Sources of Atmosphere-surface exchangeable pollutants (ASEPs) to the Laurentian Great Lakes

Dr. Judith Perlinger, jperl@mtu.edu
Post Date: 09/22/2014
Capstone/Internship Possible: Yes/Yes
Description:

Atmosphere-surface exchangeable pollutants (ASEPs) such as mercury, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have adverse effects on humans and ecosystems. Once emitted, these compounds are transported and deposited on natural surfaces such as water, soil, and vegetation from where frequent re-emission and deposition occur. The goal of this project is to determine the source of ASEP-polluted air masses to the Laurentian Great Lakes in the past decade. The Lagrangian particle dispersion model FLEXPART is used for this purpose. Thousands of imaginary air parcels or “particles” are released from grid boxes in the Great Lakes and advected backwards in time. Using known meteorological conditions of the past, FLEXPART computes so-called “retroplumes” of pollutants, a statistical representation of polluted air mass distribution over potential source regions for a defined time period back in time. These retroplumes are then coupled with emission inventories of ASEPs to determine the most frequent geographical sources and heavily loaded contaminants for the time period of interest. Computations can be carried out remotely.

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