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Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) exposed to sun light undergo photodegradation with half‐life ranging from 1 hour, in summer, to days, in winter.
This difference is mainly due to variation in sun light intensity. A simple extrapolation of experimental results obtained in laboratory or in controlled situations, suggested that during the permanence in the atmosphere, the actual concentration of PAH adsorbed to airborne particulate and exposed to sun light, may follow the equation:
lnPAH = PAHo‐bI
where PAH is the concentration after a stated time from emission, PAHo is the concentration of PAH at the moment of emission, I is the mean sun light intensity and b is a constant correlated to the mean residence time of airborne particles in the atmosphere.
With our research we have verified this hypothesis. In fact concentration of Pyrene and Benzo(a)pyr‐ene on airborne particulate collected in Genova near and far from the main source of these compounds (traffic) was linearly correlated with mean sun‐light intensity, according to the proposed equation.