Contaminants and coastal zones: insights from the ELOISE and IMPACTS projects

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Contaminants and coastal zones insights from
the ELOISE and IMPACTS projects
Knut Breivik, Jozef M Pacyna and Kevin
Barrett Center for Ecological Economics
Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU)
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1. Introduction Overview of projects

• Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
• ADIOS, AIRWIN, BIOCET, EROS-21, FAMIZ,
  POPCYCLING-BALTIC
• Oil hydrocarbons
• COMMODE, MATBIOPOL
• Other
• ACE (antifouling agents), SUB-GATE (methane)

Projects part of the ELOISE cluster are given in
italic, other projects belong to the IMPACTS
cluster
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2. Case study POPCYCLING-Baltic project

• The overall goal of the RTD project
  "POP-CYCLING-BALTIC" was to develop a
  comprehensive, multicompartmental model to study
  the fate and behaviour of POPs in the Baltic Sea
  environment (Pacyna et al 1999 )
• Specific objectives
• understand and quantify the major sources,
  pathways and loss processes of the contaminants
• establish a link between contaminant loadings
  and environmental concentrations
• estimate the time response to loading reductions
• interpret spatial patterns and temporal trends of
  the contamination

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2. Case study POPCYCLING-Baltic project
The POPCYCLING-Baltic Model aims to quantify the
pathways of POPs from the terrestrial environment
to the marine environment via atmosphere and
rivers (Wania et al 2000)
The model is freely available for download at
www.scar.utoronto.ca/wania
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2. Case study POPCYCLING-Baltic project
Components of the model(Wania et al 2000)
POC mass balance of the aquatic units
water balance of the drainage basins
water balance of the Baltic Sea
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2. Case study POPCYCLING-Baltic project
Terrestrial Environment
Marine Environment
atmosphere
forest canopy
Contaminant fate processes included in the model
(Wania et al 2000)
agricultural soil
forest soil
fresh water
coastal water
open water
fresh water sediment
coastal sediment
bottom water
interphase transfer direct emission degradation
loss advection with air and water
bottom sediment
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2. Case study POPCYCLING-Baltic project
Emission database for selected POPs in Europe
(input to the model)
g-HCH (135 000 t)
a-HCH (259 000 t)
Breivik et al 1999 Pacyna et al 2003
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2. Case study POPCYCLING-Baltic project
Emission database for selected POPs in Europe
(input to the model)
Temporal trend in usage of HCHs in Europe
Breivik et al 1999
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2. Case study POPCYCLING-Baltic project
Model evaluation for two HCHs (Hexachlorocyclohexa
nes)Breivik and Wania, 2002a
a-HCH measured modelled
g-HCH measured modelled
Spatial patterns measured (Gaul, 1992) and
modelled surface water concentrations in ng/L
during the summer of 1983 and 1988.
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2. Case study POPCYCLING-Baltic project
Air concentrations
Seawater concentrations
a-HCH
Breivik and Wania, 2002a
g-HCH
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2. Case study POPCYCLING-Baltic project
measured herring vs. modelled sea water
concentrations (1987-1997)
measured pike vs. modelled fresh water
concentrations (1970-1996)
Breivik and Wania, 2002a
The model reproduces the time trends of a-HCH
observed in air, sea water and fresh water fish.
The decrease of g-HCH concentration predicted by
the model occurs earlier than is observed in the
environment.
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2. Case study POPCYCLING-Baltic project
Relative Importance of HCH Sources Within and
Outside of the Baltic Sea Drainage Basin
a-HCH, 1970 to 2000
g-HCH, 1970 to 2000
emission 19.3 kt
emission 4.5 kt
Baltic Sea environment
Baltic Sea environment
atmospheric outflow 32.1 kt
atmospheric outflow 9.6 kt
atmospheric inflow 29.4 kt
atmospheric inflow 9.5 kt
oceanic outflow 0.6 kt
oceanic outflow 0.6 kt
oceanic inflow 0.5 kt
oceanic inflow 0.5 kt

• The model suggests that direct usage within the
  Baltic Sea drainage basin accounts for about 30
  to 40 of the total amount of HCHs entering this
  environment. The remainder is due to usage
  outside of the drainage basin.
• The drainage basin as a whole is a net exporter
  of both a-HCH and g-HCH.
• The relative importance of sources within the
  basin has decreased in time.
• In the case of g-HCH, the contribution from
  sources within the drainage basin decreased from
  40 to 10. During the 1980s, the Baltic Sea
  region switched from being a net exporter to
  being a net recipient of g-HCH.

