On the Physicochemical Aspects of the Global Fate and Long-Range Atmospheric Transport of Persistent Organic Pollutants

The fate of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is a worldwide concern that resulted in the Stockholm Convention of 2001. Current global transport models are primarily evaluative and therefore limited in predicting realistic concentrations of POPs. They are generally Eulerian-type "box" models and use uncertain physicochemical input data. The overall mass balance is the underlying principle for addressing the chemical fate in each environmental compartment and for correctly accommodating the inclusion of the key physicochemical process parameters into any global fate model. The physical chemistry principles of chemical thermodynamics, kinetics, and transport must be used to target and reflect field conditions that realistically address the fate of POPs. The primary thrust of the global transport modeling for POPs should be the development of the Lagrangian type rather than the Eulerian types presently in use. If the global fate of POPs is to be understood so as to be predictive at a high level, ongoing efforts at collecting experimental data on POP concentrations, fluxes, reaction rates, and so forth, within the environmental media and across the interfaces such as air, soil, sediment, water, and biota, should be vigorously pursued to obtain information that can be used to calibrate and validate the fate models.