Chemical fate of persistent organic pollutants in the arctic: Evaluation of simplebox

Jiaqi Wang; Renske P J Hoondert; Naomi W Thunnissen; Dik van de Meent; A Jan Hendriks

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137579

Chemical fate of persistent organic pollutants in the arctic: Evaluation of simplebox

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Jun 10:720:137579. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137579. Epub 2020 Feb 25.

Authors

Jiaqi Wang¹, Renske P J Hoondert², Naomi W Thunnissen², Dik van de Meent², A Jan Hendriks²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Science, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Electronic address: Jiaqi.Wang@student.ru.nl.
² Department of Environmental Science, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

PMID: 32135281
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137579

Abstract

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are of great concern for decades due to their persistence, bioaccumulation and long-range transport potential. Multimedia fate models are useful scientific and decision-support tools for predicting the chemical fate in the environment. The SimpleBox multimedia fate model (v4.0) was used in this study to estimate the impact of POP emissions from the European and North American mainland on POP contamination in the Arctic. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the performance of SimpleBox by comparing estimations to measurements. Model performance for the air compartment was reasonable as estimated concentrations were generally within a factor of five of measured concentrations. SimpleBox suggested higher POP concentrations in Arctic oceans than in temperate oceans, contrary to the few measured data. Discrepancies between estimations and measurements may be attributed to the variability in emission estimates and degradation rates of POPs, representativeness of monitoring data, and a missing snow and ice environmental compartment in SimpleBox. Emission rates and degradation rate constants were the most influential input parameters in SimpleBox based on sensitivity analysis. Suggestions for improvements of SimpleBox refining POP risk assessment are provided.

Keywords: Atmosphere; Multimedia fate model; POPs; Surface seawater; Transport.