| Toxic Air Pollutants Clyde Sweet |
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Beginning in 1985, measurements of toxic air pollutants have been made at the Bondville Environmental and
Atmospheric Research Site (BEARS) as part of several regional and national monitoring programs. Concentrations
of a variety of toxic chemicals both in precipitation (rain and snow) as well as in the gas phase and bound
to airborne particles have been measured at BEARS as part of many different projects. Target chemical
species include toxic trace elements (copper, chromium, zinc, manganese, vanadium, nickel, lead, arsenic,
selenium, cadmium, mercury).
Currently, Bondville is a site in the National Atmospheric Deposition Program Mercury Deposition Network (MDN).
Organic pollutants that have been measured at Bondville include volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) such as
benzene, toluene, xylene, dichloroethylene, methylchloroform, perchloroethylene, and other chlorinated VOCs.
Atrazine and other agricultural herbicides have been measured in air and rain at Bondville. The list of
analytes also includes a wide variety of persistent toxic organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs), DDT, dieldrin, lindane, chlordanes, and other chlorinated pesticides, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs). At the present time, a project is underway at BEARS to monitor and characterize the chemical
species in airborne fine particles (PM-2.5). Data from past projects is available in several reports and
publications listed in the BEARS Web page bibliography. |