ABSTRACT
It was obvious that the mechanism of global dispersion of some pollutants had to be by a more rapid mode than was possible by river runoff and by oceanic current systems and eddy diffusion. The transport of pollutants via the atmosphere had been well established at least few decades earlier, when radioactive fallout, arising from sea-surface and atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in the South Pacific during the late 1940s and in the 1950s, was identified in many parts of the world. The real concern with atmospheric transport of pollutants and introduction into waters is currently associated with sulfur dioxide emissions from industry in western Europe and eastern North America. Sampling of atmospheric pollutants to measure air-to-sea fluxes presents problems of contamination. Because of low ambient concentrations of substances to be measured, large volumes must be sampled. To obtain meaningful results, sampling must be conducted at points well removed from anthropogenic sources.
