Historical α-HCH budget in the Arctic Ocean: the Arctic Mass Balance Box Model (AMBBM)

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 324; no. 1; pp. 115 - 139
• Main Authors: Li, Y.F, Macdonald, R.W, Ma, J.M, Hung, H, Venkatesh, S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier B.V 25-05-2004; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Agriculture; Air Movements; Air Pollutants; Applied sciences; Arctic; Arctic Regions; Budget; Carcinogens - analysis; Carcinogens - chemistry; Carcinogens - metabolism; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Environmental Monitoring; Exact sciences and technology; History, 20th Century; Humans; Lindane - analysis; Lindane - chemistry; Lindane - metabolism; Marine; Mass balance; Model transport; Models, Theoretical; Natural water pollution; Pollution; Pollution, environment geology; Seawaters, estuaries; Water Microbiology; Water Movements; Water Pollution - history; Water treatment and pollution; α-Hexachlorocyclohexane; Arctic Ocean; Asia; China; Arctic Regions; PN, Arctic Ocean; North America; China, People's Rep; Mass balance; Model transport; Budget; Arctic; α-Hexachlorocyclohexane; Insecticide; Atmospheric fallout; Pollutant behavior; Pesticides; HCH; Time variation; Persistent organic pollutant; Transport process; Century 20th; Box model; Organochlorine compounds; Chlorine Organic compounds; Pollution source; Fluvial input; Water pollution; Material balance; Seawater
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2003.10.022

An Arctic Mass Balance Box Model (AMBBM) has been developed to calculate a sequential historical α-hexachlorocyclohexane (α-HCH) budget in the Arctic Ocean from its introduction in the 1940s up to the present. The AMBBM is created in the context of the Arctic as a receptor, and has three major components: the air concentration module, the loading from Arctic river module and the transport/transformation module. The results of the model provide a more complete depiction of the behavior of α-HCH within the Arctic Ocean. Model output includes annual concentrations in Arctic air and water, annual α-HCH loading to, removal from the Arctic Ocean and annual cumulative burden of α-HCH in the Arctic waters from 1945 to 2000. Our model results compare well with published data in the 1980s and 1990s and show that the α-HCH burden in the Arctic Ocean started to accumulate in the early 1940s and reached the highest value of 6670 t in 1982, 1 year before China banned the use of technical HCH. Since then the burden of α-HCH in Arctic waters has decreased quickly by an average annual rate of approximately 270 t
y
−1 during the 1990s, decreasing from 4220 t in 1990 to 1550 t in 2000. The complete elimination of α-HCH from Arctic waters would require another two decades. The total loading between 1945 and 2000 was 27
700 t accounting for approximately 0.6% of total global α-HCH emission from agricultural land to the atmosphere. Differences in loadings of α-HCH to the North American Arctic Ocean and Eurasian Arctic Ocean are also discussed.