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Long-term trends of continental-scale PCB patterns studied using a global atmosphere–ocean general circulation model

  • POPs Workshop, ten years after the signature of the Stockholm convention
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Abstract

Continental-scale distribution and inter-continental transport of four polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners (28, 101, 153, 180) from 1950 to 2010 were studied using the global multicompartment chemistry transport model MPI-MCTM. Following identical primary emissions for all PCB congeners into air, most of the burden is stored in terrestrial (soil and vegetation) compartments. Thereby, PCB-28, PCB-101 and PCB-153 show a shift of the soil burden maxima from source to remote regions. This shift is downwind with regard to the westerlies for Eurasia and upwind for North America and more prominent for the lighter PCBs than for PCB-153 or PCB-180. In meridional direction, all congeners’ distributions underwent a northward migration in Eurasia and North America since the 1950s. Inter-continental transport from Eurasian sources accounts largely for contamination of Alaska and British Columbia and determines the migration of the PCB distribution in soil in North America. Trans-Pacific transport occurs mainly in the gas phase in boreal winter (December–January–February) at 3–4 km altitude and is on a multi-year time scale strongly linked to the atmospheric pressure systems over the Pacific. Inter-continental transport of the lighter, more volatile PCBs is more efficient than for the heavier PCBs.

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Acknowledgements

The model runs were performed on the IBM Power6 computer at the German Climate Computing Centre (DKRZ). This project was supported by the European Commission (7th FWP R&D 226534, ArcRisk).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany

    Irene Stemmler & Gerhard Lammel

  2. Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

    Gerhard Lammel

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  1. Irene Stemmler
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  2. Gerhard Lammel
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Correspondence to Gerhard Lammel.

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Responsible editor: Ake Bergman

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Stemmler, I., Lammel, G. Long-term trends of continental-scale PCB patterns studied using a global atmosphere–ocean general circulation model. Environ Sci Pollut Res 19, 1971–1980 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-0943-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-0943-8

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