Atmospheric Transport of Persistent Organic Pollutants to and from the Arctic under Present-Day and Future Climate

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 3593-3602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mega Octaviani ◽  
Irene Stemmler ◽  
Gerhard Lammel ◽  
Hans F. Graf
2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. 6549-6559 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. M. Hansen ◽  
J. H. Christensen ◽  
C. Geels ◽  
J. D. Silver ◽  
J. Brandt

Abstract. The Danish Eulerian Hemispheric Model (DEHM) was applied to investigate how projected climate changes will affect the atmospheric transport of 13 persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to the Arctic and their environmental fate within the Arctic. Three sets of simulations were performed, one with present day emissions and initial environmental concentrations from a 20-year spin-up simulation, one with present day emissions and with initial environmental concentrations set to zero and one without emissions but with initial environmental concentrations from the 20-year spin-up simulation. Each set of simulations consisted of two 10-year time slices representing the present (1990–2000) and future (2090–2100) climate conditions. DEHM was driven using meteorological input from the global circulation model, ECHAM/MPI-OM, simulating the SRES (Special Report on Emissions Scenarios) A1B climate scenario. Under the applied climate and emission scenarios, the total mass of all compounds was predicted to be up to 55 % lower across the Northern Hemisphere at the end of the 2090s than in the 1990s. The mass of HCHs within the Arctic was predicted to be up to 38 % higher, whereas the change in mass of the PCBs was predicted to range from 38 % lower to 17 % higher depending on the congener and the applied initial environmental concentrations. The results of this study also indicate that contaminants with no or a short emission history will be more rapidly transported to and build up in the arctic environment in a future warmer climate. The process that dominates the environmental behaviour of POPs in the Arctic under a future warmer climate scenario is the shift in mass of POPs from the surface media to the atmosphere induced by the higher mean temperature. This is to some degree counteracted by higher degradation rates also following the higher mean temperature. The more dominant of these two processes depends on the physical-chemical properties of the compounds. Previous model studies have predicted that the effect of a changed climate on the transport of POPs to the Arctic is moderate relative to the effect of proposed changes in emissions, which is confirmed in this study. However, the model studies do not agree on whether climate change acts to reduce or increase environmental concentrations of POPs in the Arctic, and further work is needed to resolve this matter.


2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristóbal Galbán-Malagón ◽  
Naiara Berrojalbiz ◽  
María-José Ojeda ◽  
Jordi Dachs

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 6509-6535 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. M. Hansen ◽  
J. H. Christensen ◽  
C. Geels ◽  
J. D. Silver ◽  
J. Brandt

Abstract. The Danish Eulerian Hemispheric Model (DEHM) was applied to investigate how projected climate changes will affect the atmospheric transport of 13 persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to the Artic and their environmental fate within the Arctic. Two sets of simulations were performed, one with initial environmental concentrations from a 20 year spin-up simulation and one with initial environmental concentrations set to zero. Each set of simulations consisted of two ten-year time slices representing the present (1990–2000) and future (2090–2100) climate conditions. The same POP emissions were applied in all simulations to ensure that the difference in predicted concentrations for each set of simulations only arises from the difference in climate input. DEHM was driven using meteorological input from the global circulation model, ECHAM/MPI-OM, simulating the SRES A1B climate scenario. Under the applied climate and emission scenarios, the total mass of all compounds was predicted to be up to 20% higher across the Northern Hemisphere. The mass of HCHs within the Arctic was predicted to be up to 39% higher, whereas the change in mass of the PCBs was predicted to range from 14% lower to 17% higher depending on the congener and the applied initial environmental concentrations. The results of this study also indicate that contaminants with no or a short emission history will be more rapidly transported to and build up in the arctic environment in a future warmer climate. The process that dominates the environmental behaviour of POPs in the Arctic under a future warmer climate scenario is the shift in mass of POPs from the surface media to the atmosphere induced by the higher mean temperature. This is to some degree counteracted by higher degradation rates also following the higher mean temperature. The more dominant of these two processes depend on the physical-chemical properties of the compounds. Previous model studies have predicted that the effect of a changed climate on the transport of POPs to the Arctic is moderate relatively to the effect of proposed changes in emissions, which is confirmed in this study. However, the model studies do not agree on whether climate change acts to reduce or increase environmental concentrations of POPs in the Arctic, and further work is needed to resolve this matter.


2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1339-1370
Author(s):  
K. M. Hansen ◽  
J. H. Christensen ◽  
J. Brandt ◽  
L. M. Frohn ◽  
C. Geels

Abstract. The Danish Eulerian Hemispheric Model (DEHM) is a 3-D dynamical atmospheric transport model originally developed to describe the atmospheric transport of sulphur into the Arctic. A new version of the model, DEHM-POP, developed to study the atmospheric transport and environmental fate of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is presented. During environmental cycling, POPs can be deposited and re-emitted several times before reaching a final destination. A description of the exchange processes between the land/ocean surfaces and the atmosphere is included in the model to account for this multi-hop transport. The α-isomer of the pesticide hexachlorocyclohexane (α-HCH) is used as tracer in the model development. The structure of the model and processes included are described in detail. The results from a model simulation showing the atmospheric transport for the years 1991 to 1998 are presented and evaluated against measurements. The annual averaged atmospheric concentration of α-HCH for the 1990s is well described by the model; however, the shorter-term average concentration for most of the stations is not well captured. This indicates that the present simple surface description needs to be refined to get a better description of the air-surface exchange proceses of POPs.


2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Kallenborn ◽  
Guttorm Christensen ◽  
Anita Evenset ◽  
Martin Schlabach ◽  
Andreas Stohl

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-232
Author(s):  
Tahnee Lisa Prior

Abstract We often mistakenly assume that institutional design will remain effective indefinitely. Complex long-term environmental challenges illuminate the disparity between institutions and state boundaries. While globalization has challenged monocentrism, we must look beyond traditional measures and design resilient governance systems, such as polycentric governance, that combine trust and local expertise in small-scale governance with the governance capacity of large-scale systems. These harness globalization’s benefits and provide solutions for the effects of ecosystem changes. This work examines the lessons – benefits, challenges, limitations, and unanswered questions – that may be learned from polycentric governance in the case of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the Arctic, where a polycentric political system has developed as a result of a mismatch in environmental, jurisdictional, and temporal scales. Section One examines characteristics of polycentricity, focusing on actors, multilevel governance, degree of formality, and the nature of interactions. Section Two concentrates on the tools utilized. Section Three applies the outlined framework. Finally, Section Four examines three lessons that global environmental governance may learn from the case study: (1) Peak organizations are effective tools for managing polycentricity, allowing for the inclusion of non-state actors, such as indigenous peoples organizations (2) and epistemic communities (3), in bridging the human-environment nexus.


2020 ◽  
Vol 720 ◽  
pp. 137579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaqi Wang ◽  
Renske P.J. Hoondert ◽  
Naomi W. Thunnissen ◽  
Dik van de Meent ◽  
A. Jan Hendriks

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