THE INFLUENCE OF VARIABLE PRECIPITATION PATTERNS ON SIMULATIONS OF PESTICIDE MOBILITY

The behaviour of pesticides in the soil is governed by a variety of co mplex processes including the climatic conditions. To investigate the influence of these specific factors, a Monte-Carlo Method was used to generate sequences of daily precipitation and temperature data represe nting natural weather behaviour. Simulations of the leaching process w ere performed for different compounds with these sequences while all o ther environmental parameters were held constant. The results indicate d that the use of stochastic variables yields new insight into the lea ching process. It is shown that the naturally occurring variability of the weather pattern has a crucial influence on the leaching of pestic ides.