Relationships between Atmospheric Transport Regimes and PCB Concentrations in the Air at Zeppelin, Spitsbergen.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent hazardous chemicals that are still detected in the atmosphere and other environmental media, although their production has been banned for several decades. At the long-term monitoring site, Zeppelin at Spitsbergen, different PCB congeners have been continuously measured for more than a decade. However, it is not clear what factors determine the seasonal and interannual variability of different (lighter versus heavier) PCB congeners.

European emissions of HFC-365mfc, a chlorine-free substitute for the foam blowing agents HCFC-141b and CFC-11.

HFC-365mfc (1,1,1,3,3-pentafluorobutane) is an industrial chemical used for polyurethane foam blowing. From early 2003, HFC-365mfc has been commercially produced as a substitute for HCFC-141b, whose use in Europe has been banned since January 2004. We describe the first detection of HFC-365mfc in the atmosphere and report on a 2 year long record at the high Alpine station of Jungfraujoch (Switzerland) and the Atlantic coast station of Mace Head (Ireland).