1 research outputs found
Fate of persistent organic pollutants in the water column: Does turbulent mixing matter?
11 pages, 9 figures.The effect of vertical turbulent mixing on the dynamics of persistent organic pollutants has long been overlooked and its role is still
hardly understood. Here we present the first comprehensive analysis of the role of turbulent diffusion on the distribution of those contaminants
and its interplay with sinking fluxes. To this end, a 1D dynamic coupled hydrodynamic-contaminant model has been developed
and applied to a Mediterranean continental shelf environment. The hydrodynamic sub-model is adapted from COHERENS, the
contaminant sub-model is an improvement from the BIODEP model and considers the contaminant in 3 phases: dissolved-colloidal-particulate.
The simulation highlights the role of turbulence in determining the POP distribution and variability in the water column. In
short, turbulent flux of contaminants strengthens the upward diffusion of sediment entrained contaminants and determines the extent
to which inputs from the atmosphere mix into the water column. It acts in parallel with degradation and sinking fluxes, the combined
effect yielding a surface enriched – depth depleted – benthic layer enriched region distribution, which presents similarities to reported experimental
measures.This work was supported by the sixth framework programme
through the project Thresholds of Environmental
Sustainability (European Commission FP6, SUST-DEV,
IP Project 003933-2). Meteorological data used in this
study were acquired from the ECMWF 40 Years Re-Analysis
(http://www.ecmwf.int/), the remote sensing data were
acquired as part of the SeaWIFS Project (http://seawifs.
gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS.html).Peer reviewe