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Title: Orographic
Cold Trapping and the Accumulation of Organic Pollutants in the Himalayas Author: Erin C. Stone Abstract:
Recent studies have shown that many industrial and agricultural pollutants
are undergoing atmospheric transport, often over long distances, to remote
ecosystems. High mountain
regions are especially susceptible to the deposition of these toxics through
a process called orographic cold trapping. To determine the effects of this phenomenon in the
Himalayas, conditions in the region were compared to a study conducted in the
Canadian Rockies whose results show a positive correlation between elevation
and chemical concentration.
It was determined, through a geographic and climatic analysis that
significant potential for orographic cold trapping exists in the Himalayas
and that its presence threatens alpine ecosystems and human populations. Key References: Blais, J., Schindler, D., Muir, D., Kimpe, L., Donald, D., &Rosenberg,
B. (1998). Nature,
395, 585-588. Loewen,
M., Sharma, S., Tomy, G., Wang, F., Bullock, P., & Wania, F. (2005). Persistent organic
pollutants and
mercury in the Himalaya. Aquatic
Ecosystem Health and Management, 8, 223-233. Valsecchi, S., Smiraglia, C., Tartari, G., & Polesello, S. (1999). Chemical composition of
Monsoon deposition in the Everest region. The Science of the Total Environment, 226,
187-199. Return to Water
Resources Papers page. |
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Date: May 2006
Student: estone@willamette.edu
ENVR 327: Water Resources
Instructor: Dr. Karen Arabas
http://www.willamette.edu/~karabas/courses/envr237w