Publication details
Air-sea exchange of semivolatile organic compounds – wind and/or sea surface temperature control of volatilisation studied using a coupled general circulation model
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2011 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Journal of Marine Systems |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2010.11.002 |
| Field | Air pollution and control |
| Keywords | Air-sea exchange; Volatilisation; Semivolatile organic compounds; Climate parameters |
| Description | The global multicompartment chemistry-transport model MPI-MCTM is used to determine the sensitivity of volatilisation of dichlorodiphenyltrichlorethan (DDT) and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) to SST and wind speed changes. Parameters controlling the volatilisation of DDT from the ocean surface, none of them independent, and their degree of control are identified and mapped by a correlation analysis on the seasonal time scale and by an empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) analysis on the inter-annual timescale. Seasonal variations of volatilisation are shown to be controlled by either wind speed or SST in different sea regions. On this time scale wind is more dominant than SST in the global ocean. The main pattern of inter-annual variability (up to decades), however, is shown to be explained by SST. The results suggest that large-scale spatial averaging, including zonally averaging leads to underestimates of the volatilisation rate and the long-range transport potential of SOCs. |
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