A wind tunnel for measuring the gaseous losses of environmental chemicals from the soil/plant system under field-like conditions

Volatilization from treated areas is a major source of pesticide residues in air, fog, and rain. This may lead to long-range transport of pesticide residues to remote areas. Up to now most information on pesticide volatilization has come from laboratory experiments under controlled conditions. A new system has been designed and developed to measure the volatile losses of¹⁴C-labelled chemicals after application; the method compares with agricultural practice of treating soils or plants grown in lysimeters. Sensitive analytical methods guarantee a distinction between residues of unchanged pesticide, its metabolites or¹⁴CO₂ as a mineralization product released into the air.