Record high peaks in PCB concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere due to long-range transport of biomass burning emissions
International audience Soils and forests in the boreal region of the Northern Hemisphere are recognised as having a large capacity for storing air-borne Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), such as the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Following reductions of primary emissions of various legacy POP...
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ftinsu:oai:HAL:hal-00296323v1 2023-11-12T04:13:37+01:00 Record high peaks in PCB concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere due to long-range transport of biomass burning emissions Eckhardt, S. Breivik, K. Man\o, S. Stohl, A. Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) University of Oslo (UiO) 2007-08-31 https://hal.science/hal-00296323 https://hal.science/hal-00296323/document https://hal.science/hal-00296323/file/acp-7-4527-2007.pdf en eng HAL CCSD European Geosciences Union hal-00296323 https://hal.science/hal-00296323 https://hal.science/hal-00296323/document https://hal.science/hal-00296323/file/acp-7-4527-2007.pdf info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess ISSN: 1680-7316 EISSN: 1680-7324 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics https://hal.science/hal-00296323 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2007, 7 (17), pp.4527-4536 [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2007 ftinsu 2023-10-25T16:29:23Z International audience Soils and forests in the boreal region of the Northern Hemisphere are recognised as having a large capacity for storing air-borne Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), such as the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Following reductions of primary emissions of various legacy POPs, there is an increasing interest and debate about the relative importance of secondary re-emissions on the atmospheric levels of POPs. In spring of 2006, biomass burning emissions from agricultural fires in Eastern Europe were transported to the Zeppelin station on Svalbard, where record-high levels of many air pollutants were recorded (Stohl et al., 2007). Here we report on the extremely high concentrations of PCBs that were also measured during this period. 21 out of 32 PCB congeners were enhanced by more than two standard deviations above the long-term mean concentrations. In July 2004, about 5.8 million hectare of boreal forest burned in North America, emitting a pollution plume which reached the Zeppelin station after a travel time of 3?4 weeks (Stohl et al., 2006). Again, 12 PCB congeners were elevated above the long-term mean by more than two standard deviations, with the less chlorinated congeners being most strongly affected. We propose that these abnormally high concentrations were caused by biomass burning emissions. Based on enhancement ratios with carbon monoxide and known emissions factors for this species, we estimate that 130 and 66 ?g PCBs were released per kilogram dry matter burned, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first study relating atmospheric PCB enhancements with biomass burning. The strong effects on observed concentrations far away from the sources, suggest that biomass burning is an important source of PCBs for the atmosphere. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Svalbard Institut national des sciences de l'Univers: HAL-INSU Arctic Svalbard |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Institut national des sciences de l'Univers: HAL-INSU |
op_collection_id |
ftinsu |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere |
spellingShingle |
[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere Eckhardt, S. Breivik, K. Man\o, S. Stohl, A. Record high peaks in PCB concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere due to long-range transport of biomass burning emissions |
topic_facet |
[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere |
description |
International audience Soils and forests in the boreal region of the Northern Hemisphere are recognised as having a large capacity for storing air-borne Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), such as the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Following reductions of primary emissions of various legacy POPs, there is an increasing interest and debate about the relative importance of secondary re-emissions on the atmospheric levels of POPs. In spring of 2006, biomass burning emissions from agricultural fires in Eastern Europe were transported to the Zeppelin station on Svalbard, where record-high levels of many air pollutants were recorded (Stohl et al., 2007). Here we report on the extremely high concentrations of PCBs that were also measured during this period. 21 out of 32 PCB congeners were enhanced by more than two standard deviations above the long-term mean concentrations. In July 2004, about 5.8 million hectare of boreal forest burned in North America, emitting a pollution plume which reached the Zeppelin station after a travel time of 3?4 weeks (Stohl et al., 2006). Again, 12 PCB congeners were elevated above the long-term mean by more than two standard deviations, with the less chlorinated congeners being most strongly affected. We propose that these abnormally high concentrations were caused by biomass burning emissions. Based on enhancement ratios with carbon monoxide and known emissions factors for this species, we estimate that 130 and 66 ?g PCBs were released per kilogram dry matter burned, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first study relating atmospheric PCB enhancements with biomass burning. The strong effects on observed concentrations far away from the sources, suggest that biomass burning is an important source of PCBs for the atmosphere. |
author2 |
Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) University of Oslo (UiO) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Eckhardt, S. Breivik, K. Man\o, S. Stohl, A. |
author_facet |
Eckhardt, S. Breivik, K. Man\o, S. Stohl, A. |
author_sort |
Eckhardt, S. |
title |
Record high peaks in PCB concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere due to long-range transport of biomass burning emissions |
title_short |
Record high peaks in PCB concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere due to long-range transport of biomass burning emissions |
title_full |
Record high peaks in PCB concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere due to long-range transport of biomass burning emissions |
title_fullStr |
Record high peaks in PCB concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere due to long-range transport of biomass burning emissions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Record high peaks in PCB concentrations in the Arctic atmosphere due to long-range transport of biomass burning emissions |
title_sort |
record high peaks in pcb concentrations in the arctic atmosphere due to long-range transport of biomass burning emissions |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-00296323 https://hal.science/hal-00296323/document https://hal.science/hal-00296323/file/acp-7-4527-2007.pdf |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
op_source |
ISSN: 1680-7316 EISSN: 1680-7324 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics https://hal.science/hal-00296323 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2007, 7 (17), pp.4527-4536 |
op_relation |
hal-00296323 https://hal.science/hal-00296323 https://hal.science/hal-00296323/document https://hal.science/hal-00296323/file/acp-7-4527-2007.pdf |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
_version_ |
1782331539583926272 |