VAO Monitoring 2019-2021.

Air and deposition tests for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) at high alpine sites — Fall 2019 to autumn 2021 sampling period. From 2005 to 2021, a 16-year monitoring programme at the three Alpine summits Sonnblick (A), Weißfluhjoch (CH, until 2013) and Zugspitze (D) collected air concentrations and depositions of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). This report updates the results of the time series for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/F) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to the years 2019 to 2021. PCDD/F and PCB depositions between 2019 and 2021 were comparatively lower than in previous years. Between 2019 and 2021, PCDD/F and PCB air concentrations were on the tip of the train in a similar range as in previous years, on the Hohe Sonnblick, concentrations of PCDD/F have increased slightly in recent years, compared to PCBs.