The present study investigated the distribution, transportation, and biodegradation of the selected chiral persistent organochlorine pesticides (OCP) in the Alps. In the complex environment, we found the movement and fate of OCP could be defined by many factors. Taking HCE as an example, below the timberline its accumulation from air into SPMD increased with altitude and seasonally changed, but the trends reversed above the timberline. In soil, the tendency of HCE concentrations vs organic materials followed a sigmoid curve, and HCE concentration-altitude correlations are positive in central Alps but negative in southern Alps. The HCE enantiomeric ratios (ERs) in soil correlated to HCE isomers concentrations, the humus pH values, and the sampling site altitudes. HCE shift from humus to mineral soil can also be traced by ERs. The altitudinal and longitudinal trends in needles suggested that alpha-HCH has a more complex movementthan HCE in Alps. In conclusion, altitude conducted condensation, plant canopies, organic material in soil, and geographic specific precipitations may affect OCP distributions and transportation, whereas altitude conducted temperature and soil pH could dictate their fate in the environment.

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Many persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), which are emitted into air, occur ubiquitously in different environmental compartments worldwide. OCPs are measurable in conspicuous concentrations in the air not only near emission regions but also in background areas, as in the Alps. In the present study, we analyzed OCPs in air samples between 2005 and 2013 at three high Alpine stations (Weißfluhjoch, Switzerland: 2663 m a.s.l.; Sonnblick, Austria: 3106 m a.s.l.; and Schneefernerhaus, Germany: 2650 m a.s.l.). The air concentrations of OCPs at these stations were lower than those in source regions but higher than those in the Arctic region. Concentration differences between sites were found to be relatively small. To distinguish the influences from different European source regions, four filters of lowvolume active air samplers were operated alternately according to a trajectory prediction method. Air masses from the northeast (i.e., Bavaria and Eastern Central Europe) and the south (i.e., Mediterranean countries) were characterized by higher concentrations of OCPs (e.g., pentachlorobenzene and hexachlorobenzene) compared with those arriving from the Atlantic Ocean. Additionally, we evaluated the temporal trend of the single compounds; only a few compounds such as endosulfan exhibited a clear decreasing trend.

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