Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Environment

MSC-E Technical Report 4/2003

V.Shatalov, M.Fedyunin, E.Mantseva, B.Strukov, N.Vulykh

ABSTRACT

On the basis of modelling approach the assessment of pollution of Europe and the Northern Hemisphere by a number of chemicals included to the POP Protocol (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), g-hexachlorocyclohexane (g-HCH) and by hexachlorobenzene (HCB)) was carried out. For these substances environmental levels, temporal trends and transport distances from European sources are evaluated. The approach to evaluation of source-receptor relationships for POPs is being developed by the examples of B[a]P (country-to-country matrices in the European region) and PCBs and g-HCH (intercontinental transport). The work on elaborating of this approach to other POPs (in particular, PCDD/Fs) is now initiated.

The present Technical Report is aimed at the description of these activities.

An important input for POP transport models is emissions. Spatial emission distributions for calculations are prepared for a number of years by MSC-E on the basis of official emission data submitted by Parties to the Convention and on the basis of available expert estimates both on European and hemispheric scales.

One of the most important points is further development of MSCE-POP model as an instrument of assessment of pollution levels in Europe and the Northern Hemisphere. At present there exist two versions of the model - regional version with resolution 150x150 km and 50x50 km and hemispheric version with spatial resolution 2.5x2.5°. Much attention is paid to model validation. This is made by comparison of the obtained results with available measurement data and by the analysis of model sensitivity with respect to different processes and parameters. An important activity in this direction is the intercomparison of various multicompartment POP models, which was initiated by EMEP/MSC-E this year.

Besides, the developed models can be applied for evaluation of long-range transport potential and overall persistence for chemicals - candidates for the inclusion to the Protocol. In the report the method of evaluation of the above parameters is proposed and discussed.


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