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Atmos. Chem. Phys., 4, 1125-1137, 2004
www.atmos-chem-phys.net/4/1125/2004/ doi:10.5194/acp-4-1125-2004 © Author(s) 2004. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. |
Modelling atmospheric transport of α-hexachlorocyclohexane in the Northern Hemispherewith a 3-D dynamical model: DEHM-POP
Department of Atmospheric Environment, National Environmental Research Institute, Roskilde, Denmark
Abstract. The Danish Eulerian Hemispheric Model (DEHM) is a 3-D dynamical atmospheric transport model originally developed to describe the atmospheric transport of sulphur into the Arctic. A new version of the model, DEHM-POP, developed to study the atmospheric transport and environmental fate of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is presented. During environmental cycling, POPs can be deposited and re-emitted several times before reaching a final destination. A description of the exchange processes between the land/ocean surfaces and the atmosphere is included in the model to account for this multi-hop transport. The α-isomer of the pesticide hexachlorocyclohexane (α-HCH) is used as tracer in the model development. The structure of the model and processes included are described in detail. The results from a model simulation showing the atmospheric transport for the years 1991 to 1998 are presented and evaluated against measurements. The annual averaged atmospheric concentration of α-HCH for the 1990s is well described by the model; however, the shorter-term average concentration for most of the stations is not well captured. This indicates that the present simple surface description needs to be refined to get a better description of the air-surface exchange processes of POPs.
Citation: Hansen, K. M., Christensen, J. H., Brandt, J., Frohn, L. M., and Geels, C.: Modelling atmospheric transport of α-hexachlorocyclohexane in the Northern Hemispherewith a 3-D dynamical model: DEHM-POP, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 4, 1125-1137, doi:10.5194/acp-4-1125-2004, 2004.