Modeling short-term variability of semivolatile organic chemicals in air at a local scale: an integrated modeling approach

Monitoring campaigns from different locations have recently shown how air concentrations of persistent semivolatile contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) often exhibit short-term (less than 24 h) variations. The observed patterns have been ascribed to different factors, such as temperature-mediated air-surface exchange and variability of planetary boundary layer (PBL) height and dynamics. Here, we present a new modeling approach developed in order to investigate the short-term variability in air concentrations of organic pollutants at a local scale. A new dynamic multimedia box model is supplied by a meteorological preprocessor (AERMET) with hourly values of air compartment height and wind speed. The resulting model is tested against an existing dataset of PCB air concentrations measured in Zurich, Switzerland. Results show the importance of such modeling approach in elucidating the short- and long-term behavior of semivolatile contaminants in the air/soil system.