +1 518 474 0015; fax: +1 518 473 2895. www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere Chemosphere 66 (2007) 585–593