Distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in aerosols and dustfall in Macao.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), widespread environmental pollutants, have been measured in aerosols and dustfall in Macao. In this paper, we compare concentration distributions and determine the partitioning of PAHs in aerosols and dustfall for different areas, sampling times and sampling heights. The results demonstrate that the concentrations of sigmaPAHs in aerosols and dustfall vary at the different sites and heights. The concentrations of sigmaPAHs and most of the individual PAHs in aerosols at night were higher than those in the daytime when using the unit of microg/g and lower than those when using the unit of microg m(-3). It is shown that the distribution of individual PAHs in aerosols differs significantly from that in dustfall.