Atmospheric Environment 39 (2005) 5195–5204 Passive sampling of atmospheric organochlorine compounds by SPMDs in a remote high mountain area Barend L. Van drooge a , Joan O. Grimalt a,Ã , Kees Booij b , Lluis Camarero c , Jordi Catalan c a Institute of Chemical and Environmental Research (IIQAB-CSIC), Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034-Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain b Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), PO Box 59, 1790 AB Texel, The Netherlands c Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Acce`s Cala St.Francesc, 14, 17300-Blanes, Catalonia, Spain Received 16 December 2004; accepted 25 May 2005 Abstract Semi-permeable membrane devices (SPMDs) have been deployed in high mountain areas (Central Pyrenees, Catalonia, Spain) for the measurement of atmospheric concentrations of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) over a period of 1.5 years. These devices were filled with triolein and have been deployed at three altitudes, 1600, 2240 and 2600 m above sea level. Performance reference compounds were used to calibrate their sampling rates. The SPMD results were validated by comparison to active air sampling with high-volume systems. Sampling rates between 0.55 and 1.3m 3 d 1 were estimated from the dissipation of PCB155. Atmospheric concentrations measured by SPMDs were in good agreement with the levels obtained by high-volume sampling. These findings suggest that SPMDs can be useful monitoring systems for the atmospheric concentrations of organochlorine compounds in remote high mountain areas. r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In recent years semi-volatile organic compounds such as hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and polychlorinated bi- phenyls (PCB) have been detected in high mountain sites (Grimalt et al., 2001; van Drooge et al., 2002; Vilanova et al., 2001; Carrera et al., 2002). These compounds are widely spread into these remote sites, where they were never produced or used, due to their relatively high vapor pressure (10 1 –10 4 Pa) and high resistance to degradation during atmospheric transport (Wania and Mackay, 1993; Grimalt et al., 2001). Although HCB and PCB have been banned for many years, declines in air concentrations have primarily been observed in the areas of production and application (Sanders et al., 1994), and to a lesser extent in rural and remote areas (AEA Technologies, 2005). No decrease has been found in really isolated sites, like arctic areas (Hung et al., 2001). The presence of these compounds in the atmosphere is therefore a problem of concern since they may cause toxic effects via deposition followed by food- web exposure (Porta et al., 1999; Vreugdenhil et al., 2002). The study of the long-term evolution of the atmospheric SOC levels at remote sites, like mountain areas, is therefore a priority task for environmental risk assessment. Atmospheric contaminant levels are typically mea- sured with conventional high-volume (HiVol) samplers. ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/atmosenv 1352-2310/$-see front matter r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2005.05.020 Ã Corresponding author. Tel.: +34934006100; fax: +34932045904. E-mail address: jgoqam@cid.csic.es (J.O. Grimalt).