Emissions and behaviour of selected persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the northern environment. Part I: Development of the cycling model and emission and environmental data bases.

Abstract

The overall goal of the reported project was to improve our knowledge on the inputs, transport, and migration of selected POPs in the Northern environments. A comprehensive steady-state mass balance model, so-called B-POP model, has been developed within the project. This model is based on the fugacity approach and comprises a number of compartments which are assumed to have homogeneous environmental conditions and chemical concentrations. Mass balance equations for all compartments were formulated and solved for the chemical fugacity in each compartment. The B-POP model was then tested to describe the migration of PCBs. It was concluded that the model succeeds in outlining the general picture of PCB behaviour in the Baltic Sea at the end of the 1980s by identifying the major environmental pathways and reservoirs within the system. Considering the limitations inherent in the present version of the model the agreement between modelled and measured concentrations was surprisingly good. In most cases the calculated value was within the range and close to the average of the measured values.