Breivik and Wania, 2002b
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2. Case study POPCYCLING-Baltic project
What did we accomplish?
A quantitative picture of the long-term
(decades) fate of a semi-volatile and persistent
organic chemical in a large aquatic system and
its drainage basin
major reservoirs major pathways (e.g. riverine
vs. atmospheric, vertical vs. horizontal) equilibr
ium status and flux direction importance of
sources within vs. outside drainage basin time
response in various media
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Selected references
Breivik K, Pacyna JM and Münch J, 1999. Use of
a-, b- and g-hexachlorocyclohexane in Europe,
1970-1996. The Science of the Total Environment
239 151-163. (POPCYCLING-BALTIC) Breivik K,
Wania F, 2002a. Evaluating a Model of the
Historical Behavior of Two Hexachlorocyclohexanes
in the Baltic Sea Environment. Environmental
Science and Technology 36 1014-1023.
 (POPCYCLING-BALTIC) Breivik K, Wania F, 2002b.
Mass Budgets, Pathways, and Equilibrium States of
Two Hexachlorocyclohexanes in the Baltic Sea
Environment. Environmental Science and Technology
36 1024-1032. (POPCYCLING-BALTIC)   García-Flor
N, Guitart C, Bodineau L, Dachs J, Bayona JM,
Albaiges J, 2004. Comparison of sampling devices
for the determination of polychlorinated
biphenyls in the sea surface microlayer. Marine
Environmental Research 48 961-968.
(AIRWIN)   Haugen J-E, Wania F, Lei YD, 1999.
Polychlorinated Biphenyls in the Atmosphere of
Southern Norway. Environmental Science and
Technology 33 2340-2345. (POPCYCLING-BALTIC)   Ma
ldonado C, Bayona JM, 2002. Organochlorine
Compounds in the North-western Black Sea Water
Distribution and Water Column Process. Estuarine,
Coastal and Shelf Science 54 527-540. (EROS-21)
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Selected references
Mandalakis M, Berresheim H, Stephanou EG, 2003.
Direct Evidence for Destruction of
Polychlorobiphenyls by OH Radicals in the
Subtropical Troposphere. Environmental Science
and Technology 37 542-547. (ADIOS)   Mandalakis
M, Stephanou EG, 2004. Wet Deposition of
Polychlorinated Biphenyls in the Eastern
Mediterranean. Environmental Science and
Technology 38 3011-3018. (ADIOS)   Pacyna JM et
al 1999. Final Report for Project
Popcycling-Baltic. NILU, P.O. Box 100, N-2027
Kjeller, Norway. CD-rom. (POPCYCLING-BALTIC) Pacy
na JM, Breivik K, Münch J, Fudala J 2003.
European atmospheric emissions of selected
persistent organic pollutants, 1970-1995.
Atmospheric Environment 37, S119-S131
(POPCYCLING-BALTIC)   Sinkkonen S, Paasivirta J,
2000. Degradation half-life times of PCDDs, PCDFs
and PCBs for environmental fate modelling.
Chemosphere 40 943-949. (POPCYCLING-BALTIC)   Wan
ia F, Axelman J, Broman D, 1998. A review of
processes involved in the exchange of persistent
organic pollutants across the air-sea interface.
Environmental Pollution 102 3-23.
(POPCYCLING-BALTIC)   Wania F, Persson N, Di
Guardo A and McLachlan MS, 2000. The
POPCYCLING-Baltic Model. NILU OR 10/2000. ISBN
82-425-1159-4 Kjeller, Norway. 81 pp.
(www.utsc.utoronto.ca/wania). (POPCYCLING-BALTIC)