Tracking Long-Range Atmospheric Transport of Trace Metals, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, and Organohalogen Compounds Using Lake Sediments of Mountain Regions

Abstract

This chapter introduces the factors and processes responsible for the physical movement and transport of substances within and among environmental compartments.. Scientists are continuously devising new models to predict the movement and change of compounds in the environment. Models provide a means for representing a real system in an understandable way. They take many forms, beginning with “conceptual models” that explain the way a system works, such as a delineation of all the factors and parameters of how a particle moves in the atmosphere after its release from a power plant. Conceptual models help to identify the major influences on where a chemical is likely to be found in the environment, and as such, need to be developed to help target sources of data needed to assess an environmental problem. Furthermore, transport and fate models can be statistical or deterministic. Statistical models include the pollutant dispersion models, such as the Lagrangian models, which assume Gaussian distributions of pollutants from a point of release. The pollutant concentrations are normally distributed in both the vertical and horizontal directions from the source. In addition, deterministic models are used when the physical, chemical, and other processes are sufficiently understood so as to be incorporated to reflect the movement and fate of chemicals. The chapter also discusses environmental chemodynamics models.