Project information
Pesticides in the atmosphere - characterisation of their distribution and fate

Field evidence is growing that current-use pesticides (CUPs) are subject to long-range atmospheric transport. This is a concern, regarding impacts on ecosystems, and should be excluded according to regulation in place. In fact, very little is known about CUPs’ atmospheric distribution and fate. This project aims to study CUPs atmospheric distributions in Europe and in the outflow of the continent, and the aerosol parameters and surface exchange processes which determine CUPs’ long-range transport potential. To this end, recently developed and successfully applied sampling, analytical, process study methods will be applied. The project aims will be pursued by dedicated field studies, including remote continental and marine atmospheric environments, and field experiments, partly hypothesis driven. The project results promise to advance the knowledge on CUPs in the atmosphere and promote environmental risk assessment.