Widespread Pesticide Distribution in the European Atmosphere Questions their Degradability in Air

• Published in: Environmental Science & Technology
• Main Authors: Mayer, Ludovic, Degrendele, Céline, Šenk, Petr, Kohoutek, Jiři, Přibylová, Petra, Kukučka, Petr, Melymuk, Lisa, Durand, Amandine, Ravier, Sylvain, Alastuey, Andres, Baker, Alex, Baltensperger, Urs, Baumann-Stanzer, Kathrin, Biermann, Tobias, Bohlin-Nizzetto, Pernilla, Ceburnis, Darius, Conil, Sébastien, Couret, Cédric, Degórska, Anna, Diapouli, Evangelia, Eckhardt, Sabine, Eleftheriadis, Konstantinos, Forster, Grant, Freier, Korbinian, Gheusi, François, Gini, Maria, Hellén, Heidi, Henne, Stephan, Herrmann, Hartmut, Holubová Šmejkalová, Adéla, Hõrrak, Urmas, Hüglin, Christoph, Junninen, Heikki, Kristensson, Adam, Langrene, Laurent, Levula, Janne, Lothon, Marie, Ludewig, Elke, Makkonen, Ulla, Matejovičová, Jana, Mihalopoulos, Nikolaos, Mináriková, Veronika, Moche, Wolfgang, Noe, Steffen, Pérez, Noemí, Petäjä, Tuukka, Pont, Véronique, Poulain, Laurent, Quivet, Etienne, Ratz, Gabriela, Rehm, Till, Reimann, Stefan, Simmons, Ivan, Sonke, Jeroen, Sorribas, Mar, Spoor, Ronald, Swart, Daan, Vasilatou, Vasiliki, Wortham, Henri, Yela, Margarita, Zarmpas, Pavlos, Zellweger Fäsi, Claudia, Tørseth, Kjetil, Laj, Paolo, Klánová, Jana, Lammel, Gerhard
• Other Authors: Laboratoire Chimie de l'environnement (LCE), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut de Chimie - CNRS Chimie (INC-CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Agence Nationale pour la Gestion des Déchets Radioactifs (ANDRA), Laboratoire d'aérologie (LAERO), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Géosciences Environnement Toulouse (GET), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP ), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), European Project: 654109,H2020,H2020-INFRAIA-2014-2015,ACTRIS-2(2015)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2024
• Subjects: Atmospheric chemistry; Computer simulations; Environmental modeling; Particulate matter; Pest control; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Arctic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04449021; https://hal.science/hal-04449021/document; https://hal.science/hal-04449021/file/mayer-et-al-2024-widespread-pesticide-distribution-in-the-european-atmosphere-questions-their-degradability-in-air.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c08488

International audience Risk assessment of pesticide impacts on remote ecosystems makes use of model-estimated degradation in air. Recent studies suggest these degradation rates to be overestimated, questioning current pesticide regulation. Here, we investigated the concentrations of 76 pesticides in Europe at 29 rural, coastal, mountain, and polar sites during the agricultural application season. Overall, 58 pesticides were observed in the European atmosphere. Low spatial variation of 7 pesticides suggests continental-scale atmospheric dispersal. Based on concentrations in free tropospheric air and at Arctic sites, 22 pesticides were identified to be prone to long-range atmospheric transport, which included 15 substances approved for agricultural use in Europe and 7 banned ones. Comparison between concentrations at remote sites and those found at pesticide source areas suggests long atmospheric lifetimes of atrazine, cyprodinil, spiroxamine, tebuconazole, terbuthylazine, and thiacloprid. In general, our findings suggest that atmospheric transport and persistence of pesticides have been underestimated and that their risk assessment needs to be improved.