Air and seawater samples were taken simultaneously to investigate the distribution and air-sea gas exchange of phthalates in the Arctic onboard the German Research Ship FS Polarstern. Samples were collected on expeditions ARK XX1&2 from the North Sea to the high Arctic (60 degrees N-85 degrees N) in the summer of 2004. The concentration of sigma6 phthalates (dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-i-butyl phthalate (DiBP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP), and diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP)) ranged from 30 to 5030 pg L(-1) in the aqueous dissolved phase and from 1110 to 3090 pg m(-3) in the atmospheric gas phase. A decreasing latitudinal trend was present in the seawater and to a lesser degree in the atmosphere from the Norwegian coast to the high Arctic. Overall, deposition dominated the air-sea gas exchange for DEHP, while volatilization from seawater took place in the near-coast environment. The estimated net gas deposition of DEHP was 5, 30, and 190 t year(-1) for the Norwegian Sea, the Greenland Sea, and the Arctic, respectively. This suggests that atmospheric transport and deposition of phthalates is a significant process for their occurrence in the remote Atlantic and Arctic Ocean.