Widespread Pesticide Distribution in the European Atmosphere Questions their Degradability in Air
Ludovic Mayer, Céline Degrendele, Petr Šenk, Jiří Kohoutek, Petra Příbylová, Petr Kukučka, Lisa Melymuk, Amandine Durand, Sylvain Ravier, Andrés Alástuey, Alex R. Baker, Urs Baltensperger, Kathrin Baumann‐Stanzer, Tobias Biermann, Pernilla Bohlin‐Nizzetto, Darius Čeburnis, Sébastien Conil, Cédric Couret, Anna Degórska, Evangelia Diapouli, Sabine Eckhardt, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Grant L. Forster, Korbinian P. Freier, François Gheusi, Maria I. Gini, Heidi Hellén, Stephan Henne, Hartmut Herrmann, Adéla Holubová Šmejkalová, U. Hõrrak, Christoph Hüglin, Heikki Junninen, Adam Kristensson, Laurent Langrene, Janne Levula, Marie Lothon, Elke Ludewig, Ulla Makkonen, Jana Matejovičová, N. Mihalopoulos, Veronika Mináriková, Wolfgang Moche, Steffen M. Noe, Noemí Pérez, Tuukka Petäjä, Véronique Pont, Laurent Poulain, Étienne Quivet, Gabriela Ratz, Till Rehm, Stefan Reimann, Ivan Simmons, Jeroen E. Sonke, M. Sorribas, Ronald Spoor, D. P. J. Swart, Vasiliki Vasilatou, Henri Wortham, Margarita Yela, P. Zarmpas, Claudia Zellweger Fäsi, Kjetil Tørseth, Paolo Laj, Jana Klánová, Gerhard Lammel
Abstract
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.