How do climate fluctuations affect persistent organic pollutant distribution in North America? Evidence from a decade of air monitoring.
Interannual variations of persistent organic pollutant (POP) air concentrations from the Great Lakes region and the Arctic during the 1990s are strongly associated with atmospheric low-frequency fluctuations, notably the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and the Pacific North American (PNA) pattern. This suggests interactions between climate variation and the global distribution of POPs. Atmospheric concentrations of hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and several lighter polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) measured around the Great Lakes basin increased during the positive phases of NAO and ENSO in the spring. This implies that anomalous high air temperatures associated with NAO and ENSO enhance volatilization of POPs from reservoirs on the Earth's surface accumulated in the past. These compounds are then available for transport from source regions to more pristine regions such as the Arctic under favorable flow patterns associated with global climate variations.
Ma
Jianmin
J
Air Quality Research Branch, Meteorological Service of Canada, 4905 Dufferin Street, Toronto, Ontario M3H 5T4, Canada. jianmin.ma@ec.gc.ca
Hung
Hayley
H
Blanchard
Pierrette
P
D000392:Air Movements; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D001110:Arctic Regions; D002980:Climate; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006114:Great Lakes Region; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated / Q000032:analysis*; D009656:North America; D009930:Organic Chemicals
D000393:Air Pollutants; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; D009930:Organic Chemicals