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Atmospheric Deposition of POPs

The atmospheric transport of dangerous substances was an early focus of attention for marine scientists, since hazardous contaminants can be spread globally and be found far from where they were used. They may not be only volatile but also long-lasting.

Among these substances are Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).

These semi-volatile substances can undergo an iterative process of deposition, remobilization into the atmosphere and redeposition. This "global distillation" has been given as a reason for their prevalence in polar regions and is a consequence of the gradient in ambient temperature between the equator and the poles. The role of the atmosphere in the transport of nutrients, especially nitrogen, has also long been of interest.

[...] Toxaphene, a persistent organic pollutant (POP) that has become widely distributed within the marine environment, can be used as an example. A complex mixture of polychlorinated terpenes, predominantly chlorobornanes, it has been used extensively as a pesticide in North and South America, Russia and Asia, though not in Europe. With the recognition of significant global transport of volatile contaminants generally, a number of studies have investigated toxaphene in biota from marine waters.