Atmospheric transport and deposition of persistent organic pollutants under warfare conditions

Abstract

The uncontrolled emissions of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and particulate matter into the atmosphere from fires, destroyed objects, and bombed terrains in a war zone are presented from the aspect of their effects on the environment. Emitted directly as particles or formed by gas-to-particle conversion in the plumes from these sources, aerosols can become active cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), thus increasing the probability of precipitation occurrence. Wet deposition is indicated as the dominant process of POP removal from the atmosphere. Since POP deposition generates soil contamination which can remain in the environment for a long period of time, war zones presenting the maximum risk are recommended for UN protection. During the NATO campaign in Yugoslavia from 24 March to 10 June, 1999, the almost daily attacks on major industrial sources caused numerous industrial accidents throughout Serbia. Using trajectory analysis, the regional pollutant transport from industrial sources in Kosovo and Serbia corroborated the elevated concentrations of POPs at Xanthi (Greece), which appeared in the periods of 6-8 and 18-20 April. The maxima of the daily-accumulated precipitation (10-15 mm) during 18 April were registered in the larger Belgrade area and in the south-easterly part of Serbia where the maxima of wet deposition fluxes of PAHs and dioxins/furans were likely to have occurred. Yugoslavia was included in the assessment of POP accumulation in the environment in the framework of the UN program for Europe. Because of the lack of POP measurements representative for the territory of Yugoslavia, the calculated levels in that program until 24 March should, therefore, be considered as the state before the NATO intervention. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.