The intensive application of pesticides in the North China Plain (NCP) has led to the pervasiveness of pesticide contamination in the local atmosphere, negatively affecting the air quality and human health. However, the characteristics of atmospheric pesticides in the NCP have not been well investigated. In this study, three repeatable passive air samplers with polyurethane foam were set at ten filed sites located in ten villages in Quzhou county, the NCP. A total of 300 monthly samplers were collected from June 2021 to May 2022 and 32 individual pesticides were quantified. Chlorpyrifos, carbendazim, and atrazine were the most abundant pesticides in the air samples, quantified in ≥ 87% of samples. The concentration of atmospheric pesticides in summer and spring (11.76 ± 11.12 pg m^–3) was significantly higher than that in autumn and winter (1.87 ± 1.57 pg m^–3), due to intensive pesticide application in summer and spring. Higher concentrations (10.26 ± 12.97 pg m^–3) of atmospheric pesticides were observed at economic crop sites compared to 5.34 ± 6.76 pg m^–3 at grain crop and greenhouse sites, mainly because the pesticide spraying events in the field were more frequent at economic crop sites. The spatial-temporal distribution pattern of atmospheric pesticides indicates that seasons and crop systems dominate the atmospheric concentration of pesticides. Health risks of inhalation exposure to residents and wildlife were assessed by Exposure Assessment Model and Screening Tool for Inhalation Risk Model, respectively. Model-based inhalation risk assessment showed that the primary source of inhalation risk for humans, avians, and mammals in Quzhou county was the highly toxic insecticides, particularly the organophosphorus pesticides. However, the value of inhalation risks was much less than toxicological thresholds, the hazard index for infants was in the range of 7.23×10^–4–1.50×10^–2 (toxicological threshold: 1) and the maximum inhalation dose to the toxicity endpoint for avian and mammalian were in the range of 3.71×10^–18–9.63×10^–9 (toxicological threshold: 0.1). We concluded that the inhalation exposure to atmospheric pesticides in Quzhou county was unlikely to present a public concern.

atmospheric pesticides,passive air sampling,distribution pattern,health risk assessment,the North China Plain