Development of a soil fugacity sampler for determination of air-soil partitioning of persistent organic pollutants under field controlled conditions.

Soils are the main reservoir of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and thus air-soil exchange and partitioning are key processes controlling the fate and transport of POPs at regional and global scales. To date, soil fugacity has been estimated from models of the soil-air partition coefficients, with the associated unavoidable uncertainties; or by experimental procedures in the laboratory with uncertain application in field conditions. The development of an operational soil fugacity sampler is presented here; one which ensures optimal field data of the POP fugacity in soil and environmentally relevant surface (soil+grass, etc.) and therefore ensuring accurate soil-air partition coefficients and surface-air fugacity gradients. The sampler flow rate is optimized, sampler reproducibility is assessed, and equilibrium between the gas and soil concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is demonstrated. The development and comprehensive validation of a soil fugacity sampler opens the door for the first time to field studies that accurately determine the variables driving the soil-air partitioning and fluxes of POPs.