Widespread Pesticide Distribution in the European Atmosphere Questions their Degradability in Air

Summary, in English

Risk assessment of pesticide impacts on remote ecosystems makes use of model-estimated degradation in air. Recent studies suggest these degradation rates to be overestimated, questioning current pesticide regulation. Here, we investigated the concentrations of 76 pesticides in Europe at 29 rural, coastal, mountain, and polar sites during the agricultural application season. Overall, 58 pesticides were observed in the European atmosphere. Low spatial variation of 7 pesticides suggests continental-scale atmospheric dispersal. Based on concentrations in free tropospheric air and at Arctic sites, 22 pesticides were identified to be prone to long-range atmospheric transport, which included 15 substances approved for agricultural use in Europe and 7 banned ones. Comparison between concentrations at remote sites and those found at pesticide source areas suggests long atmospheric lifetimes of atrazine, cyprodinil, spiroxamine, tebuconazole, terbuthylazine, and thiacloprid. In general, our findings suggest that atmospheric transport and persistence of pesticides have been underestimated and that their risk assessment needs to be improved.

• Author: Ludovic Mayer; Céline Degrendele; Petr Šenk; Jiři Kohoutek; Petra Přibylová; Petr Kukučka; Lisa Melymuk; Amandine Durand; Sylvain Ravier; Andres Alastuey; Alex R. Baker; Urs Baltensperger; Kathrin Baumann-Stanzer; Tobias Biermann; Pernilla Bohlin-Nizzetto; Darius Ceburnis; Sébastien Conil; Cédric Couret; Anna Degórska; Evangelia Diapouli; Sabine Eckhardt; Konstantinos Eleftheriadis; Grant L. Forster; Korbinian Freier; François Gheusi; Maria I. Gini; Heidi Hellén; Stephan Henne; Hartmut Herrmann; Adéla Holubová Šmejkalová; Urmas Hõrrak; Christoph Hüglin; Heikki Junninen; Adam Kristensson; Laurent Langrene; Janne Levula; Marie Lothon; Elke Ludewig; Ulla Makkonen; Jana Matejovičová; Nikolaos Mihalopoulos; Veronika Mináriková; Wolfgang Moche; Steffen M. Noe; Noemí Pérez; Tuukka Petäjä; Véronique Pont; Laurent Poulain; Etienne Quivet; Gabriela Ratz; Gerhard Lammel
• Department/s: Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC); BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate; ICOS Sweden; Combustion Physics; LTH Profile Area: Aerosols; MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system
• Publishing year: 2024-02
• Language: English
• Pages: 3342-3352
• Publication/Series: Environmental Science and Technology
• Volume: 58
• Issue: 7
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c08488
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: The American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Topic: Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences; Environmental Sciences
• Keywords: atmosphere; Pesticide Distribution; pesticides; risk assessment; transport; air quality
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 0013-936X