Evaluating the impacts of technology and policy on long-range transport of toxic pollutants

汞和持久性有机物等有毒污染物是一个全球性的环境问题。它们具有持久性，可在区域和全球范围内扩散（特别是通过大气），在食物网中进行生物积累，对人类和野生动物造成潜在风险。因此，这些有害物质的排放和使用成为政策的目标，包括全球环境条约。这种协调一致的全球行动对加拿大这样的国家尤其重要，因为在这些国家，沉积到地表的大部分（即人类造成的）来自国外。此外，加拿大的生态系统，如北极，以及依赖其中的渔业和野生动物的社区（通常是土著），可能特别容易受到这些污染物的影响。因此，评估这些全球政策努力是否足以保护这些弱势群体的健康，需要更好地了解人类活动、排放、运输和环境负荷之间的联系。***我的研究项目的长期目标是了解人类活动如何在地方到区域的尺度上影响全球化学污染，然后这种全球环境变化如何反过来影响特定的脆弱生态系统。通过了解这些动态，我的目标是开发和应用可以支持政策设计和评估的方法和工具。我的短期目标是了解技术和政策变化如何影响两种关注的污染物——汞和多氯联苯——向北极等脆弱生态系统的远距离大气输送（LRAT）。在未来的5年里，我将与一组学生一起制定技术和政策情景下的全球排放清单，重点关注具有高度不确定性的排放源。我将通过使用大气模拟的北极案例研究来研究这些情景如何影响这些污染物的LRAT。最后，我将开发一个决策支持工具，可以支持快速和互动的大气建模，包括研究人员和利益相关者的不确定性分析。***更好地了解人类活动与化学污染物的LRAT之间的联系可以帮助我们评估目前正在实施的政策是否可以有效地减轻全球污染负担，以及是否需要额外的政策来解决剩余的关切来源。此外，该研究项目将培养空气质量工程技术方面的高素质人才，并在工程、政策和大气科学的界面上回答关键问题。它还将为我们小组和其他小组今后就当地环境与全球变化之间的联系以及政策对加拿大人类健康和经济的影响进行的研究奠定基础。

Toxic pollutants, such as mercury and persistent organics, are a global environmental concern. They are persistent and can disperse at regional and global scales (particularly through the atmosphere), bioaccumulating in food webs and leading to potential risks for humans and wildlife. As a result, the releases and uses of these hazardous substances are targeted by policy, including global environmental treaties. This coordinated global action is particularly important for countries like Canada, where the majority of what is deposited to the surface (that is of human origin) comes from out-of-country sources. Further, Canadian ecosystems such as the Arctic, and the communities (often Indigenous) that depend on the fisheries and wildlife therein, may be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of these pollutants. Evaluating whether these global policy efforts will be sufficient to protect the health of these vulnerable populations therefore requires that links between human activity, emissions, transport, and environmental loadings be better understood. ***The long-term objective of my research program is to understand how human activities at local-to-regional scales affect global chemical pollution, and then how in turn, this global environmental change affects specific vulnerable ecosystems. Through understanding these dynamics, my goal is to develop and apply methods and tools that can support the design and evaluation of policy. My short-term objectives are to understand how technology and policy changes may affect the long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT) of two pollutants of concern—mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls—to vulnerable ecosystems like the Arctic. With a team of students, over the next 5 years I will develop global emissions inventories under technology and policy scenarios, focusing on emissions sources with high uncertainty. I will investigate how these scenarios impact LRAT of these pollutants through a case study of the Arctic using atmospheric modelling. Finally, I will develop a decision support tool that can support rapid and interactive atmospheric modelling, including analysis of uncertainty, by researchers and stakeholders. ***A better understanding of the links between human activity and LRAT of chemical pollutants can help us evaluate whether policies currently being implemented might be effective at reducing global pollution burdens, and whether additional policies are needed to address remaining sources of concern. In addition, this research program will train highly qualified personnel in air quality engineering techniques and answering critical questions at the interface of engineering, policy, and atmospheric science. It will also lay the groundwork for future research, in our group and others, on the connections between local environments and global change, and impacts of policy on human health and the economy in Canada.