Atmospheric measurements at Point Arena, California (39 N) are used to assess the burden as well as the growth rates of a large number of important atmospheric trace chemicals. In early 1981 the organic fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine burden of the northern hemisphere (midlatitudes) was determined to be 1.3 parts per billion (ppb), 3.7 ppb, 0.02 ppb, and less than 0.003 ppb respectively. An increase of approximately 25 percent in the atmospheric burden of fluorine and chlorine appears to have occurred over the last three years. The dominant natural halocarbon, methyl chloride, does not appear to show any detectable trends. Among the important man-made chemicals such as methylene chloride, 1,2 dichloroethane, tetrachloroethylene, and trichloroethylene, slightly declining trends or change is evident.