Particle size distributions of currently used pesticides in a rural atmosphere of France

Clara Coscollà (1) , Abderrazak Yahyaoui (2) , Patrice Colin (2) , Corine Robin (2) , Laurent Martinon (3) , Stéphanie Val (3) , Armelle Baeza-Squiban (4) , Abdelwahid Mellouki (5) , Vicent Yusà (1)

1 CSISP-FISABIO - Centre for Public Health Research - Centro Superior de Investigación en Salud Pública [Valencia, Spain]
2 LIG'AIR- Surveillance de la Qualité de l'Air en Région Centre
3 UPD7 - Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7
4 BFA (UMR_8251 / U1133) - Unité de Biologie Fonctionnelle et Adaptative
5 ICARE - Institut de Combustion, Aérothermique, Réactivité et Environnement

This work presents first data on the particle size distributions of current-used pesticides in the atmosphere. Ambient air samples were collected using a cascade impactor distributed into four size fractions in a rural site of Centre Region (France). Most pesticides were accumulated in the fine (0.1–1 μm) particle size fraction such as cyprodinil, pendimethalin, fenpropidin, fenpropimorph and spiroxamine. Other pesticides such as acetochlor and metolachlor presented a bimodal distribution with maximum concentrations in the ultrafine (0.03–0.1 μm)–coarse (1–10 μm) and in the ultrafine–fine size ranges, respectively. No pesticides were detected in the size fraction >10 μm.

Keywords: Pesticide; Size distribution; Atmospheric concentrations

Domains: Continental interfaces, environment

Clara Coscollà, Abderrazak Yahyaoui, Patrice Colin, Corine Robin, Laurent Martinon, et al.. Particle size distributions of currently used pesticides in a rural atmosphere of France. Atmospheric environment, 2013, 81, pp.32-38. ⟨10.1016/j.atmosenv.2013.08.057⟩. ⟨insu-01192777⟩