Organic compounds in the aerosols and surface waters of the East Atlantic

The data on the content and composition of lipids and aliphatic hydrocarbons (HC) in aerosols and surface waters obtained during the spring-summer periods of 2001 and 2003 along the vessel route from the North Sea to the Antarctic and backwards are presented. It was shown that the distribution of organic compounds is caused by the influence of the zonal supply of eolian matter from land, anthropogenic, and marine autochtonous sources. The concentrations of organic compounds in the aerosols varied from 0.22 to 13.04 ng/m³ for the lipids and from 0.04 to 7.03 ng/m³ for the aliphatic HC; in the surface waters, it from 9 to 84 and from 1 to 53 μg/l, respectively. There is a correlation between the fluxes of the lithogenic fraction of the aerosols, HC, and lipids. The growth of the aquatic area productivity increases the levels of the HC in the surface waters but to a lower degree than the HC supply with oil contamination.