PMID- 20446692
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20100719
LR  - 20161125
IS  - 0013-936X (Print)
IS  - 0013-936X (Linking)
VI  - 44
IP  - 11
DP  - 2010 Jun 1
TI  - Release of legacy pollutants from melting glaciers: model evidence and conceptual 
      understanding.
PG  - 4063-9
LID - 10.1021/es903007h [doi]
AB  - Recently, increasing concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have 
      been observed in the sediment of glacier-fed Lake Oberaar, Switzerland. Melting 
      glaciers have been suggested as a secondary source of POPs released to Alpine 
      lakes. Here we further investigate whether climate warming may accelerate the 
      release of POPs previously deposited to Alpine glaciers ("glacier hypothesis"). 
      To test this hypothesis, a dynamic multimedia mass balance model is developed for 
      the catchment area of Lake Oberaar and is applied to polychlorinated biphenyls 
      (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), and 
      dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane (DDT). This lake model is combined with two 
      other models. The first is a dynamic multimedia mass balance model parametrized 
      for the Swiss lowlands that is used to calculate (on the basis of historical 
      emission data) the atmospheric concentrations that are an advective input into 
      the model of the lake catchment. The second is a flow model of Oberaar Glacier 
      that determines the residence time of persistent chemicals in the glacier after 
      their deposition to the glacier surface. According to results from these three 
      models in combination, the release of POPs by the glacier is currently increasing 
      and accounts for the observed increase in concentrations in the lake sediment. 
      The models indicate that approximately half of the amount of PCBs, PCDD/Fs, and 
      DDT initially incorporated into the glacier ice is still stored in the glacier. 
      Under the assumption that the climate is warming, accelerated release of POPs is 
      to be expected for the future; in a model run where no climate warming is 
      assumed, the period of time required for release of the same amount of chemicals 
      is longer by several decades than in the scenario with a changing climate.
FAU - Bogdal, Christian
AU  - Bogdal C
AD  - Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
FAU - Nikolic, Divna
AU  - Nikolic D
FAU - Luthi, Martin P
AU  - Luthi MP
FAU - Schenker, Urs
AU  - Schenker U
FAU - Scheringer, Martin
AU  - Scheringer M
FAU - Hungerbuhler, Konrad
AU  - Hungerbuhler K
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - United States
TA  - Environ Sci Technol
JT  - Environmental science & technology
JID - 0213155
RN  - 0 (Benzofurans)
RN  - 0 (Dibenzofurans, Polychlorinated)
RN  - 0 (Ice)
RN  - 0 (Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins)
RN  - 0 (Water Pollutants)
RN  - CIW5S16655 (DDT)
RN  - DFC2HB4I0K (Polychlorinated Biphenyls)
SB  - IM
MH  - Benzofurans/analysis
MH  - Climate
MH  - DDT/analysis
MH  - Dibenzofurans, Polychlorinated
MH  - Geologic Sediments/chemistry
MH  - Ice
MH  - Models, Theoretical
MH  - Polychlorinated Biphenyls/analysis
MH  - Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins/analogs & derivatives/analysis
MH  - Switzerland
MH  - Water Pollutants/*analysis
EDAT- 2010/05/08 06:00
MHDA- 2010/07/20 06:00
CRDT- 2010/05/08 06:00
PHST- 2010/05/08 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2010/05/08 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2010/07/20 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1021/es903007h [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Environ Sci Technol. 2010 Jun 1;44(11):4063-9. doi: 10.1021/es903007h.