Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Assessed by a Multi Compartment Box Model

Because of its potential impact on human health, awareness of chemical pollu-tion has been rising in the last decade. Especially the group of bioaccumulative organic xenobiotics is under suspicion to cause serious health problems. These substances usually have a long life cycle and the ability to biomagnify through-out the food chains. Due to their chemical properties, they are characterized by semivolatility, have a long-range transport potential (LRTP) and are also capable to distribute among different compartments in nature. Transport mechanisms of these substances include ocean currents, rivers and especially the atmosphere. In particular the colder higher latitudes are affected by pollution although the initial point of release is located typically thousands of kilometers away in temperate climate zones. Many of those compounds are released either from the industry or as agrochemicals. Among important mechanisms of atmospheric transport, vegetation plays a key role on the overall cycling and distribution in nature. The large canopy surface on the continent has an accumulation effect for chemicals in the atmosphere an