Atmospheric behaviors of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at a Japanese remote background site, Noto peninsula, from 2004 to 2014

•Atmospheric PAH levels at a remote background site of Japan were determined.•PAH levels were elevated in the cold season in every year (2004-2014).•PAHs at this site in the cold season probably largely come from Northeast China.•The Chinese and Japanese governments implemented some source control measures.•These measures appear to have been effective in decreasing the recent PAH levels.

Total suspended particulates were collected at a Japanese remote background site (Noto Air Monitoring Station; NAMS) on the Noto Peninsula from September 2004 to June 2014. Nine polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the particulates (fluoranthene, pyrene, benz[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[ghi]perylene and indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene) were determined by HPLC with fluorescence detection. The mean total concentrations of the nine PAHs in the cold season (November to May for the years 2004-2014) was 670 pg m−3 (range 37-4100 pg m−3). The mean total concentration in the warm season (June to October for the same period) was 170 pg m−3 (range 31-960 pg m−3). The atmospheric PAH level at NAMS decreased in recent years, although no significant change was found in the warm season. An analysis of meteorological conditions showed that the atmospheric PAHs at NAMS were long range transported from Northeast China in the cold seasons and were contributed to by Japanese domestic sources in the warm seasons. Lower concentration ratios of reactive PAHs to their isomers at NAMS also supported these results. Activities associated with the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2008 and reconstruction after the 2007 Noto Hanto earthquake may have contributed to the yearly variations of atmospheric PAH levels at NAMS during the period 2007-2009. Source control measures implemented by the Chinese and Japanese governments appear to have been effective in decreasing the atmospheric PAH levels at NAMS in recent years.

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