Particle size distributions of currently used pesticides in a rural atmosphere of France

This work presents first data on the particle size distributions of current-used pesticides in the atmosphere. Ambient air samples were collected using a cascade impactor distributed into four size fractions in a rural site of Centre Region (France). Most pesticides were accumulated in the fine (0.1-1 μm) particle size fraction such as cyprodinil, pendimethalin, fenpropidin, fenpropimorph and spiroxamine. Other pesticides such as acetochlor and metolachlor presented a bimodal distribution with maximum concentrations in the ultrafine (0.03-0.1 μm)-coarse (1-10 μm) and in the ultrafine-fine size ranges, respectively. No pesticides were detected in the size fraction >10 μm.