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Organochlorine pesticides have been found in Arctic fish, marine mammals, birds, and plankton for some time. The lack of local sources and remoteness of the region imply long‐range transport and deposition of contaminants into the Arctic from sources to the south. While on the third Soviet‐American Joint Ecological Expedition to the Bering and Chukchi Seas (August 1988), high‐volume air samples were taken and analyzed for Organochlorine pesticides. Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), hexachlorobenzene, polychlorinated camphenes, and chlordane (listed in order of abundance, highest to lowest) were quantified. The air‐sea gas exchange of HCH was estimated at 18 stations during the cruise. Average α‐HCH concentrations in concurrent atmosphere and surface water samples were 250 pg m−3 and 2.4 ng L−1, respectively, and average γ‐HCH concentrations were 68 pg m−3 in the atmosphere and 0.6 ng L−1 in surface water. Calculations based on experimentally derived Henry's law constants showed that the surface water was undersaturated with respect to the atmosphere at most stations (α‐HCH, average 79% saturation; γ‐HCH, average 28% saturation). The flux for α‐HCH ranged from −47 ng m−2 day−1 (sea to air) to 122 ng m−2 d−1 (air to sea) and averaged 25 ng m−2 d−1 air to sea. All fluxes of γ‐HCH were from air to sea, ranged from 17 to 54 ng m−2 d−1, and averaged 31 ng m−2 d−1.

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