Surface waters are a source of polychlorinated biphenyls to the coastal atmosphere of the North-Western Mediterranean Sea.

Atmospheric (gaseous and particulate) and seawater (dissolved and particulate in the surface microlayer and underlying waters) samples were collected in 2001 and 2002 in two North-Western Mediterranean contrasting coastal environments, Banyuls-sur-Mer (France) and Barcelona (Spain). The total aerosol suspended particle concentrations (microg m(-3)) were higher in Barcelona (266+/-132) than in Banyuls-sur-Mer (149+/-43), even under near-gale conditions. The influence of the marine aerosol in the total suspended particles (TSP) concentration was backed by both organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) concentrations, as they exhibited lower levels in Banyuls (3+/-2 microg OC m(-3) and 0.

Occurrence and fate of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the coastal surface microlayer.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured in the coastal sea surface microlayer (SML), the sub-surface waters (SSW) and the overlying atmosphere in order to investigate the influence of the SML on contaminant enrichment and air-sea exchange. Samples were collected at two contrasting locations of the NW Mediterranean, one urban influenced (off Barcelona, Spain) and another comparatively clean (off Banyuls-sur-Mer, France). Statistical data analysis confirmed the accumulation of PAHs in the SML with respect to the SSW (20.