Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), DDT, and chlordane concentrations were measured in air sampled from a tower on the south shore of Bermuda and in Sargasso Sea surface water approximately 80 to 320 kilometers south of Bermuda. The atmospheric chlorinated hydrocarbons appeared to be gaseous, and the DDT concentration was two orders of magnitude higher than previously reported particulate values. The PCB and DDT were enriched in the surface microlayer (150 micrometers) relative to their concentrations in water at a depth of 30 centimeters. Atmospheric residence times for PCB and DDT of 40 to 50 days, calculated from the concentrations in the air and water, are 20 times shorter than values previously estimated for DDT from rainfall and DDT production data.

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Concentrations of lead, iron, nickel, copper, fatty acids, hydrocarbons, and chlorinated hydrocarbons are enriched from 1.5 to 50 times in the top 100 to 150 micrometers of Narragansett Bay water relative to the bulk water 20 centimeters below the surface. Trace metal enrichment was observed in the particulate and organic fractions but not in the inorganic fraction. If these substances are concentrated in films only a few molecular layers thick on the water surface, the actual enrichment factor in the films may be well over 10(4), resulting in extremely high localized pollutant concentrations in the surface microlayer.

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