Improvement of uptake rate equations depending on meteorological conditions for 25 volatile organic compounds.

Stainless steel passive (diffusive) sampling tubes manufactured by Gradko International Ltd. (UK) were filled with Chromosorb 106 (Supelco) and evaluated to determine the uptake rates of 31 VOCs over six months under different meteorological conditions in a suburban area of Ankara, Turkey. The URs have been calculated, and dependence on such meteorological parameters as temperature, relative humidity and wind speed has been established for the 31 VOCs. The URs of the 31 VOCs measured in this study showed a statistically significant decreasing trend with rising temperature; and weaker, but again statistically significant, increasing trends with increasing relative humidity and wind speed. This study has demonstrated that the URs of VOCs are affected by meteorological parameters, and this dependence should be taken into account when attempting to generate reliable data through passive sampling. A multiple linear regression equation in which temperature, relative humidity and wind speed were used as independent variables was generated for 25 of the 31 tested VOCs.