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全球环境问题。它们是持久的，可以在区域和全球范围内扩散(特别是通过大气)，在食物网中生物积累，并导致对人类和野生动物的潜在风险。因此，这些有害物质的排放和使用受到包括全球环境条约在内的政策的限制。这种协调一致的全球行动对加拿大这样的国家尤其重要，在这些国家，沉积到地表的大部分物质(即人类来源)来自国外。此外，加拿大的生态系统，如北极，以及依赖那里的渔业和野生动物的社区(通常是土著社区)，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。*我的研究计划的长期目标是了解从地方到区域的人类活动如何影响全球化学污染，进而了解这种全球环境变化如何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能够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可能如何影响两种令人担忧的污染物-汞和多氯联苯-向北极等脆弱生态系统的远程大气传输(LRAT)。在接下来的5年里，我将与一个学生团队一起，在技术和政策情景下开发全球排放清单，重点关注具有高度不确定性的排放源。我将通过一个使用大气模型的北极案例研究，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，支持研究人员和利益攸关方进行快速和交互的大气建模，包括不确定性分析。*更好地了解人类活动和化学污染物的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能有效地减轻全球污染负担，以及是否需要更多的政策来解决剩余的担忧来源。此外，该研究计划将培训高素质的空气质量工程技术人员，并在工程、政策和大气科学的界面上回答关键问题。这也将为我们小组和其他人未来研究当地环境和全球变化之间的联系，以及政策对人类健康和加拿大经济的影响奠定基础。

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.