The Small World and Small Region Models – Multimedia Environmental Fate Models for Application in Teaching

The two models provided here are the Small Models, including the Small World Model and the Small Region Model. These models are primarily used for teaching; they are transparent, fully open and can be adjusted easily to different environmental systems and conditions. The Small Region Model was part of the training materials prepared for the SAICM QSP Project “Training on Risk Assessment for Chemicals at National Level in a Global Context”. The two models, global and regional, are contained in the same Microsoft Excel workbook. The size of this workbook is only a few hundred kilobytes and the models can be run without any macros turned on. The Small World Model is a three-box model of the global environment; it consists of tropospheric air, oceanic surface water and soil. The height or depth of these compartments is 6 km, 200 m, and 0.1 m, respectively; the compartments represent the global volumes of tropospheric air, oceanic surface water and topsoil. The Small Region Model is a four-box model of a regional environment consisting of tropospheric air, soil, water and sediment. The air compartment represents the planetary boundary layer and is 1 km high; the soil compartment is 0.1 m deep. The water compartment with a sediment compartment underneath can represent either a freshwater compartment (lake, river) or an estuary.While all efforts were made to ensure completeness and correctness, all information provided in these models is without liability