RESEARCH ARTICLE


Potential Outflow Pathways for Iberian Atmospheric Middle-Lived Pollution



R. Nieto1, 2, R. Trigo2, 3, L. Gimeno1, 2, *
1 Universidad de Vigo. Facultad de Ciencias de Ourense. 32004. Ourense. Spain
2 University of Lisbon, CGUL-IDL, Lisboa, Portugal
3 Universidade Lusófona, Departamento de Engenharias, Lisbon, Portugal


© 2008 Nieto et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Universidad de Vigo. Facultad de Ciencias de Ourense. 32004. Ourense. Spain; E-mail: l.gimeno@uvigo.es


Abstract

We present a study of the potential export pathways of middle-lived pollutants from the Iberian Peninsula using an advanced 3-D Lagrangian atmospheric transport model (FLEXPART). A period of five years, from 2000 to 2004, was analyzed. Results confirm that the Mediterranean Sea and Central Asia are the dominant sinks of the air originated in the Iberian Peninsula in the range of 3 to 10 days of transport. The study is important, both in scientific terms and in the preparation of useful information for decision-making.

Keywords: Sinks of middle-lived pollutants, sinks of aerosols, Lagrangian atmospheric transport model, Iberian Peninsula.